Why North & South Construction Says Clearstory is the Most Value-Driven, Impactful Technology They’ve Adopted

"Hands down, the best software I’ve ever seen installed, trained up, and creating value as quickly as possible." That’s how Michelle Gilmore, COO of North & South Construction, describes Clearstory, the Change Order Communication Tool that has completely transformed how her team manages Change Order Requests and T&M Tickets.

Before adopting Clearstory, North & South, a New England metal and wood framing and drywall Specialty Contractor, was relying on a manual, paper-driven process that lacked efficiency and put critical revenue at risk. Change Order logs were built in Smartsheets, field teams used Microsoft Teams messages to submit details, and everything had to be manually compiled and reconciled before being sent to their GC customers.

While the team was disciplined in their approach, the amount of administrative effort required to keep the process moving was staggering. “We were still getting through the process, but it was a lot of paper, a lot of manual tracking, and just a cumbersome system overall,” Gilmore recalls.

Every week, North & South’s team spent hours ensuring that Change Orders were documented properly, pricing was aligned, and that GC customers had the right details at the right time. But as the volume of out-of-scope work began increasing on projects, reconciling Change Orders with GC customers often required multiple rounds of back and forth before alignment was reached. “We had a process, but there was still potential for lost tickets, lost revenue, and a lot of admin time just to get things aligned,” Gilmore says.

The reliance on paper tickets made visibility a challenge, especially as North & South expanded into larger, more complex projects. Gilmore’s team needed a way to track what had been submitted, what was pending, and what had been approved in real time, rather than having to manually compile logs at the end of each month.

“The risk of losing revenue was always there,” Gilmore says. “A missing ticket here or there could mean thousands of dollars slipping through the cracks.” With GC customers often requiring North & South to provide airtight documentation to justify additional work, the existing process likewise made it difficult to quickly and professionally package up the necessary backup into a Change Order Request.

“The visibility is there, and the process is smoother, cleaner, and more professional. Clearstory removed all of the friction in our Change Order and T&M Tag workflow, and it’s made a huge difference.”

Michelle Gilmore

Chief Operating Officer, North & South Construction

When North & South first saw Clearstory, the decision to adopt it was almost immediate. “It didn’t take much of a sales cycle for us because it was clear—Clearstory would hit all the points we needed,” Gilmore says.

Purpose-built to help Specialty Contractors reduce risk and get paid faster on out of contract work, Clearstory’s core product is a shareable, cloud-based Change Order Log that creates instant alignment between stakeholders with powerful tools like a mobile app for digital T&M Tags, built-in Change Order templates, instant pricing, and more.

The ability to digitize T&M Tags, consolidate COR tracking into a centralized log, and provide real-time visibility into Change Order status was exactly what the North & South had been looking for. The biggest surprise was just how easy the transition was.

“Training was extremely easy. The time to get up and running was very quick. The field team had no pushback—it was so easy for them that there was zero conflict,” Gilmore explains. Having implemented more than a dozen construction software solutions in the past two years, Gilmore says Clearstory was by far the fastest and easiest to roll out. Within weeks, the team had fully transitioned from their paper-based workflow to a digital-first system that removed all of the headaches and risks associated with manual tracking.

Since implementing Clearstory, North & South has eliminated at least 10 hours per week of admin time, with an additional 20 hours per month saved on T&M Ticket invoicing alone. The system has processed more than $22.1 million in Change Orders and T&M work across 88 active projects in just six months, a scale that would have previously required significantly more effort to manage.

“The visibility is there, and the process is smoother, cleaner, and more professional. Clearstory removed all of the friction in the workflow, and it’s made a huge difference,” Gilmore says. Clearstory’s automated tracking has also helped reduce risk by ensuring that unsigned T&M Tags and pending Change Orders don’t get lost in the shuffle.

One of the biggest improvements has been in managing GC relationships. With Clearstory, North & South’s GCs have immediate access to detailed, real-time Change Order data, reducing disputes and making alignment much easier. “We used to have to go back and forth multiple times just to get everyone on the same page. Now, everything is right there, ready to go,” Gilmore says. The ability to send a professional, well-organized Change Order log instead of scattered paperwork has strengthened North & South’s relationships with their customers—a crucial advantage in an industry where efficiency and collaboration matter.

Looking ahead, North & South plans to continue integrating Clearstory deeper into their workflows, using it not just for Change Order tracking but also to help supercharge invoicing and reporting. Gilmore says the impact has been so significant that even as they evaluate other technology investments, Clearstory is staying in place. “We’re looking at Procore for project management, and the first thing the team said was, ‘We’re not switching from Clearstory for Change Orders’ And I agree—we’re not.”