Why Suffolk is Adopting Clearstory for Change Orders and T&M Tickets on Projects Nationwide

Managing change through Change Order Requests (CORs) and Time and Materials (T&M) Tickets is one of the most critical processes across the life cycle of any construction project. Traditionally, General Contractors track Change Orders in their project budgeting tool, but outstanding risk often still lives in work streams outside of those systems. Pricing requests are sent and collected via email, paper T&M Tickets are signed out on the jobsite, and Change Order review is buried in team member inboxes.

To reconcile it all, GCs regularly ask each trade partner for an updated Change Order Log, a process that could take Suffolk project teams up to an hour per trade per month. On a project with 20 trades, that could mean spending 20 hours per month navigating COR logs, email chains, and paper tickets to ensure their forecast was up to date.

Suffolk has been investing heavily in data, technology, and innovation for the last two decades, disrupting the industry and pushing it forward to provide more predictable outcomes and seamless engagement with clients. Given the time-consuming nature and significant financial risk associated with managing change, Suffolk’s Construction Technology department sought an opportunity to streamline, digitize, and improve this process.

Suffolk initially deployed Clearstory to replace paper T&M Tickets on the 710,000-square-foot Harrison Albany Block project in Boston’s South End, but quickly keyed into Clearstory’s broader suite of solutions to up-level change management between stakeholders.

“The project team discovered that the tool was capable of a lot more than just digital T&M Tags,” says Suffolk Vice President of Operational Excellence Kelsey Gauger. “The pricing and Change Order Request management features were super collaborative, too, so they ended up using the full suite of tools and were really happy with the performance.”

Developed by former contractors to rescue projects still grappling with manual Change Order processes and paper-driven workflows, Clearstory’s core product is a shareable, cloud-based Change Order Log that creates instant transparency between stakeholders and features simple but powerful work streams to capture field-directed extra work, conduct pricing exercises, and streamline Change Order review. 

There are a significant number of moving pieces on any given project, and leveraging Clearstory to keep everything centralized ensures that all Suffolk project teams have access to the latest information, without having to ask their Trade Partner for an updated COR Log.

“We've signed off on Clearstory as a recommended tool because our project managers see the value it delivers to our teams and because of the productive conversations it drives with owners during the forecasting process.”

Kelsey Gauger

Vice President of Operational Excellence, Suffolk Construction

Time Savings & Improved Reporting

One of Suffolk’s project managers at 585 Kendall, a $400 million life science project in Boston, highlighted the benefits of using Clearstory. Having everything seamlessly connected, from T&M Tickets to Change Order Requests, and having the ability to centralize project data in one real-time location with clear, transparent reporting that can be easily exported for owners has revolutionized project management for the team.

Clearstory is also delivering meaningful time savings, especially given its integration with Procore. A Suffolk project manager at Suffolk’s $500 million 421 Park Blvd project says the integration eliminated repetitive data entry, saved valuable time, and expedited reconciliation with subs. The project team also benefited from faster information processing, efficiently consolidated cost proposals, and quick COR approvals from the owner.

Scaling Quickly: 30+ Active Projects and Counting

Suffolk's Construction Technology department began piloting Clearstory in late 2020 on a handful of projects. Suffolk carefully assessed Clearstory's workflow and benefits, as well as the improvements needed to meet Suffolk's standards and to satisfy project teams' needs. Suffolk's rigorous technology scaling process and close collaboration with Clearstory enabled them to increase Clearstory's usage and adoption to over 30 projects across Suffolk's portfolio nationally. 

Suffolk Construction Technology Deployment Associate Adam Fyrer champions Clearstory as a “no-brainer” solution for the way project managers say it aligns Suffolk project teams with trade partners and owners in real time. 

“We've signed off on Clearstory as a recommended tool because our project managers see the value it delivers to our teams and because of the productive conversations it drives with owners during the forecasting process,” agrees Gauger.

With trade partners also quickly gravitating to Clearstory’s instantaneous, easy-to-use, shared Change Order Log, Suffolk project managers are eager to see Clearstory’s tangible benefits applied to Suffolk projects large and small.

“We want to make sure technology is adding day-to-day value by driving efficiency, project predictability, and transparency with clients” Gauger says. “And I think Clearstory does all three of those things.”

About Suffolk Construction

With more than $5.5 billion in annual revenue and 2,600 employees, Suffolk provides value throughout the entire project life cycle by leveraging its core construction management services with vertical service lines that include real estate investment, design, self-perform construction services, technology investment, and innovation research and development.