Swinerton Renewable Energy Saves Time and Money with Raken

The problem: Tracking work on a large project

Transforming 2,700 acres into an energy-generating complex with enough juice to power over 100,000 homes in San Mateo County was no small task. Mount Signal 2 required 400 workers, dozens of subcontractors, and thousands of man hours. To get it done, three companies came together: Peninsula Clean Energy, Clenera, and Swinerton Energy. From beginning to end, the estimated cost was around $6 million.

With a big project like this, there were plenty of stakeholders that wanted to know what was happening on site. Keeping all of these companies informed about important progress milestones was an enormous task.

That’s what Victor “Tito” Gonzalez, then Assistant Superintendent at Swinerton said when we asked him how reporting from the field used to be done. “Depending on how busy we were, it could take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour just to try and log everything and transfer all the information down on paper,” he says. Between gathering the various reports, trying to figure out what was written, logging the data into an Excel spreadsheet, and then making sure that everyone gets it who was supposed to, the entire process of daily reporting and keeping everyone in the loop was a huge time-drain for Swinerton.

David Whitt, Project Engineer, also dealt with the challenges of using old-fashioned tools to build modern infrastructure. “One of the jobs I had early on was collecting all the dailies that our foremen generate,” he told us. “Oftentimes these dailies are written in the field, and they can get messy dealing with things like water, or even just penmanship in general. It can feel crazy to collect all that information in a timely manner. Then, just to track it all, I would create spreadsheets and all sorts of complicated stuff to make sure I was getting all that information.”

Getting the field comfortable with newer technology was also a challenge for David. His superintendents and foremen out in the field were still working with pen and paper. After trying to decipher damaged daily reports, he’d have to refer back to Excel documents just to make sure that he got all the dailies he needed in the first place, and that they had all the information he needed on them.

But that wasn’t all. “It could take a lot of time, consolidating it all and making sure we had it,” he says. “With anything that’s physically written up, you usually have to type it up as well, so either myself or an administrator would do that to make sure we have it all online.”

The solution: An all-in-one tool for the field

David’s journey to Raken was a complicated one. He knew a lot of apps were available, but deciding which one was right could be tricky. “As a millennial, I think I’m kind of saturated with apps all the time. I so often hear about a new app that’s going to change everything and I’m like ‘okay, sure.'”

We figured that there were plenty of other people in the construction industry, especially Project Managers and Project Engineers, who felt similarly. The construction technology industry is bursting with software options that claim to make field management easier; from astronomically expensive all-in-ones to smaller, niche apps.

David knew from experience that you don’t get easy field reporting without hard, grinding work. But he was also aware that construction technology, before it fulfills its promises, usually comes with a steep learning curve. “One of the reservations I had, in the beginning, was: Okay, is this going to be a new system? Is this going to be complicated? Is this even going to be worth me learning it?”

David’s concerns were alleviated, though, when someone he knew gave him a recommendation.

“After having another Project Engineer tell me this is definitely the way to go, I decided to try Raken,” Whitt said. “And I agree, it has been really helpful. Those reservations are gone for me.”

“Definitely daily compliance has gone up.”

David W., Project Engineer

Whitt continued, “It’s just hard to remember dailies the next day, and if guys forget, they are way less likely to do them. But now with it being easier, I’ve seen a lot more foremen be more compliant.”

Project visibility was what made the biggest difference to Tito.

“I use Raken on a day-to-day basis to keep folks like the owners updated about what we’ve got going on. And our team, even back home in the office, can see what we’ve got going on too.”

Tito G., Assistant Superintendent

And the work Tito and his team are doing out in Los Banos is worth showing off. Between installing brand new technology and transforming a swath of land into a clean energy producing complex, they’ve pioneered new techniques while staying on schedule and not going over budget.

Pen and paper simply couldn’t tell the entire story of what they were doing out there.

“We’ll take pictures and show off our work because we do take pride in it.”

Tito G., Assistant Superintendent

Enhanced project visibility

When Whitt implemented Raken on the Mount Signal 2 site, he noticed several improvements right away. “Raken has been really great for penmanship. I don’t have to worry about how people’s handwriting looks,” he remarked.

“Now I can track who is turning in dailies, when they’re turning them in, and I can make sure I’m collecting all the information like weather and man counts, and it’s all in one spot.”

David W., Project Engineer

He also saved a great deal of time collecting data. “We use Raken to track man counts and weather, but we also use it to make sure that each activity has someone responsible for that daily report and someone is getting eyes on it and is reporting what they’re doing as far as progress goes,” he says. “And it’s all in one spot, so I get a daily email that shows how many reports I got and how many people are on site.”

“Even if I’m not on the project, I can keep a pulse on it now.”

David W., Project Engineer

Raken’s ease of use also encourages workers in the field to open the app more often. “I’ve worked with foremen of all different age groups, and everyone’s been very well adapted to Raken,” David says. “They like it because they don’t have to sit in the office and do their dailies to turn into me so I can verify it’s all done. They can go home and do it either at home, or if they’re commuting with someone else, they can do it on the ride. It’s really nice for them to get out of here quicker.”

Onboarding superintendents and foremen with Raken was so easy that he is now implementing it with his subcontractors as well.

Raken helped the entire Mount Signal 2 project move forward more smoothly by eliminating the need for back-and-forths. “I think one of the biggest time sucks I avoid is information tracking,” David says.

“I don’t have to go hunt down my foremen anymore and find out where they are and where their daily is.”

David W., Project Engineer

“I often get pulled in a hundred different directions, and just knowing that there’s one place I can quickly look to and say ‘is this filled out, okay yes it is’ means I don’t need to bother them,” he continues. “I don’t need to track them down, I don’t need to try and call them on the radio or the phone. That’s where I save a lot of time.”

By making sure that daily reports, time cards, manpower figures, and more get completed every day, Swinerton can improve visibility, save time, and settle disputes more easily, which saves money and improves efficiency.

“I ran into an issue where we were keeping track and helping out a subcontractor, and there was money involved,” Tito says. But Raken provided a fast solution.

“We went back to our dailies and we saw that it was documented in there properly.”

Tito G., Assistant Superintendent

“It helped us out and we saved money, which is always good,” he explained. “People don’t always remember everything they did and, with Raken, it’s easy to enter it and then go back to it.”

When done right, construction reporting can be an absolute lifesaver for settling disputes, as long as your daily reports, time cards, and other field management documents are accurate every day. With comprehensive reports you can go back to and reference, project managers, superintendents and foremen can rest assured knowing they’ll have the evidence they need should a dispute arise.

Gonzalo Gomez, a foreman on the project, agrees. “We had a delivery issue where there was no BOL. We were looking for that specific day where we had that delivery and couldn’t find it,” he says. “So we just looked in Raken, saw that we received 15 trucks that day, and there was our answer: 15 trucks, but the BOL was missing.”

“It’s as simple as that, you just go back and review your Raken.”

Gonzalo G., Foreman

By keeping up on his daily reports, Gomez was able to quickly identify a problem that could have potentially been a huge issue later on.

Improved compliance

Raken also increased reporting compliance among the subcontractors at the Los Banos site. When explaining why, Foreman Ricardo Briseño says, “Normally we’re used to doing daily reports on paper. Raken helps out a lot, even just being able to enter info anywhere on the jobsite, not just in the office where you have a hard surface to write on,” Briseño observes. “The first day someone showed me how to use Raken, and it was really simple.”

“It’s a simple set up and easy to learn.”

Ricardo B., Foreman

By streamlining the reporting process, Swinerton was able to ensure more subcontractors turned in their dailies on time. Crews in the field followed the course of least resistance when it came to filling out their reports. If technology was too complicated, the field abandoned it for something easier. By focusing on ease of use for the crews in the field, Raken’s daily report software ensures that it’s an easier process than pen and paper while providing a more accurate report.

“It takes not even a minute to go in there and see what we did that day.”

Ricardo B., Foreman

Because superintendents and foremen in the field actually enjoyed using Raken, David noticed he wasn’t just saving time. “Definitely daily compliance has gone up,” he said. “Now that it’s easier to fill out dailies, I’ve seen a lot more compliance.”

Ease-of-use wasn’t the only reason for increased compliance on the Mount Signal 2 site. Because everyone onsite had access to the real-time dashboard, they could see what had been done, as well as who was missing a report for their work.

The result of this increased transparency was immediately noticeable. “When you go into Raken and see what activities have had a daily put in, it’s crowdsourcing accountability,” David says. “Guys will say ‘oh, he didn’t put his daily in, what’s up with that?’ or when, as a group, we have our plan of the day meeting in the morning, they’ll say ‘hey, where’s your Raken? Why didn’t you fill out your daily?'”

David no longer has to go out into the field and bug his guys to get in their reports, they see what’s been done and Raken takes care of the rest.

“Rather than just me tracking one person down, we’re all together in Raken. Other people are seeing the same data, then that leads to higher compliance.”

David W., Project Engineer

Time saved

By helping them avoid problems and increasing visibility into daily field operations, Raken was able to save Swinerton time and money. “It definitely helps out when someone needs to know what got done during the day, when something got moved, or how many people were there at the time,” Briseño says. Because Swinerton chose a digital tool for their construction field management, they can find the information they need, when they need it.

Understanding how Swinerton and their teams have transformed the Los Banos site, and knowing how they did it, makes the entire project that much more impressive. As Tito said, “Having Raken on an iPad to show off your work is definitely helpful.”