Training Center boosted Verdex' Procore usage by 45%

The Challenge

Verdex Construction opened its doors in South Florida 2014 and rapidly grew to $135 million in annual revenue, making it the third fastest growing company in South Florida in 2019. The Verdex team needed to solidify its Standard Operating Procedures quickly and ensure adherence and collaboration among its growing number of team members. It became increasingly critical that both Procore training and Verdex SOPs be disseminated, adopted, and absorbed quickly. The company’s three-ring SOP binder didn’t easily allow for upgrades and additions to its processes nor reflect the more technologically advanced company it had become.

The Solution

Procore’s Training Center allowed the growing general contractor to completely customize a Verdex-unique, cloud-based, one-stop repository where workers could have their every Procore and SOP question answered. As the company grew, the Training Center buildout even helped Verdex discover, initiate, and develop company SOPs suggested by the process.

The Results

Assistant Project Manager Finds Herself in a Three-Ring Bind

Verdex Construction was founded by a deeply experienced veteran of the construction business who wasted no time racing for success with his company launch in 2014. There were projects to win and a portfolio to seed. The Verdex leadership chose to invest in state-of-the-art software for all of its construction processes, so engaging with Procore was the automatic choice for it to continue its drive with pistons firing. As Verdex tripled its workforce in two years, it became evident that it needed to establish an onboarding program. Okay…and? "And our tactic of onboarding staff to Procore was to send new hires to my jobsite trailer while I was helping to run the project." Tiffanie Artigas, Verdex's Manager of Construction Technology, pauses to let this sink in. "I was showing them how to use Procore in between processing submittals and RFIs. That worked for a little while, at the beginning, but it soon became evident that we needed something else." A key component of its onboarding—the project management process- was becoming bogged down as the company quickly acquired new business and the Verdex workforce swelled.

Procore Training Center is Always Open

Over a period of about four months Verdex added numerous team members. The company found it needed a new way to consolidate and disseminate SOPs and Procore training. They learned of a new product offering from Procore—a cloud-based repository that would effectively combine a dynamic Procore user manual and Verdex’s own best practices and company-specific instructions and SOPs. Verdex headquarters knew who would be best qualified to set it up.

"They offered to create a Manager of Construction Technology position," Tiffanie says. "And they tasked me with developing the Training Center, plus all the company SOPs and training going forward." That is, Tiffanie would design the architecture and layout of Verdex’s Procore Training Center while simultaneously codifying company policy and best practices and building those into the Center, too.

Once the Procore Training Center was up and running, she organized a two day companywide kickoff. "We focused on how to navigate the Training Center to find the information the operations team was looking for. We made it abundantly clear that they didn’t need to memorize everything we were telling them. All they needed to do was remember how to use the "keys" in the Training Center to find the information themselves!" Less a detailed list of policies, procedures, and Procore knowhow, and more a ‘There’s the library, that’s the front door, and here’s how you get around in there.’

Emerging SOPs

Tiffanie found a curious thing happening as she began building out the Procore Training Center; the process actually helped formalize Verdex’s best practices and procedures. As it was still formalizing its SOPs, Tiffanie found the process brought a particular clarity to defining Verdex’s processes. "Building out the Training Center was a really good time to review every one of our original SOPs," Tiffanie points out. "We were growing and elevating our practices everyday so it was a perfect time to say, ‘Hey, let’s update this.’ Building out and populating the Training Center is a great way to perform that type of review." Now that Tiffanie Artigas has put together and rolled out the Training Center, she finds the main thing is to keep reminding people that everything they need to know is in there. Type in a search term and your question will be answered. Boom. Tiffanie built it….she should know. "It is constantly being updated. If you ever have a question about ‘how do I do this,’ the answer is in the Training Center." Verdex’s Manager of Construction Technology is willing to make a high-tech guarantee. "If you can’t find the answer in the Training Center, I’ll buy you a full-sized candy bar!"