Managing Complexity at Scale

The Challenge

RM Watson delivers diverse remedial projects involving concrete repair, waterproofing works, structural upgrades, façade upgrades, flammable cladding replacement, and heritage restoration. Across projects one challenge remains constant: the work takes place on occupied sites where people continue to live, work and shop. 

The Metro Residences Chatswood cladding remediation project highlights both the complex demands of the work and the specialist expertise needed to deliver it. RM Watson was removing, recycling, and replacing 18,000 square metres of combustible cladding across three residential towers home to more than 1,200 residents. Situated above five levels of retail and a major Sydney transport hub, and surrounded by narrow streets, the site presented significant access challenges for teams and equipment, requiring close collaboration and accurate information. 

As projects scaled in size and complexity, RM Watson looked to streamline operations, while safeguarding the technical excellence, expert knowledge, and close collaboration that are cornerstones of their long-standing reputation. Site and office teams needed real time access to a shared record of project activity, quality, safety, costs and forecasting; with the visibility and control to keep teams and clients up to date and projects on track.

The Solution

RM Watson chose Procore to connect site and office teams, bringing cost, contract and project information together to deliver a shared, real-time view of daily activity, variations, budgets, commitments, claims and reporting.

“Rather than working in silos, we use Procore to strengthen teamwork and collaboration through increased knowledge sharing and insights across project data, financials and reporting,” Operations Director Nicole Dent explains.

“Along the way, we’re capturing the tacit knowledge team members often carry in their heads that can be lost when they move on to the next project. We’re making sure we can share and use that to keep learning and innovating.”

For Health and Safety Adviser Cliodhna Devlin, the benefits are clearest on site, where site diaries, inspections and access checks, together with Toolbox Talks translated into more than 20 languages, bring vital safety and project information together in real time.

In this way, RM Watson uses Procore’s tools and workflows to connect site and office teams, keep clients informed and maintain visibility and control as projects progress. 

The Results

• Site and office teams share real-time project data across safety, quality, financials and reporting
• Scaled delivery with consistent workflows, customised templates, forms and documentation designed for diverse projects
• Strengthened cost control with a consolidated view over budgets, commitments, variations, claims and retention
• Enabled clients to access real-time site photos and daily updates to complement monthly reporting
• Streamlined safety, quality and access processes through inspections, Action Plans, site diaries and 360 Reporting

Connecting site and office for shared visibility and control

RM Watson uses Procore to connect cost, contract and workflow information across complex remediation projects, from budgets and commitments to progress claims, retention, change events and variations.

“We’ve really focused on using Procore Financials as our go-to for cost control and documentation,” Nicole says. “That includes the budget, commitments and change events. Basically, all the things that link our sites into the office.”

“When it comes to remediation projects, there are inherently a lot of surprises that don’t necessarily reveal themselves until the access is up and works have started,” Nicole says. “That’s just one of the reasons why workflow management around variations is critical.”

Site managers capture scope issues and changes as they emerge and move them directly into a defined workflow. Contract administrators and project managers can then assess the cost impact, issue the change event and formalise the variation within the same system.

“The beauty of having this process embedded is that we can upload a variation that’s still unapproved, and we’ve got it tracked,” Nicole says. “We can all see it’s there and follow up with the client if something’s not approved. That helps with our forecasting too, so it’s a great benefit for us.”

“Another big one for me is the commitments module,” Nicole says. “We’ve got all our subcontracts set up in Procore, so we always know exactly what we’re committed to. That also helps structure the progress claims for the subbies on site. Generally, admin isn’t exactly their favourite thing to do, so this is a win-win for both them and us.”

“At the same time we can use Procore to offer real-time insights and transparency for our clients. Rather than waiting for a monthly report or photo updates, they can head into the platform at any time and see what’s happening right now. They’re very busy people and can’t always get to site, so it’s a great way for them to keep their finger on the pulse.”

Scaling with confidence and consistency

As RM Watson continues to grow, the team uses Procore to develop and maintain tailored and consistent processes along with accurate, accessible project records.

“We’ve grown to a team of almost 100 now, and still have clear lines of responsibility, streamlined correspondence and all the documentation for every project in Procore,” Nicole says. “We’re not relying on hunting around in folders and shared drives trying to find what we need. Having one central system continues to help us scale in a systematic way, regardless of the size or type of project.”

Project and report templates, structured budgets and configurable PDFs provide a consistent foundation, while allowing RM Watson to tailor outputs for individual clients.

“We have great project templates we use for every single project in the same way,” Nicole says. “Configurable PDFs mean we can edit our progress claim in the exact format the client wants to see, with room to make the changes we need for specific projects.”

“Ultimately, having the same people setting up the same projects in the same way is a huge time saver. We’ve come such a long way in making sure that everything is really consistent across all of our sites.”

Keeping complex site operations visible

Safety comes first on all RM Watson projects, with Procore tools used to help track and maintain a clear record of the inspections, pre-starts and access checks that need to happen before teams begin work each day.

“We’ve built such a good safety culture on Chatswood, and that’s been the drive for the project since the start: making sure everyone gets home safely each day,” says Health and Safety Adviser Cliodhna Devlin. “The reason the project runs smoothly is because we have good communication and the right tools.”

“Across the three towers, we have 14 swing stages, seven mast climbers, rope access works, a tower crane, forklifts and mobile cranes coming in and out every day. I get to site first thing and check that the inspections for all access equipment have been completed. With so much high-risk equipment moving across the site, these checks are non-negotiable. If an inspection wasn’t completed in Procore that morning, the equipment wouldn’t be used.”

Site diaries, photos, incidents, observations and follow-up actions are shared across site, office and leadership teams. Thousands of photos are uploaded to project albums each day, giving the team a verifiable record of work, delays and access issues. These records support reporting and audits and enable site and office teams to see what happened on site on any given day.

“We use the Action Plan tool to record quality from start to finish, from when the cladding product arrives on site to when it’s installed on the building,” Cliodhna says. “I can instantly see what stage each tower is at in terms of safety and quality. We also use handover checklists and inspections in one central location, which makes life easier not just for me, but for the site managers as well.”

“From a safety perspective, there are so many different working locations and every trade needs to be aware of what’s going on,” Cliodhna says. “I have great faith in all our team, but we always need to make sure everyone is on the same page and nobody walks into an exclusion zone without knowing. For a lot of our subcontractors, English isn’t their first language, so we’ve designed and developed our forms and processes with that in mind.”

With more than 20 languages spoken across the Chatswood site, Cliodhna has customised RM Watson’s Toolbox Talk process to ensure critical safety information reaches every subcontractor in their own language.

“Our site manager writes out the Toolbox Talk, and we have a translator signature at the top,” she explains. “The translator confirms everything has been translated into the right languages, and then all our subcontractors sign to confirm they’ve received and understood the information.”

This creates a clear chain of accountability and a verifiable record that essential safety information has been translated and communicated. Bringing these forms, records and workflows together in Procore gives RM Watson a shared view of safety and quality across every tower, team and stage of the project.

Seeing the bigger picture

Cliodhna and the team also use 360 Reporting to track incidents, observations and non-conformances across RM Watson’s portfolio.

“This gives me a chance to look beyond the day-to-day across all the jobs to identify trends,” Cliodhna says. “For example, if manual handling has caused three incidents on one particular site, I’ll know there’s an issue there that needs to be addressed. My reporting goes up to senior management level, so they’re aware of what’s going on across the site as well and we can take action.”

By connecting site activity with commercial and operational workflows, RM Watson is using Procore to maintain visibility and control, keep clients informed and carrying knowledge from one project to the next.

For other construction businesses considering a move to Procore, Nicole says the value is clear.

“Number one, Procore is a great collaboration tool,” she says. “If you really want to connect your site to your office and become more time efficient, it’s a bit of a no-brainer. Absolutely, you need this kind of system for your business.”