Real-world success stories: discovering sustainable construction solutions

Davison Earthmovers

November 15, 2022
4 mins read

Davison Earthmovers

Industry:

  • Earthworks
  • Civil Construction
  • Commercial and Industrial
  • Rail Works
  • Public Works

Client:

Davison Earthmovers is based in Adelaide, South Australia, and has been in operation since 1986. The company was originally founded by John Davison but in July 2021 was taken over by his son, Paul. The company is focused on providing earthmoving services to the commercial, industrial, government and civil sectors. They undertake a wide variety of projects, ranging from large-scale bulk earthworks using heavy machinery to smaller detailed works such as drainage, kerbing, landscaping, bitumen surfacing and more.

One of their biggest projects completed to date is the Mount Barker Regional Sports Hub which includes two full-sized soccer pitches, 28 000 m2 of roadway and footpath pavement, building pad construction works, two kilometres of stormwater infrastructure, and 700 m of grated-drain installation. The contract value for this project was $3.7 million and the construction duration was ten months.

The Challenge:

Before BuildSmart was implemented, Administration Manager Mary-Ann Higgins and her team experienced numerous challenges including:

  • The execution of supplier invoice approvals and storage processes separately from their accounting system
  • The manual consolidation of contracts, plant ledger and payroll to the general ledger
  • Cumbersome, manual data capturing utilising a paper-based system
  • A reporting process hampered by a lack of effective system report options and ineffective collation of data
  • No activity-based costing which made it difficult to establish whether a project was making a profit or a loss

I’d recommend BuildSmart as a fully integrated system that includes payroll, plant and procurement modules. It gives us greater visibility and control, as all our information and documents are in one place. The combination of value for money, for all these modules in one system, together with dedicated support is great.

Mary-Ann Higgins, Administration Manager,
Davison Earthmovers

The Solution:

The implementation of BuildSmart began in February 2021 and the solution went live in May of the same year. The entire process ran smoothly and was well received by Davison Earthmovers thanks to 24/7 support from the RIB BuildSmart team.

Since implementing the software:

  • Full procurement workflow now happens automatically
  • Unapproved committed costs and progress claims can be tracked and resolved accordingly
  • Importing plant hours is seamlesstakes around an hour to complete as opposed to eight hours previously
  • Payroll integration has improved with pay period rollover automatically posting to the contracts and general ledger
  • Ledger transactions can be run according to categories such as contact, supplier or by contract activity code. Reporting options and parameters have also improved vastly.

The Results:

Davison Earthmovers’ workflow and overview of their projects have been enhanced significantly with the help of BuildSmart. Thanks to the boost in productivity resulting from the solution, the company also enjoys improved cost and contract management, allowing time for the improvement of other systems and procedures.

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