Kyle Conlan, Vice President
“We understand the need for proper organization and bid management software tools to keep you moving forward efficiently on your projects.”
The construction industry is under a significant paradigm shift. Today, new technologies in the construction sector are being developed at a breakneck pace. What seemed like future tech a decade ago like IoT equipment and tools, telematics, mobile apps, drones, robots, artificial intelligence and virtual reality, and 3D printed buildings are here and being deployed and used on job sites across the world.
However, a major challenge still plagues the arena, which is companies not being able to use construction software easily, so users can put together the best estimate and bid possible. A lot of construction technology is built intricately, not for novice users. The vast majority in the construction industry are not tech-savvy, one can say. However, Florida based PlanHub is redefining the entire sector. PlanHub is a cloud-based bid management application that facilitates the bidding process during pre-construction phase of construction projects. It’s a freeway for general contractors to share project files, communicate with multiple subcontractors at once, and receive bids to get their proposal together. Subcontractors can view these projects, posted by General Contractors, according to their trade and region and choose to place bids on those projects within the application. In just a few years, PlanHub has grown its general contractor and subcontractor user base to 250,000 active users—the reason is one can learn how to use PlanHub in just a few minutes, compared to doing multiple training sessions required by other companies.
Kevin Priddyis, the President and CEO of PlanHub, was launched in October 2016. Kevin has been responsible for all operations of the company and spearheads its growth opportunities. Before PlanHub, Kevin founded EliteProNet in 2008. He holds a Certified General Contractor license in the state of Florida and served as President of a South Florida concrete company. Once a general contractor and a subcontractor, Kevin understands the challenges construction companies face when it comes to finding new business and marketing their company. In addition to his two decades of experience in the construction industry, Kevin also spent a significant amount of time in the Investment Banking business. He started his career as a Financial Advisor and Registered Principal with Morgan Stanley and later went on to co-found Palm Beach Wealth Management in North Palm Beach, Florida. Kevin is supported by Kyle Conlan, who is the Vice President of PlanHub, and works extensively with other leadership-based positions to ensure the vision of PlanHub is being accomplished every single day. Kyle eventually went on to meet Kevin in early 2010 a year after the original company, EliteProNet, was launched. The knowledge and resources he gained during those years with EliteProNet played a pivotal part in getting PlanHub launched and to market as quickly as it did. “In 2019 to the current date, we started a hiring spree, from leadership positions to sales, research, support and technology,” says Kevin. “We expanded our office space in West Palm Beach, and opened a secondary office in Tallahassee this month of March 2020.”
How PlanHub Works
For General Contractors, PlanHub acts as a construction bidding platform and an online plan room for General Contractors. When interacting with General Contractors, Kevin noticed the contractors were gaining immense benefits from PlanHub like increased bids—the average bid invite sent through PlanHub goes to over 4,000 registered Subcontractors—this increases the number of construction bids a General Contractor might receive on each scope of work. The steadfast leader also noticed lower construction costs as the additional bids increased competition and, as a result, typically lower the General Contractor’s construction costs. Thus, the odds the General Contractor gets selected to build a project increased and profitability was maximized.
PlanHub also assisted in amplifying the business growth for the General Contractor who could bid on projects outside their normal construction area by utilizing PlanHub’s network of Subcontractors. They could establish new Subcontractors in those areas by posting projects on PlanHub. The contractors were also able to track project interest as bid activity tracking allows the General Contractor to see every Subcontractor that viewed or downloaded their project, indicating project interest. PlanHub organizes that information in an accessible format for that General Contractor to reach out directly if desired.
On the flipside, PlanHub closely understands that Subcontractors need to spend more time in the field, completing projects than at a desk performing bids. With this in mind, the PlanHub team designed the software so that Subcontractors have organized access to project files, instant messaging to General Contractors, and have a wider pool of projects in which to choose. With these features and a focus on the Subcontractors’ needs, we are positive that PlanHub can help increase your subcontracting business and streamline the construction bidding process.
PlanHub is a construction bid software and an online plan room that offers many different features explicitly made for General Contractors and Subcontractors. “We understand the need for proper organization and bid management software tools to keep you moving forward efficiently on your projects,” adds Kevin. “PlanHub is entirely cloud-based, meaning you can access your project files from anywhere.”
General Contractor features include free registration, sending invites to subcontractor in the network, post unlimited projects, add unlimited team members, activity tracking on who’s bidding or not bidding, bid organization, instant messaging to subcontractors, view subcontractor profiles, unlimited file space. The Subcontractor features include free registration access to PlanHub, view bid construction projects that you have been invited to bid on, customize your project relevancy by region and trade, instant messaging to General Contractors, and view other projects available to bid on with PlanHub Premier. They also offer Out of Network Construction Bids, Instant Messaging, and Efficient Communication with the RFI Center. It is pertinent to mention that users can exchange important information, blueprints, plans, and other vital project files. All users have an encrypted login, which provides tracking for general contractors to see who viewed and downloaded project files.
Making Workflow Easier
A general contractor can register to PlanHub and post a project in just a few minutes. They can share their project information with their own network of subcontractors or use PlanHub’s vast database of subcontractors and suppliers. Cloud-technology makes it easy because you don’t have to download the software to start using it. You can simply type in the web address in your browser and login for instant access anywhere.
PlanHub is a central marketplace where all preconstruction projects begin. General contractors can post-construction projects in the marketplace. General contractors can upload their list of subcontractors to view, download, and bid those projects, or general contractors can also use the vast network of subcontractors already in PlanHub. Subcontractors and suppliers can search for projects in their area, and choose to view, download, and bid those projects.
In an instance, Nuvolt Electric – subcontractor who joined PlanHub several years ago, was a struggling construction business. Today, they are doing 5 million in revenue. They have expanded from Georgia to Florida and 100% of their business comes from PlanHub. Another example is how today GCs, on average, get 4x more bids using PlanHub than any other source out there, including paid sources. GCs can post projects on our platform for free.
“Subcontractors are looking for a solution where they can access all the general contractors’ files throughout their area, so the challenge is getting all the general contractors using PlanHub,” Kyle. “We make it easy for General Contractors to want to use our platform because it’s free for general contractors to use, and our software platform generates four times the amount of bids than competitor platforms.”
The Road Ahead
Recently, PlanHub and DataBid entered into a national partnership, combining aspects of PlanHub’s highly-rated construction bidding software and online plan room solution with features of Databid’s construction lead software company. According to Kevin, as technology continues to move at a fast pace in business, software companies recognize the need to provide added features to increase retention and customer loyalty against the competition. The PlanHub-Databid business partnership will provide shared data between both private and public construction projects with their individual user bases. Public projects that are on DataBid will be available to PlanHub users to bid on, and private projects that are on PlanHub will be available to DataBid users to bid on. “DataBid is the leader in pre-construction project information for the state of Illinois, which boasts some of the fastest construction growth in the U.S. The partnership we have created with them has helped boost the presence of PlanHub in the Chicagoland area that we did not previously have. There is a huge need for a construction ITB management software like PlanHub, and no other company has a better reputation in Illinois than DataBid for construction project information. This is a huge win for both companies!” adds Kyle.
Both Kevin and Kyle are motivated by the fact that technology is ever-changing, and they realize that there could be two young guys in a garage right now trying to make things better in construction technology. Keeping that in mind, Kevin and Kyle are always brainstorming ideas, competitive advantages, and other major improvements to PlanHub to keep up with customer demand and be innovative.
For the days to come, PlanHub has a plan to create a premium product for general contractors, a premium product for suppliers, and expansion of its services into Canada. Aside from adding new internal team members, they plan on launching new services, such as a Premium General Contractor service, enterprise sales for Suppliers, in addition to the subcontractor Premier plans and add-ons. PlanHub will be mobile-responsive in early 2020. “There will be more analytical tools, project stats, integration with on-screen technology software, and a built-in OCR keyword reader to identify projects to trade. PlanHub is always looking for new partners or product integrations,” says Kevin.”
