A huge ball pit around the printer to discourage printing is according to Matthijs Zomer of BPZ not even a strange idea. Make deals at half past one at night? No problem.. Innovative ideas with a touch of craziness. That is typical for the door specialist. Therefore 12Build fits perfectly into the picture.
BPZ is booming. After a number of years in Tynaarlo, the company moved to the provincial capital of Drenthe: Assen. The company is a total caretaker in the field of windows, doors and hinges and locks. Need maintenance? They also take care of that.
Doors, window frames, hinges and locks are the last elements that come into play in a construction project. It might be very practical to have all documents stored securely and neatly, so that you can start working more than a year later after a request for quotation.
Too much information
Requests for a construction project are sometimes still received by Matthijs Zomer via WeTransfer. It is possible, but that is not his preference. “There is far too much information in the transfer,” he explains. “You download all the files, save them on your hard drive and then you look for the documents that are most important for you. Not efficient. You spend a lot of time on that. ”
Matthijs thinks 12Build's document tool is a solution. “With 12Build you immediately have an overview of all documents, the data is complete and everything is in clear, logical places. With 12Build you can even search directly through all documents without having to download them,” he says. “In the 'old' way you often get a lot of folders with information, while 12Build allows you to choose what is important to you. What you need, you use. What you don't need, you don’t look at.”
“If everyone starts working with 12Build, the process would be a lot easier.”
In 12Build, general contractors can indicate which documents apply to which subcontractors. For example, 12Build ensures that subcontractors do not receive an enormous load of information. BPZ notices that more and more general contractors are working this way. The number of applications made in the specialization "Frames, windows and doors" has grown by 14% this year!
Ideal image
What’s the workflow like at BPZ? Very simple. BPZ must be found by general contractors. That goes well, because the company has a Premium Profile subscription at 12Build and is therefore in the top of the search results. Matthijs receives a request, indicates that he will start calculating and submits a quotation as soon as possible. He also has email contact with the general contractor. E-mails that are all documented in the 12Build system. The ideal world, right?
Unfortunately, it doesn't always work that way. “We still receive a lot of quotation requests outside of 12Build. Then not everything is kept up to date,” says Matthijs. There is a huge difference in how much time it takes between requests in "the old way" and requests via 12Build. “When we receive requests outside of 12Build, they are sometimes incomplete. You can really see whether a general contractor has put time into that or not. ”
Matthijs thinks for a moment and continues: “Heijmans works very differently from Dura Vermeer and Dura Vermeer does it differently from Van Wijnen. Everyone does it differently and in their own way. That’s sometimes very confusing.” One standard method. That should be the solution.
Digitization
BPZ tries to keep the processes as standard as possible and to digitize them quickly. “We have to. 12Build has been in the picture for years. We started with an 12Build subscription”, says Matthijs. After a while, the company wanted to rank higher in the search results and switched to an Premium Profile. With success: BPZ is the second most requested subcontractor in their specialization at 12Build.
“We are always digitizing”, Matthijs continues. "We talk a lot online, we often work in the cloud, but we still use the printer." He points to his desk, where about fifteen A4s with quotations are displayed. “I'm actually a very bad example,” he says laughing. "You can print at BPZ, but we try to discourage it." Last month, the idea was to ball pit around the printer, in the middle of the office space. Matthijs: “Then you have to defy the balls before you get to the printer.”
“Construction is late with innovations. We want to move! ”
But digitization also has a downside. “You now have WhatsApp on your laptop. Social media continuously emits sounds on your phone. There are many requests for quotations. Then it is very nice to have one central point where you have at least all important information together. We have a turnover of 30 million euros. Our work just has to be efficient.”
As an example, Matthijs mentions the quality marks and certification that a construction company must now have in order to meet the many requirements. “It's great at 12Build that you can enter everything once and general contractors can immediately see that you are suitable for a project.”
Friendly cooperation
12Build has been in the picture at BPZ for years. A stable relationship, especially with sales manager Fokke Noppert. Matthijs: “I like that 12Build doesn't just try to sell you something, but really thinks along with you. You take the time for us as a customer. An important strength of 12Build. ”A short check with Fokke confirms the relationship with BPZ. “This was my only deal at 1:30 at night,” the sales manager says with a laugh. “With the last email that night: ‘I’m going to hit the sack."
Matthijs Zomer
DGA and project manager