When we selected Orren Pickell as our 2001 Custom Builder of the Year, one of the things that impressed us most was his embrace of information technology to efficiently manage a large, complex company. So we are not surprised, nearly three years later, to find that Pickell has advanced farther along the same path by centering his entire company’s operations on a vast, comprehensive Internet site. Not surprised, but equally impressed.
“Every client who gives us a check,” be it for a $2 million custom home or the smallest remodel, “we assign them a Web page and password right away, and all of their data is available to them,” Pickell says. The page gives clients 24-hour access to their architectural plans, real-time schedules with start and completion dates for each phase of the project and selection deadlines they must meet to keep the project on track, contact information and e-mail links for all the personnel working on their project, and current digital photography from the jobsite. Each client page also links to a photographic database of over 80,000 product and material options. Selections made online are automatically passed to the project coordinator for ordering.
As whiz-bang as all this may appear to clients, however, what they see is merely the tip of an iceberg.The client’s page presents a filtered view drawn from the mountain of data housed on the company Web site, which will archive every document, every selection, every image, and every communication related to their project, including those they are not privy to. “Simply put,” Pickell says, “this will be an as-built of their project.” Vendors can access the site for a different view, including bidding information, plans, and schedules for current and upcoming projects. The site has become the nerve center for operations and communication for the entire company. Even for tasks “as simple as requesting a check from accounting,” Pickell’s staff goes to the Web site, rather than the office down the hall, or even the phone. “I can’t think of a better way to get a complex process done quickly than on the Internet,” Pickell says. But when a better one appears, we expect to find him using it first.
Orren Pickell Designers & Builders Bannockburn, Ill. Type of business: design/build Years in business: 28 Employees: 120 2002 volume: $30 million 2002 starts: 17
