Introducing Procore Preconstruction: Building Predictable and Profitable Projects
July 12, 2021
By Kristy McKnight, VP Product, Project Management and Preconstruction
Our mission has always been to connect everyone in construction on a global platform. And that includes the folks who work on projects before they break ground.
According to FMI, the industry spends more than $500 billion a year on rework driven in part by poor communication. We also know from speaking with customers that bad estimating is a key driver in cost overruns. Essentially there are two levers for preventing widespread cost overruns:
Earlier engagement with more accurate estimating, and managing design more effectively. Both begin in preconstruction when teams are laying the proverbial foundations for every new project.
Procore has long been regarded as a leading solution for construction project management software. In fact, two weeks ago Procore earned a 2021 Top Rated Construction Product Award from TrustRadius. Today, we’re excited to announce Procore Preconstruction — we’ve improved the Procore platform by providing enhanced preconstruction solutions to better connect preconstruction and course of construction workflows. Procore Preconstruction pulls together our Document Management,
Drawings, Models, Design Coordination, Takeoff, Estimating, Prequalification, Bid Management, Project Costing and Analytics tools. This is the only solution in the industry that connects people, designs, and data across preconstruction and course of construction on a single platform with analytics tools to support the entire process.
Owners and contractors who want to build and win more profitable projects, now have a platform that connects every stakeholder to the design, estimate, bidding and budgets all in one
integrated platform. We know that while the project timeline moves linearly, the process is complex and dynamic. The more connected all the stakeholders are and the more connected
the phases of construction are, the better the chance everyone can control the project outcome.
(Graphic – Procore Preconstruction visual with bullet points)
○ Improve design collaboration across stakeholders
○ Streamline the bidding process
○ Estimate confidently setting your project up for success
○ Benchmark to improve bids and outcomes
Improving Estimates by Connecting Estimating to Financials
Procore’s Preconstruction is designed to connect all of your stakeholders and workflows. Starting with estimating and takeoff, data flows into bidding and financials tools so you can
better manage project costs by connecting your preconstruction teams with the field. By allowing users to automatically create budgets and prime contracts from an estimate with a
single click we are saving time and providing transparency in the transition from Precon to Operations.
“It’s improved communication between estimators and project teams. We used to waste time recreating budgets at the beginning of a project, but now with Esticom we just hit transfer to
Procore.”
– Thomas Bencteux, Continuous Improvement Coordination, Grimard
Connecting Drawing Markups to Estimating
Connecting estimating to the project documents allows us to significantly improve collaboration between the estimator, project manager, and finance team by helping the project team
understand exactly what the estimator considered during the preconstruction process. It also allows markups on plan changes to be passed back to estimators in the office to price.
Auto-Count in Takeoff
Building an accurate takeoff involves a lot of counting which can be time-consuming and error-prone. Our innovative AI & ML feature called Auto-Count assists in symbol recognition and
dramatically reduces the time needed to complete takeoff. This allows your precon team to focus on adding value and ensuring that they have the most complete and accurate estimate of the project.
Analytics & Benchmarks
Because your projects all exist on a single connected platform, we can put your preconstruction data to work. With our new Benchmarks, now available within Procore Analytics, users can compare their own past performance of initial estimates to final budget at project delivery. You can even analyze the performance of specific trades across projects of similar size and type.
“Procore Analytics provides visibility for us to analyze and validate information quickly, to allow us to make decisions faster and with more confidence.”
– Scott Polsen, Managing Director, Benmax
Coming Soon: New Enhanced Reporting
We’re not stopping there. These same benchmarks data sets that are so useful for informing project planning will also soon be available through an entirely new reporting framework on the Procore Platform. This framework delivers cross-platform reporting functionality and enables reporting on historical project data to help with estimating and bidding. It also makes daily, weekly, and monthly reporting much easier by allowing the creation and scheduling of custom reports.
Connected Design and Constructability Review
If the first half of reducing cost risk is earlier engagement with more accurate estimating, the second half is better design coordination to ensure constructability. Procore includes key tools for effectively managing design collaboration. We know from speaking with customers that constructability review is an all-hands-on-deck process with the design team, project team, owner, and specialty contractors collaborating to eliminate confusion and re-work in the field.
Coordination Issues on Drawings
Our users have made it clear that design coordination is critical to their success, so we’ve taken steps to make it easier on our platform. Users can now perform collaborative design reviews on drawings with our coordination issues tool. This new feature means that teams can track and manage all 2D and 3D design issues in one location. 
Follow Me in Procore BIM
Thanks to our new “Follow Me” feature in Procore BIM, It’s now even easier for users working together on design reviews to see what each other are seeing in the model. Users can see all active users reviewing the model and navigate directly to their location with a single click, making design reviews more efficient and effective. With these enhancements, we are giving everyone the tools to participate in design review, not just the VDC manager. (Link to demo video)
Dynamic 2D Views from Procore BIM
We’ve also introduced our patented Dynamic 2D Views feature which makes it possible for any user to create drawings (2D views) of the design on the fly from the model. Now teams can see all building systems consolidated on a single view to make sure everything is coordinated and located properly prior to construction. Then, once the project breaks ground, Dynamic 2D Views can be used in the field validating installation and eliminating the need for lift drawings. (Link to demo video)
“Having access to elevation drawings, on-the-fly, in Procore, is just one more tool that enables me to do my job more efficiently.”
– Josh Soules, Foreman, North Mechanical Contracting
We know that connecting everyone across the entire construction process is an ongoing journey as the way we build evolves. Today’s feature enhancements are a big step in connecting preconstruction professionals to their partners in the field. But we know the work isn’t done. Just like every great construction project you have to start somewhere, and today we laid the foundations.
