How Creative Vision rebuilt trust in the construction industry

How Creative Vision rebuilt trust in the construction industry with DocuSign eSignature

Creative Vision (CV) stands at the forefront of innovation and trust in the building and construction industry. As a distinguished project management firm, CV operates seamlessly across the Australian eastern seaboard.

Their comprehensive suite of services includes project management, superintendent roles, design and planning, development, construction management, business advisory, and client representation.

At the heart of CV's operations is their core delivery of project management. With a focus on a diverse array of building types and sectors, including residential, education, early learning centres, industrial, and commercial ventures, CV has carved a niche for itself as a dynamic and versatile player in the industry that is trustworthy.

Building success: An expert team ahead of the curve

The strength of CV lies in its seasoned team, boasting individuals with extensive experience elevated by modern technology. It’s this team of experts that has enabled CV to build the reputation it has as a pioneer in project management. 

After recently renewing their iCIRT certification—an independent construction industry star-rating tool that assesses building professionals—David Kamel founder and director of Creative Vision (CV) reflected on the foundations of CV’s leadership.

“We were one of the first project management firms in the country to receive a trustworthy gold star rating,” he said. 

The rating in question helps customers vet out the trusted and reliable firms from those who aren’t quite up to scratch—this is further enforced by the NSW State Government as part of its six pillars of reform. One of the six pillars of reform is concerned with digital technology—and that’s where DocuSign comes in. Having trusted processes for contracts and agreements among all parties was essential for CV in meeting the requirements of this pillar.

“DocuSign really represents that entire [Digital Tools pillar]. With one solution, we’ve demonstrated how we’ve covered that. It's tangible and it’s alive—and it’s acting in every moving part of our company. It creates a holistic approach to building and maintaining trust.”

Beyond this, the eSignature solution also contributed to CV’s International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 21500 certification, due to DocuSign being secure-by-design. It also enabled CV to achieve its Integrated Management System (IMS) certification.

All these certifications and government requirements were key to CV achieving total project control with any project—and the first step in rebuilding trust between all parties in the construction industry.

Streamlining procurement processes

As a dynamic firm, the team at CV finds themselves taking on a diverse set of roles, all with unique needs and project lifecycles. Because of this, having a solution that could adapt was pivotal.

For example, in their role as a superintendent during the design phase, CV takes charge of tendering, consultant procurement, design management, and approval processes on behalf of their clients. Utilising DocuSign, the team ensures a seamless flow of client contracts from tender to design approval. 

Here, DocuSign eSignature is the final piece in procuring consultants, managing their onboarding, and facilitating the entire design phase. The platform is also instrumental in the subsequent tendering process for head contractors, providing a centralised and efficient means of documentation.

When engaged as a project manager by a builder, CV extends its procurement expertise to subcontractors and suppliers. Using DocuSign, the team can easily scope, negotiate, draft contracts, and execute agreements. 

“The good thing is, we’re getting directors to sign these contracts—not just anybody—so we’ve got control, and that’s an important aspect of our process,” said David.

Quantifying the mammoth workload CV has to complete with each project, David summed up an entire project lifecycle.

“We’re dealing with 30-40 entities with every project. Then when it heads off to the head contractor, there’s another run of contracts. Then there’s 40 or so subcontractors, around 15 suppliers, and then we have a consent authority sign off which is another 15 documents.”

And that’s all for one project.

CV estimates that DocuSign eSignature has helped the team achieve a 40% increase in efficiency in their procurement processes. Not only has this streamlined CV’s workload, it’s also been met with positive reception by stakeholders.

“A lot of stakeholders recognise DocuSign and love that we use DocuSign. They don’t have to sit there for 30 minutes and fill out paperwork; it’s just sign and you’re done,” said David. 

A seamless integration to enhance flow

Another core solution in CV’s technology stack is leading construction management software Procore. A big reason that CV was drawn to DocuSign is for its ability to seamlessly integrate with Procore, ensuring seamless processes throughout an entire project lifecycle. 

“When we onboard the commitments of subcontractors on Procore, we’ll go out to tender using the tender tool on Procore. Once this is finalised and we’re ready for the execution of contracts, we’ll upload this contract and issue it seamlessly via the DocuSign plug-in with Procore.”

“Clients love it because they’re time poor. Even when I need clients to sign off on consent, we create ease of mind for them. It creates a proper, smoothly flowing process for us.”

Projects are also categorised into ‘value types’, allowing the CV team to easily track and sort projects on DocuSign.

Growing the business with the right tools

The benefits of using DocuSign aren’t exclusive to external stakeholders—rather the tool has helped the team at CV reap rewards measured in productivity and cost savings too.

Speaking to the productivity benefits, David said staff have become empowered to focus on higher value, more creative tasks—now that they’re free of the mundane.

“From a staff perspective, they can better focus on the key elements of their job. It’s created an efficiency where they can spend more time on dispute resolution, value engineering, and dealing with communication with clients. It allows us to always be two steps ahead of a project.” 

Speaking to the bigger picture, David says it’s also enabled him to focus on growing the business. “From a business perspective, it gives me a lot of time and capacity to be working on the business and not in the business.”

Having a digital alternative to contract lifecycle management has also meant CV has saved on printing and postage costs. With the average amount of documents needed for one project stacking up to 140 agreements, it’s estimated that CV saves roughly $5,000 on contract management per project.

Looking back at when CV began and where it’s headed, the firm continues to be a pillar of trust in the construction industry. The partnership between CV and DocuSign is one of a shared vision: to facilitate trusted relationships and make agreements seamless.

“I’ve used DocuSign for over eight years. Since the inception and since I started Creative Vision, it was one of the first software packages I implemented immediately. The whole team is upskilled with it and we operate blindly with it. Our clients love it. Our stakeholders love it,” said David.