Your subs are waiting on an RFI that's been in the architect's inbox for two weeks. A change order is living in a text thread and will get disputed at final billing. The draw schedule is late because lien waivers aren't collected. Whether you're running residential remodels or commercial build-outs, the paperwork cycle costs as much as the overhead. SYNTAX builds the systems that keep your projects moving.
General contracting is a coordination sport. Your margin depends on subcontractors hitting their windows, RFIs getting answered before they become delays, and change orders being documented before they become disputes. Most GCs are managing all of it manually -- which means a single dropped ball costs you a day, a week, or a client.
Your framer finishes Thursday. Your electrician can't start until Monday because he didn't know the framer was ahead of schedule. Your drywall crew is booked for two weeks after electrical rough-in. A 3-day scheduling gap just became a 17-day delay because no one updated the trade sequence when the schedule shifted. Residential remodels have 6-12 trade handoffs. Commercial build-outs have more. Every unmanaged handoff is a gap that compounds.
A field question goes to the architect or engineer and sits for 14 days while your crew works around it or stops entirely. An unanswered RFI on a structural detail is a job that can't proceed. An unanswered RFI on a finish selection is a crew standing around or making a guess that has to be undone. Most GCs track RFIs in email with no follow-up cycle -- so they age out unless someone manually chases them.
The owner wants to change the kitchen counters mid-project. The scope difference is $3,200. You do the work. At final billing the owner disputes it because it was never documented in writing. The dispute takes 6 weeks to resolve and costs more in time and relationship than the $3,200 was worth. Every undocumented change order on a project is a loaded dispute waiting for closeout.
You submit your draw request to the bank or owner. They're waiting on signed lien waivers from your subs and suppliers before releasing funds. You're waiting on your subs to send them. Your subs are waiting on you to ask. A $45,000 draw sits for 3 weeks because nobody owns the collection process. Cash flow on a multi-phase project can get 60-90 days out of alignment from lien waiver delays alone.
The problems are the same at every scale. The build is different. Here's what SYNTAX deploys depending on where your operation is right now.
We don't sell software subscriptions. We build the automation layer on top of the tools you're already running and deploy it fast. No ripping out your existing stack. Four systems that handle the work that's currently eating your week.
Every trade handoff is mapped at project kickoff: framing complete triggers electrical rough-in window, electrical inspection passed triggers insulation, insulation complete triggers drywall. When a trade milestone is hit, the next trade gets an automatic notification with the confirmed window. When a trade is running behind, the downstream sequence gets updated and affected subs are notified before they show up to a job that isn't ready.
Every scope change generates a change order document immediately -- description of work, cost impact, reason. Sent to the owner for digital signature before work proceeds. Signed change orders log to the project file and roll into the final billing package automatically. Unsigned change orders over 48 hours trigger an internal alert. No billing dispute at closeout because the paper trail ran alongside the work.
Every RFI gets logged with submission date, recipient, and required-by date. Architect or engineer gets a follow-up at day 5 and day 10 if no response. RFIs approaching the required-by date with no response escalate to the project manager. Open RFIs by project visible in one view -- no hunting through email to find out where something stands.
Seven days before a draw submission window, the system sends lien waiver requests to every sub and supplier on that phase. Waivers are collected and logged. Draw package is assembled automatically from completed work documentation. Submitted to lender or owner with complete waiver set attached. No more draws delayed because one sub didn't return a waiver.
SYNTAX came out of Phase III Construction -- an insurance restoration contractor running 5-12 simultaneous jobs across SE Michigan since 1993. Different trade, same structural problem: missed calls, slow collections, callbacks with no data, and jobs that stall when the communication cycle drops. We built these systems because we were the ones bleeding time and margin without them. The same systems that fixed our operation are what we deploy for yours.
Book a free workflow audit. We'll map your current operation, show you exactly where the hours and margin are going, and walk you through what your operation looks like with those gaps closed. 30 minutes. No software to buy. No long-term contracts.
Book a Free Workflow AuditNot sure yet? Run the ROI calculator first →