Robert Fortney lives by one adage when it comes to construction work: the thickest file wins.
No matter how many general contractors are bidding on a project, Fortney knows it is the firm that comes to the table with the most subcontractor bids that will almost always be able to provide the best deal.
It was this rule of thumb that led the president of Fortney & Weygandt Inc. to ask his company’s base of subcontractors last year to make the necessary preparations to do business with his company via the Web, a move that would streamline the bid process and allow more participation. What he didn’t expect was the overwhelmingly positive response that spurred the immediate development of www.fwprojects.com.
The efficiencies created by the Internet initiative convinced Fortney to take the concept of online bidding nationwide with a second site, www.constructionbidding.com.
Fortney is not the first one out of the gate with the idea, but his model seems to be among the more solid. His www.constructionbidding.com requires no annual membership fee; the costs of the Web service are passed on to the parties who will be saving money by using it. In the end, putting a project up for bid is less expensive and more subcontractors can participate, resulting in more competitive prices.
Most other online bidding services are geographically based and require annual subscriptions, two characteristics that Fortney believes hold those concepts back. Moreover, his is the first site to place plans and specifications on the Web for downloading and printing by those interested in bidding on a project.
“Everybody who’s seen it likes it. It’s just that it’s a bit of a slow sell because it involves people changing the way that they think,” explains Fortney. “More and more people are using it and, as they use it, they like it. Everybody realizes it’s something that’s going to happen, they just aren’t a thousand percent ready for it to happen right now.”
Nevertheless, www.fwprojects.com and www.constructionbidding.com together snare an average of 40,000 hits and 4,000 user sessions a week without any unified marketing effort to date. Fortney has tabbed a team to draft an advertising strategy, and has already made moves to protect his concept by applying for a business method patent similar to claims staked by online players Amazon.com and Priceline.com.
Innovation for Fortney, however, goes much farther than two new Web initiatives. For the past decade, he has run his company with an eye on constant improvement and streamlining, whether it be a single-entry software overhaul or building an environment in which his workers are encouraged to suggest ways to improve the company. The Internet strategies, it turns out, are just manifestations of the innovative culture Fortney has built over the years.
>”I think the entire way that we look at business is innovative,” explains Fortney. “The entire way that we look at things long-term instead of short-term and that we’re looking for constant improvement in every area. We’re very productivity and efficiency conscious and gearing yourself that way demands that innovation happens.” How to reach: Fortney & Weygandt, (440) 716-4000
Jim Vickers ([email protected]) is an associate editor at SBN.
