Concora’s Submittal Generator is a valuable tool for anyone involved in the product selection process. It can indicate purchase intent, capture project data and provide a better user experience for architects, engineers and contractors. Here’s what building product manufacturers need to know about submittals and how having a purpose-built submittal tool on your website can ultimately increase product selection.
What is a submittal package?
A submittal package is the mechanism used by subcontractors to bid on construction projects. It’s used to get approval for building manufacturer products they want to use in a commercial project and to get approval for any product change requests.
Submittals are created, approved and revised throughout the design and construction process. Architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, vendors and owners get involved at some point during the submittal process.
Generally, subcontractors and vendors create submittals. They combine technical product content with their internally created files, such as shop drawings and floor plans, and send them for review by the architect, engineer and general contractor (AEC).
Engineers and architects typically specify products during the design phase, but contractors also have control over product selection. Building owners hire contractors to perform specific work. They prepare reports for review and approval by the building owner, which may also involve product selection.
Submittal generation typically happens at the beginning of a project. Architects and engineers need a product’s technical content to be easily accessible, up-to-date and accurate to keep the project on track. Hard to find, old or inaccurate files cost time and money. That can lead to the subcontractor choosing a different manufacturer.
What makes submittals valuable during product selection?
- Intent to purchase: Submittals that include your products are one of the best indicators of intent to purchase a product. That’s because submittals focus on a small group of manufacturers for each item.
- Data capture: When a design professional creates a submittal on your website, you can obtain valuable project data that can help your sales team understand the exact needs of a potential customer.
- User experience: Think about how much time AECs can save with access to submittal creation on your website. By providing the ability to streamline their workflow, you’re providing a positive experience that will increase brand loyalty.
Why construction submittals on most manufacturer websites fall short
Most manufacturers host their products and technical content on WordPress or other older CMS solutions. They often don’t have the time or resources to maintain their content. That can deter commercial decision makers from selecting their products.
Let’s look at an example submittal scenario
John works as a subcontractor at a mechanical plumbing prefabrication and installation company. After he receives a spec for a project and is asked to create a submittal, he immediately looks for products that could match the spec by searching through manufacturers’ websites for the technical product content needed to make that decision.
When a manufacturer’s website is clumsy or slow, John runs into a number of roadblocks depending on how each manufacturer delivers content. If the product content is scattered throughout the site and it takes too long for him to find everything he needs, he will leave and go to another manufacturer’s website. John will more than likely never visit this website again.
Even if John finds the right products for a submittal package, he downloads each file individually and has to send them to a Project Management Software like Procore to get approval. He dislikes submittal tools that combine PDFs because he has to manually separate them to put them into the Project Management Software.
How submittals work with Concora’s tool
Our Submittal Generator tool makes the submittal process as frictionless as possible. Your customers will quickly find your products, add products to their project and create the documents they need. This helps minimize the number of steps AECs must take on a manufacturer’s website. Eliminating speed bumps like this ensures every AEC customer has an excellent customer experience.
Our submittal tool seamlessly imports data into other widely used project management systems like Plangrid, SmartSheet and Procore’s submittal generators, so users can easily upload product files into their internal software. Learn more about how Concora works in the video below:
Final Thoughts: Increase Product Selection With Our Submittal Tool
Most building product manufacturers host their content in a CMS to showcase their products. However, with these large CMS solutions, a tremendous amount of time and cost goes into keeping your website updated. Additionally, most general CMS solutions don’t include a submittal generator.
An all-in-one platform can make life easier for you and your customers. Concora provides a dedicated IT professional who manages of all of these aspects of your site and a CMS purpose-built for building product manufacturers. You can help your customers get approval faster with our submittal solution.