How General Contractor Ryder Speeds Subcontractor Payments, Strengthens Relationships

Improving predictable cashflow on projects and paying subcontractors promptly has never been more important—particularly considering the costs associated with recent project slowdowns and new safety requirements. 

New York-based Ryder Construction, a leading mid-sized builder with $100 million in annual revenue, transformed their payment and compliance processes to ensure quick, predictable, and efficient payment to their subcontractors.   

Standardized projects

Ryder Construction chose to adopt and standardize Oracle Textura Payment Management across all their projects after an owner required Ryder to use the tool on a project. The cloud-based solution streamlines and automates invoicing and payment processes to boost efficiency and visibility and mitigate risk.

“I am so glad our client introduced us to use Oracle Textura Payment Management,” said Bill Freeswick, chief financial officer, Ryder Construction.

Based in Manhattan, Ryder has received awards for their builds and remodels of many recognizable buildings in the Tri-State area. Projects include: luxury condominiums for developers such as Anbau, Flank, Landsea and Spruce; a dormitory building for Tri Arch/Collegium; and a New York City medical center.

Ryder defines excellence in construction with superb craftsmanship, cost-effective strategies, and schedule-conscious building.

“Although I was initially apprehensive about having to learn and use a new system, the support from the Oracle team was great. Within a few requisitions, we saw the value and never looked back,” said Freeswick.

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“We liked Oracle Textura Payment Management so much, we used the tool on our next job and on all subsequent jobs.”

- Bill Freeswick, Chief Financial Officer, Ryder Construction

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The system “is a massive time saver,” said Freeswick. Ryder could have as many as 30 subcontractor payment requisitions submitted in various formats—for each project every month—that were checked for accuracy and completeness. “ ‘Nightmare’ isn’t a strong enough word. It was an absolute disaster,” said Freeswick.

He continues, “To us, the number one feature is that it eliminates subcontractors’ and Ryder’s billing errors. That alone makes it worthwhile. The digital signatures, notarization of AIA cover pages, and lien releases are the icing on the cake!”

Subcontractors get paid faster

Ryder’s sub-contractors are also happy with the improvements—including the fact they get paid faster. When Ryder gets paid by their clients, generally by wire transfer, payments are made into subcontractors’ bank accounts within 24 hours—about  a week faster than in the past.

The final step of the payment process, releasing the electronic payment to Ryder’s subcontractors, takes the company only about 10 minutes per project each month with the Oracle system. Ryder says that paying their subcontractors faster has strengthened their subcontractor relationships.

Improved draw process

In the past, the draw process for subcontractor invoicing was configured in Oracle’s system before the process was replicated in Sage 300, Ryder’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. This double entry was subject to errors. Ryder can now easily download the information from Oracle Textura Payment Management to Sage 300 via an integration.

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“We love Oracle Textura Payment Management."

-Bill Freeswick, Chief Financial Officer, Ryder Construction

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Managing lien releases in Oracle Textura Payment Management

Ryder has automated their lien release process using the system, saving about four hours monthly per job pursuing lien releases from subcontractors. The system automates the exchange of signed lien waivers for electronic payments.

Ryder also uses the print screen functionality to create one PDF of the subcontractors’ waivers on a project before sending a consolidated PDF to the owner and the bank. With the elimination of the manual collection and follow-up steps, “the battle of the payment lien release went away,” said Freeswick.

Subcontractor billing

The system reduces the risk of inaccurate subcontractor billings by an estimated 90%. The tool automatically sets up requisitions for the subcontractors each month instead of subcontractors manually creating requisitions in Excel.

The subcontractors simply need to update their percentage complete each month. The system also moves the previous billing to the past month for easy reference.

Learn more about Oracle Textura Payment Management.

Watch our webcast to learn how Oracle Textura Payment Management Cloud Service drives efficiency, enhances visibility, and increases control to manage risk.

Oracle Construction and Engineering, the global leader in construction management software and project portfolio management solutions, helps you connect your teams, processes, and data across the project and asset lifecycle. Drive efficiency and control in project delivery with proven solutions for project controls, construction scheduling, portfolio management, BIM/CDE, construction payment management, and more.

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