Santa Maria Electric Relies on FOUNDATION and McCormick Systems to Operate Efficiently

For more than 75 years, Santa Maria Electric, Inc. has provided electrical contracting services for the Santa Barbara, California area. Throughout the majority of this time, they’ve relied on McCormick Systems estimating and FOUNDATION® construction accounting to help keep their projects on track and within budget.

Behind any successful business is a reliable software option that helps improve efficiency. That’s how Andrew Sutton, Project Manager and Estimator, and Cara McGray, Controller, feel about FOUNDATION and McCormick’s software.

McCormick Systems Provides Reliable, Adaptable Software

In an average workday, Andrew comes across a multitude of construction projects. This means to do his job as efficiently as possible, adaptable software — like McCormick Systems estimating — is required.

“In our area, we have things you don’t always see. You have a lot of launch sites and military work that’s done by hand instead of in the software, so it’s important that McCormick gives you a space to put that stuff in there,” Andrew said. “There are sections within summary windows where you can add direct job expenses, so we’ve been using that to account for changes such as delayed projects, overrun materials and more or less labor.”

Unlike other construction estimating software, McCormick is adaptable, allowing users to update and make changes when needed, from relatively anywhere.

Andrew thoroughly enjoys McCormick, as it simplifies his day-to-day tasks and offers him a sense of security while he works.

“My favorite part is probably the simplicity. It’s very rudimentary, with appropriate safeguards and security protocols to prevent changes that could alter pricing or other jobs in progress,” Andrew said. “I’ve also found that McCormick offers more depth in takeoff than others that I’ve seen.”

Searching for a More Robust Construction Software

Much like her colleague, Cara McGray knows how important it is to have a flexible software option. When working with the company’s previous software, she became frustrated with its shortcomings.

“We used our previous software for at least 35 years. It was good but had limitations,” Cara said. “Our old system had hard closes, so at the end of the year, jobs would purge.”

When Cara and her team began using FOUNDATION, she noticed how easy the transition was with McCormick already in place.

“The transition to Foundation while already using McCormick was seamless. It required no changes on our end to how we use McCormick,” Cara said. “Foundation has made my job as a whole easier and quicker.”

Cara also noticed how much more flexibility she had when it came to entering information. With adjustable, user-controlled close dates, the software let Cara control how and when years and jobs close.

“I love that FOUNDATION keeps jobs open as long as you need to,” Cara said. “My old system was tied to the server, and a lot of it required me to fix something before reviewing it.”

FOUNDATION Makes Processing Payroll Simple

Cara and her colleagues at Santa Maria Electric, Inc. also use FOUNDATION’s mobile app for construction management to help ensure payroll accuracy.

“We started using mobile payroll with the guys in the field now. It helps me to go through to see what they’re submitting to make sure it’s right,” Cara said. “The payroll module is robust — Time and Material also help me drill down everything going on, too. The core apps are great.”

With such a collaborative software in place, Andrew and Cara have all the information they need readily available and can work both independently and together without interfering with each other’s daily workloads.  

Andrew, Cara and the entire team at Santa Maria Electric, Inc. are confident they will be able to perform their jobs efficiently for years to come due to the adaptability that both FOUNDATION and McCormick Systems provides them.