Background

Founded more than 70 years ago, LM-ESP is one of Manitoba's longest-standing locally owned architecture and interior design firms. The firm works across a wide range of project types, including healthcare, education, recreation facilities, corporate interiors, and commercial projects throughout Manitoba and Western Canada. 

Construction contract administration plays a critical role in the firm's work. Sagriff has spent more than a decade focused primarily on contract administration, helping oversee project delivery, consultant coordination, contractor communication, and risk management.

Like many firms, LM relied on a combination of spreadsheets, Word documents, shared drives, and individual expertise to manage construction contract administration activities.

That approach worked well for years—until a changing workforce and increasing project complexity exposed its limitations.

The Challenge

When Knowledge Walks Out The Door.

A major catalyst for change came as several long-tenured employees approached retirement.

One employee alone had spent more than 50 years with the firm.

While their experience was invaluable, much of the firm's construction contract administration process relied on personal systems, habits, and knowledge accumulated over decades.

"When you've been doing it for so long, you develop your own way of managing information and keeping track of projects," says Sagriff. "That's fine while that person is there. But it's not a great solution for succession planning."

As responsibilities were handed off to newer staff, transferring project history, priorities, and context became increasingly difficult.

The firm needed a more structured system that could preserve knowledge and make project information accessible to everyone—not just the person managing the project.

More Projects. Faster Timelines.

At the same time, project demands were accelerating.

Healthcare and education projects were growing in size and complexity, while owners and contractors expected faster responses than ever before.

Staff entering construction contract administration faced a steep learning curve.

"One of the questions we kept hearing was, 'How do you keep up with all of this?'" says Sagriff. "You have logs to update, changes to track, submittals to review, deadlines to manage. It can be overwhelming."

The firm began looking for a platform that could help standardize workflows, improve visibility, and reduce administrative overhead.

Finding a Consultant-Focused Alternative

As part of its evaluation process, LM reviewed several construction contract administration platforms, including solutions from larger industry vendors.

What stood out about Part3 was its focus on architects and consultants.

Many alternatives attempted to serve owners, contractors, and consultants through a single workflow. While powerful, they often felt heavily oriented toward contractor processes.

"We found a lot of the alternatives were trying to wear too many hats," says Sagriff. "They were built around contractor workflows and required us to recreate information that wasn't really part of our scope. This duplicated efforts on the project, not simplify them."

Part3 approached construction contract administration from the consultant's perspective.

The platform provided the tools LM-ESP needed to manage RFIs, submittals, changes, certificates for payment, project communication, and documentation without forcing teams into contractor-centric workflows.

Equally important was the responsiveness of the Part3 team.

"We weren't submitting tickets into a black hole," says Sagriff. "We'd ask a question and hear back from someone quickly. We felt heard throughout the process."

Rolling Out Part3 Across the Firm

Rather than launching Part3 across the entire organization at once, LM took a phased approach.

A small group of contract administrators began using the platform on several active projects to understand how it worked in real-world conditions.

The team intentionally selected projects with different requirements, including both Procore-connected and non-Procore projects.

As confidence grew, additional staff were added as viewers before eventually becoming active users.

One year later, the firm doubled its Part3 licenses and continues expanding adoption across new projects.

Today, any significant construction contract administration project is evaluated for Part3 from the outset.

The Results

Reducing Risk Through Better Documentation

For Sagriff, the most important benefit of Part3 isn't a specific workflow or feature. It's the ability to better manage risk.

Construction contract administration is ultimately about maintaining clear records, tracking decisions, and being able to demonstrate what information was shared, when it was shared, and who received it.

Before Part3, much of that information lived across spreadsheets, emails, shared drives, and manually maintained logs. Today, project communication, documentation, approvals, and activity are captured in a single system.

That visibility has already proven valuable during discussions involving project delays and disputed timelines.

"I've been able to show exactly when information was sent and confirm that it was received," says Sagriff.

For a firm managing large healthcare, education, and institutional projects, having a complete record of project activity provides both confidence and accountability.

"At the end of the day, Part3 is a risk management tool."

Creating Visibility Across Every Project

As LM Architectural Group expanded its use of Part3, the firm gained a more consistent and transparent way to oversee construction administration across projects, teams, and stakeholders.

Task lists, consultant responses, pending reviews, upcoming deadlines, and project changes are all visible from a centralized dashboard.

For Sagriff, who oversees multiple projects and supports other contract administrators across the firm, that visibility makes it easier to identify issues early and allocate resources where they're needed most.

"I can see where projects are struggling, where they're succeeding, and where we might need more resources," he says.

The visibility has also helped support knowledge transfer as newer team members take on greater responsibility. Rather than relying on individual spreadsheets or personal tracking systems, project information is accessible to the broader team.

Reducing Administrative Work

Before Part3, construction contract administration involved a significant amount of manual effort.

Project teams maintained spreadsheets, updated logs, created hyperlinks, tracked document distribution, and manually followed up on outstanding items.

Today, much of that work happens automatically within the platform.

Document logs, reminders, status tracking, and project records are maintained in a single location, reducing repetitive administrative tasks and making information easier to find.

LM estimates that its contract administration support staff save approximately 10–15% of their time each week through streamlined workflows and reduced manual tracking.

"Instead of opening multiple spreadsheets and updating everything manually, it's all there," says Sagriff.

The result is less time spent on administration and more time focused on project delivery.

Supporting Faster Decisions Across the Firm

The benefits of Part3 extend well beyond the construction contract administration team.

Partners use the platform to review and approve certificates for payment without needing to be in the office. Accounting teams can quickly understand the impact of project changes. Owners can access project information directly when questions arise.

With everyone working from the same information, reviews happen faster and decisions can be made with greater confidence.

"It's become useful for a lot more people more than just the CA team," says Sagriff.

By creating a shared source of truth across projects, Part3 has improved collaboration between project teams, firm leadership, consultants, and clients.

The ROI

As the team adopted Part3 across more projects, the value became increasingly clear.

The most immediate gains came through reduced administrative effort and improved efficiency, but the impact extends well beyond time savings.

LM estimates that its contract administration support staff save approximately 10–15% of their time each week through streamlined workflows and reduced manual tracking. Those efficiency gains have allowed the team to increase capacity without adding administrative overhead.

"Now that adds up. Across multiple projects, you can take on another project or two and still manage your time without sacrificing work-life balance or relying on overtime just to keep up." says Sagriff.

The ability to support additional projects while maintaining responsiveness and oversight has helped the firm keep pace with growing demand without increasing workload pressure on staff.

Combined with better documentation, improved project visibility, stronger accountability, and reduced risk, the return on investment has been significant.

"We've definitely seen the return," says Sagriff. "The value is there."

For LM-ESP, Part3 has become an important part of building a more scalable construction contract administration practice—one that can support future growth while giving teams greater confidence in how projects are managed and delivered.