The construction industry is evolving fast, and digital tools play an increasingly central role in how projects are planned and delivered. But behind every successful tech rollout is a champion making sure teams are equipped, trained, and ready to embrace change.
At Clayco, that champion is Nikki Kilpatrick, Senior Construction Administrator & Trainer. With 20 years of construction industry experience, Nikki has helped shape how Clayco approaches project documentation and software adoption.
In our latest Behind the Build conversation, Nikki shares how she got her start, what she's most proud of in her career, and how technology is helping Clayco stay ahead of the curve.
Clayco is a general contractor with offices in five different states. We handle various types of projects, from data centers to warehouse buildings. We are a Design-Build GC, and we have an Architect/Engineering Firm, Concrete Division, Glass Division, and purchasing group within the organization. So we're like a one-stop shop when it comes to building on the jobs.
I started in construction when I was 18 years old, so I've been doing this for 20 years now. I started out in the safety department and worked my way up to where I'm at today. My role is Senior Construction Administrator, which is basically the document control arm.
I've been doing a little bit of everything on the construction side, from safety to documentation to overseeing projects and implementing new software. I've touched a little bit of everything throughout the last 20 years, and it has been awesome.
One of my proudest accomplishments happened about a year and a half after I started with Clayco. I was approached to be part of a team to implement a new computer software, PMWeb.
The task was to implement software, train the entire company on how to use it, and roll it out successfully, which we did within a year and a half.
I've been with Clayco for 10 years now. I am still doing all of the implementation of new softwares, as well as training the entire company on how to use them.
It has been amazing to be a part of all of this, and I really look forward to what the future holds as far as rolling out more technology.
Because we are the document control arm of the entire organization, everything funnels through our group. So, the biggest challenge is getting everybody to adapt to new software and processes.
In other words, it's getting everybody on board. That's the biggest struggle that I've seen recently.
That being said, once teams start adapting and working with the new software, they realize how much time savings they have when it comes to projects. That's when things start to shift.
It has been an enormous help, especially with Autodesk Construction Cloud Build. Autodesk Construction Cloud Build does a lot of things for us that we don't have to do manually anymore. And that has changed everybody's outlook on technology.
Yes, we have a couple of projects that are confidential jobs where sometimes we have to be ITAR compliant. Autodesk Construction Cloud offers compatibility to facilitate ITAR compliance, where we can set the information on a separate hub that nobody else can access.
We have other projects where we've had challenges getting owners on board regarding what software they want to use. Autodesk Construction Cloud has had a huge impact on that because several of our owners are currently using it. So, we were able to jump in and hit the ground running.
We've been able to collaborate better with our owners and subcontractors, which has been a massive help with some of our unique projects.
One thing that has had a considerable impact is that we can easily share data with our subs and owners and provide our partners with free access to the software.
Also, the Autodesk internal team reaches out to us when we have any issues. They listen to us when we suggest ways to improve the software or different things we can do. That has been a huge help—just having you be there for us when we have difficulties or need ideas on ways to overcome issues.
We're always looking for better ways to do things internally at Clayco. I'm heavily involved in that within the organization.
As you can imagine, getting everybody to adapt is a big push. So, one of my major plans is to come up with processes to increase productivity and get everybody on board.
Give it your all, and don't be discouraged. Get in there and learn everything that you can. You go in and you learn as much as you can. You get involved in as much as you can. Strive to get better. Stay agile and open to new ideas and technology while staying focused on keeping your company in the lead. That's my number one piece of advice.
