Cleveland Construction Turns a Platform Switch into Workflow Transformation

Published by Autodesk on October 7, 2026 · Updated October 7, 2026

• construction-management
• workflow-automation
• autodesk-forma
• digital-transformation
• contract-automation

Why did Cleveland Construction switch construction platforms?

Cleveland Construction switched platforms because its existing construction management contract became financially inefficient and the company saw a chance to improve operations at the same time. In 2019, an unexpected increase in revenue triggered significant overage fees under a multi-year platform contract. When project delays in 2020 reduced revenue by a similar amount, there was no matching price adjustment.

That pricing mismatch led Cleveland Construction to evaluate other software options. Elliot Christensen, senior vice president of operations at Cleveland Construction, said the company realized the platform’s pay-to-play pricing model only moved in one direction, which prompted the evaluation.

Cleveland Construction is a family-owned national general contractor headquartered in northeast Ohio with regional offices across the eastern half of the United States. The company serves K–12, multifamily, hospitality, and historic adaptive reuse markets, operates a large interior trades division, and employs nearly 1,000 people across complex projects in multiple states.

How did Cleveland Construction approach the platform change without disrupting active work?

Cleveland Construction approached the change as a managed rollout, not a simple software replacement. The company knew that switching systems midstream carried risk because it would require new workflows, data migration, and employee retraining while live projects continued.

Elliot Christensen and Cleveland Construction’s leadership team spent several months building buy-in across the organization. More than 30 stakeholders participated in demos and evaluations so the teams that would use the system every day could give input on the decision.

That evaluation process also changed the company’s goal. As Cleveland Construction reviewed Autodesk Forma, the team saw opportunities to simplify approvals, standardize workflows, and remove manual steps. The company decided to treat the software change as a chance to improve how the business operates, not just replace a tool.

How did Autodesk Forma and Forma Build replace manual work?

Autodesk Forma and Forma Build gave Cleveland Construction a more flexible environment for approvals, project data, and stakeholder coordination. Cleveland Construction implemented Forma, including Cost Management, Forms, and Issues features in Forma Build, and reduced friction by integrating with Sage 300 CRE, Box, and GCPay.

The new platform let Cleveland Construction keep internal approvals in-platform instead of routing them through external tools. That reduced extra costs and avoided wasted effort when items were rejected before external execution. Only finalized items now move externally for outside signatures.

Cleveland Construction also built subcontract agreement templates into the system. That made it possible to automate subcontract generation from cost data, route contracts for signature, and save them back to the correct records. Elliot Christensen said this change probably reduced contract administrators’ workload by seventy five percent.

For project startup, Cleveland Construction created template projects with preset folder structures and more than 200 preloaded documents. That replaced the old process of manually uploading documents for each new project and helped teams start work faster.

How did Cleveland Construction improve daily reporting in the field?

Cleveland Construction improved daily reporting by rebuilding the workflow in Forma Build using structured Forms and Issues. The previous daily logs were adequate but not customizable, so IMAGINiT Technologies helped Cleveland Construction redesign the process with simple yes-or-no questions, conditional logic, and required follow-up actions for delays, deliveries, and inspections.

The new workflow also added review steps so lead superintendents approve and sign off on finalized reports. Elliot Christensen said the company ended up with a better setup in Autodesk than it had before because IMAGINiT Technologies helped refine the Forms tool around how field teams actually work.

The new process made reporting more field-friendly and more structured. Field teams also benefited from mobile features such as photo tagging, GPS capture, sheets and markup functionality, and selective project syncing for devices.

How did Cleveland Construction migrate live projects quickly?

Cleveland Construction completed the rollout quickly by pairing a phased implementation with training that used real project data. The company engaged IMAGINiT Technologies, an Autodesk Platinum Partner, to lead the implementation and handle most configuration and setup.

The phased process included discovery, configuration, admin training, end-user training, live-project migration, and post-go-live mentoring. To accelerate adoption, IMAGINiT used data from a past Cleveland Construction project during training so users saw familiar RFIs, sheets, and logs in the new platform instead of an empty training environment.

After training a large group of end users, IMAGINiT began migrating live data. Vince Daniele, IMAGINiT’s construction solutions team manager, said the team moved a bunch of live projects to project teams that were already trained and ready to use the Construction Cloud, which limited lost time during the cutover.

Cleveland Construction started implementation in January and rolled out live projects in Forma by April. That timing allowed the company to move quickly without derailing ongoing work.

What results did Cleveland Construction see after the switch?

Cleveland Construction saw immediate workflow improvements and projected long-term financial gains after moving to Autodesk Forma. The company projected mid six-figure savings over 6 years, even after accounting for implementation, training, and migration costs.

The savings came from reduced manual effort, fewer external process steps, and lower associated costs. Standardized templates sped up project startup, and system integrations reduced duplication while improving cross-team visibility.

The company also saw strong adoption from the field, which was a surprise to Elliot Christensen. Field teams responded positively, especially to the more structured daily reporting workflow and the mobile experience.

Cleveland Construction also improved collaboration with project stakeholders outside the company. Many architects, owners, and trade partners already used Forma or had Autodesk accounts, which reduced friction when sharing information and aligning workflows.

In one case, Cleveland Construction used IMAGINiT’s integration tools to connect directly with a client’s Forma system so submittals could move automatically between the two platforms for review and approval. Christensen said that had never been something the company could accomplish before.

How did the platform change support Cleveland Construction’s longer-term growth?

Cleveland Construction turned a platform migration into a broader operational reset by using Autodesk Forma to rethink workflows, reduce manual effort, and improve field experiences. That created a stronger operational foundation for continued growth.

The company is now piloting Forma’s preconstruction tools and exploring integrations that improve handoffs. Cleveland Construction’s experience shows that with a clear business case, strong implementation support, and an open mindset, a software switch can become a catalyst for long-term transformation.