Construction, Fabrication
USA
Managing accounts payable across two high-volume construction and fabrication companies is a demanding job. For Tori Trammell, AP Specialist at B & D Contractors, the answer was a smarter approach to invoice automation.
B & D Contractors operates across two distinct businesses: a commercial landscape, hardscape, fountain, and general contracting company with 20 years in operation, and a metalsmith fabrication company with 12 years in the field. Tori Trammell serves as Accounts Payable Specialist for both, processing roughly 1,000 invoices per month for each company.
Both companies have grown significantly in recent years. With that growth came more projects, more contractors, more purchase orders, and far more invoices to match and process. What had once been a manageable administrative task was beginning to consume the workday.
Accounts payable in the construction industry carries a particular weight. Projects run simultaneously across multiple sites. Each job generates its own purchase orders, subcontracts, and vendor invoices. Payment timelines matter, both for contractor relationships and project continuity. And behind all of it, someone has to match every invoice to the right job, the right cost code, and the right approval chain.
For Tori, that process was entirely manual. Invoices arrived on paper and were keyed line by line into QuickBooks, across two companies, across dozens of concurrent jobs. The systems were disconnected, the paper trail was constant, and the time cost was significant.
The decision to migrate to Premier Construction Software was a meaningful step forward. Premier consolidated both companies onto a single platform and introduced digital invoicing, replacing paper with files that could be dragged and dropped directly from email. But the core problem persisted. Every invoice still required manual keying. Every line still needed to be entered and coded by hand. With 2,000 invoices moving through the pipeline each month, the workload was not sustainable.
“The volume became too large and there are many jobs going on at once,” Tori said. “Working slowly and still having to file paperwork for everything was not an option going forward.”
What she needed was AI-powered automation that could take the repetitive data entry off her plate entirely. And she needed it to connect directly with Premier, so that Purchase Orders and Subcontracts were already linked when an invoice arrived for processing.
SmartUi entered the picture through B & D’s Premier training sessions, where the integration was recommended as a natural companion for teams processing high invoice volumes. The existing relationship between SmartUi and Premier was a significant factor. A generic automation tool would require configuration, workarounds, and ongoing maintenance to function within the Premier environment. SmartUi was already built for it.
A discovery call with the SmartUi team confirmed the fit. The platform’s ability to pull Purchase Orders and Subcontracts directly from Premier meant invoices could be matched and processed with far less manual intervention. For a specialist managing two companies and 2,000 invoices a month, that was the capability that closed the decision.
The onboarding process was led by SmartUi, who structured the rollout across a series of virtual sessions. Rather than pushing for a single large go-live, the implementation was broken into stages, each focused on a specific part of the workflow. For a busy AP specialist carrying the load for two separate companies, that approach made the transition feel manageable rather than disruptive.
Issues were minimal. When anything did surface, The SmartUi team resolved it before the next scheduled session, so meetings stayed focused on progress rather than troubleshooting. The process reflected the kind of implementation support that makes a real difference at the ground level.
Tori now uses SmartUi’s solutions every day. Invoice processing, which previously demanded hours of manual data entry, now runs through the platform with the AI handling the bulk of extraction and coding. When questions arise on a particular invoice, she can send it directly to a project manager or vendor from within SmartUi, keeping communication tied to the relevant record and eliminating the back-and-forth of email threads.
The Statement feature has become a regular part of her workflow. In construction AP, vendor statement reconciliation is a time-consuming but essential task. Statements need to be checked against what has been entered, what is outstanding, and what may have been missed. SmartUi’s Statement feature streamlines that process, making it faster to identify discrepancies and resolve them before they create downstream problems.
The impact was immediate. From the day B & D Contractors went live with SmartUi, the difference in Tori’s workload was clear. B&D Contractors have saved approximately 96 hours per month (which is equivalent to 12 fulltime days) by implementing SmartUi.
Invoice processing is faster. Statement reconciliation takes less time. Communications with project managers and vendors are handled through a single system, with full visibility into each transaction. The time Tori was spending on repetitive data entry has been redirected to higher-value work.
“It has decreased the amount of time I was taking for invoice processing and statement checks,” she said. “It has given me more time to tackle other areas of my job.”
The results aligned with what was demonstrated during training, which speaks to the quality of SmartUi’s onboarding. Tori went in with clear expectations and the platform met them.
For two businesses continuing to grow, the efficiency gains compound over time. Faster invoice processing means tighter payment cycles. Tighter payment cycles mean stronger contractor and vendor relationships. And an AP specialist with more capacity means better financial oversight across a portfolio of concurrent projects. SmartUi has become a core part of how B & D Contractors scales without adding proportional overhead to its back-office operations.
https://youtu.be/f46CAklqwiY Automate your invoice data entry for Premier Construction Software with SmartUi’s intelligent Invoice Automation application. SmartUi’s cloud-based solution will streamline your invoice entry process,
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