Building for Scale: How Satterfield & Pontikes Leveraged Joist AI to Manage Rapid Growth

About the Company

Satterfield & Pontikes (S&P) is an award-winning construction firm known for its commitment to delivering high-quality construction projects throughout the US and abroad.  A fixture on the ENR 400 list, S&P has decades of experience across diverse sectors including aviation, commercial and government.

Summary

Faced with challenges from doubling in size in just two years, Satterfield & Pontikes scaled their pursuit marketing capabilities through implementation of Joist AI, which enabled the marketing team to stay on top of the demands of the rapidly growing organization. The adoption of Joist AI improved their proposal creation process, saving 8-10 hours per pursuit, nearly the equivalent of a full-time employee annually. The platform allowed new hires to ramp-up quickly, reduced deadline stress, and provided valuable compliance analytics.

The Challenge

Managing Information Across Multiple Systems While Scaling Rapidly
Satterfield & Pontikes experienced significant growth, doubling in size in just two years. This expansion was fueled by an excellent reputation for high-quality work and a culture that embraces technological innovation.

With this growth came increased proposal demands, which challenged the marketing team to maintain quality while increasing output. "We consistently produce high-quality proposals, but as our volume increased, we needed a way to work smarter and faster," explained Elizabeth Tracy-Schiller, Pursuit Marketing Manager.

"When you're doing a proposal there are thousands of pieces of data, and you want to go to as few places as possible. We had our CRM, our digital asset management system, our graphic design software libraries, and our network drive. It was tedious to comb through each," said Carmen Ryan, VP of Marketing and Communications.

As S&P's marketing team analyzed their processes for bottlenecks, they realized that resumes, narratives, visual assets, and other content were spread across multiple platforms, making it time-consuming to locate and refine.

"Efficiency and better organization of narratives were the two main drivers. We wanted to go to as few places as possible to get the data," noted Ryan.

The Solution

Centralizing Knowledge and Automating Workflows

The S&P team knew that one of their industry colleagues, a civil engineering firm, had already deployed Joist AI, so Ryan reached out to backchannel a reference. The positive referral convinced her they should launch a pilot. 

Interestingly, shortly before that pilot, Ryan had to step-in to work on a last minute emergency proposal. "It was the type of thing where I had to work all weekend just to get it done," Ryan said. But this emergency was the perfect backdrop for trailing Joist AI because the benefits were obvious.

"I was like, my gosh... if we had Joist AI [when I was completing that proposal], conservatively, it would have saved me 10 hours of time. Being able to find content quickly, refine it, and use the analytics to ensure compliance, the investment was a no-brainer at that point."

Once implemented, Joist AI became the central knowledge hub for the team. "It allows us to find and use the best content from past proposals instantly, ensuring consistency and quality," Ryan explained.

The platform helped eliminate repetitive tasks, enabling the team to focus on storytelling and strategy. "Now, we spend more time crafting compelling narratives rather than searching for information," Tracy-Schiller added.

The Results

Efficiency Gains, Reduced Stress, and a Competitive Edge
The impact of Joist AI on S&P’s marketing operations was immediate and profound:

• Significant Time Savings: Joist AI reduced the average pursuit deliverable preparation time by 8 to 10 hours. Given the number of pursuits they submit annually, the hourly savings equate to nearly a full-time employee. "I can't believe I had to waste that time!" Ryan exclaimed. "The ROI, time savings, and efficiency were an easy sell to our executives."
• Enhanced Compliance and Actionable Analytics: Joist AI introduced a powerful combination of compliance checks and analytics. Teams were able to proactively identify gaps, catch common mistakes, and leverage data-driven insights to improve proposal quality and reduce errors. "Even for employees who have been with us for 20 years, the compliance analytics are really helpful from an efficiency standpoint. And we're just starting to scratch the surface of it," said Ryan.
• Easier Onboarding for New Hires: New team members were able to become productive within days rather than weeks thanks to centralized knowledge and AI-assisted content discovery. "We had a senior coordinator start who didn't need much handholding because all the information was readily available. She just got it — because of Joist AI," recounted Tracy-Schiller.
• Reduced Stress and Increased Confidence: Joist AI enabled the team to tackle tight-turnaround proposals without the anxiety that used to accompany them. "I think it's increased our productivity, but I also think it's decreased the stressfulness of deadlines... It's not a stressful, 'We have a week to turn this around,' it's like, 'Okay, we have a week. We've got great tools in place. We can do this!” Tracy-Schiller said confidently.

By staying true to their culture of technological innovation, Satterfield & Pontikes has positioned itself at the forefront of leveraging artificial intelligence in the construction industry. S&P's marketing team feels well equipped to meet the demands of the organization's growth trajectory. 

‍