Building on Tennessee terrain: How Curate Design + Build brings consistency to complex projects

Building a custom home is never simple. For Curate Design + Build, the terrain surrounding Chattanooga adds another layer of complexity.

The team builds across the region, and every location brings something different – whether it’s steep slopes, unexpected rock beds, varying soil conditions or the unique challenges of a one-of-a-kind custom lot.

And the complexity doesn’t stop with the land. Projects are spread across a wide geographic area, often for clients who expect a highly personalized, hands-on experience throughout their build.

That’s where process becomes essential.

For Piper Stromatt, VP of Communications and Co-Owner at Curate Design + Build, delivering a boutique experience means combining personal guidance with transparency, honesty and a process the entire team can rely on.

“When you walk into a boutique, you have somebody help you every step of the way,” Piper said. “You know what you want, but you need help getting to the end. So that’s exactly what we do.”

It’s an approach that helps Curate bring consistency to projects where almost everything else – from the location to the land beneath the home – can be unpredictable.

Managing multiple jobs means making every trip and decision count

For project manager Bill Iorio, Curate’s wide geographic footprint makes efficiency especially important. On any given day, he’s moving between jobs while coordinating trades, meeting vendors, checking deliveries and solving whatever challenges arise onsite.

That means every trip has to count. With multiple jobs competing for attention, making smart use of time on the road is part of keeping every project moving.

But managing multiple builds isn’t just a logistical challenge. Project managers need the right information at the right moment, which means:

• Project details have to travel with them. Plans, selections, schedules and other information need to be accessible from the field.
• Teams need shared visibility. Everyone should know what’s happening even when project managers, office teams and trade partners are miles apart.
• Decisions can’t wait for a trip back to the office. Questions that come up onsite often need answers immediately to keep work moving.
• Small gaps can have a big impact. A missed update or outdated detail can quickly become a schedule delay, incorrect installation or unexpected cost.

For Curate, keeping complex projects moving across Chattanooga requires more than managing the miles between jobs. It requires a way to keep information moving just as quickly as its project managers do.

One platform gives the team a backbone for every build

With project managers moving between jobs and decisions happening in real time, Curate needs more than a place to store information. The team needs a system that keeps every part of the build connected.

That’s where Buildertrend comes in. Curate uses the platform as a central source for the information its team relies on every day, including:

• Schedules to keep projects and deadlines on track
• Plans and documents so the latest information is accessible from the field
• Selections to confirm everything from brick and countertops to paint colors
• Purchase orders to connect completed work with costs and approvals
• Communication to keep the team, clients and trade partners aligned
• Financial workflows to help information move efficiently from the job site to accounting

For Bill, having that information available on his phone is especially valuable. Instead of carrying a laptop or heading back to the office when a question comes up, he can pull up the details he needs from wherever the day takes him.

“I can access that information at any time,” Bill said. “I don’t know what I’d do without having that feature.”

That connectivity extends beyond project details. Once a trade partner finishes a job and Bill confirms the work is complete, he can approve it in Buildertrend, signaling to accounting that payment can move forward.

It’s a much different process from the days when Bill remembers teams sitting down once a week to sort through invoices manually. Now, the field and financial sides of the business stay connected, approvals move faster and trade partners can get paid sooner.

Actionable tips for managing custom builds across multiple locations

Curate’s approach offers a useful lesson for any builder managing more projects across a wider geographic area: Growth requires consistency. The more jobs, people and moving parts you add, the more important it becomes to create processes your entire team can follow.

Here are five ways builders can put that idea into practice:

1. Standardize your process before adding more projects

Define how the core parts of every job should work, from scheduling and selections to approvals, communication and financial management. A repeatable process makes it easier to add projects without creating a different workflow for every job.

2. Give field teams one source of truth

Project managers shouldn’t have to call the office or search through emails and texts for answers. Give them easy access to current plans, selections, schedules and project details from wherever they’re working.

3. Connect field decisions to financial workflows

What happens on the job site directly affects the budget. Connect purchase orders, work approvals and payments to field activity so accounting has accurate information and teams can catch potential cost issues sooner.

4. Build accountability into the schedule

A construction schedule should do more than list dates. Make deadlines and dependencies clear so team members, trade partners and clients can see how a missed decision or delayed task could affect everything that follows.

5. Measure the client experience along the way

Don’t wait until the final walkthrough to ask how things went. Curate surveys clients at eight points throughout the build, from contract and design through production and warranty. Regular feedback gives builders opportunities to identify friction, improve their processes and address concerns while the project is still underway.

For Curate, these practices help turn a complex, geographically dispersed operation into a consistent experience – both for the team managing the build and the client watching it come together.

Better processes build better client experiences

After more than 12 years with Buildertrend, Curate has continued to refine how it manages selections, purchase orders, billing and the many other details behind every custom home. But for Piper and her team, better processes aren’t the end goal. They’re what make a better client experience possible.

That means giving clients the personalized guidance Curate promises while providing the transparency and consistency they need to feel confident throughout the build. In fact, when Curate surveys clients, they ask whether they would recommend the software the team uses. According to Piper, the response has consistently been 100% ‘Yes’.

Custom builders can’t control every variable. Challenging terrain, unique designs, changing job site conditions and geographically dispersed projects are all part of the business. What they can control is the process they use to navigate them.

For Curate, Buildertrend provides the connected foundation to do just that – helping the team manage projects, people, financials and client communication from wherever the work takes them.

Want to bring more consistency to your custom builds? See how Buildertrend can connect your entire process with a free demo.