Eamon Costello Future Proofs Its 45-year-old Business with Autodesk Build

For over 45 years, Eamon Costello, a family-owned construction services business, has worked across various disciplines, from healthcare and education to residential and conservation projects. The company’s longevity is a testament to the experience and commitment to the business. However, some of the company’s processes had become outdated – and the organisation was keen to innovate. Given Autodesk’s commitment to continuous product innovation, Eamon Costello chose Autodesk Build within Autodesk Construction Cloud™, as its unified construction management solution for connecting teams, workflows, and data.

An Intuitive Solution for Managing Information

Processes at Eamon Costello were largely paper-based, with staff taking large amounts of time to compare drawings manually and fill in onerous forms. Inconsistency was a significant challenge. In 2019, the company’s leadership team decided to re-evaluate the processes across the whole business.

Eamon Costello introduced Autodesk Build on a pilot project – an €11 million social housing project – running across multiple disciplines. Now, Eamon Costello uses a wide range of capabilities in Autodesk Build to share information, including issues management.

The team finds Autodesk Build very intuitive and uses the solution to make their working lives easier. “We have foremen who are in their mid-sixties and aren’t very high tech themselves but are finding the platform really helpful,” says Paul Lynch, Director at Eamons Costello. “Rather than being locked in an office looking at racks of drawings, they can take their phones out on-site and bring up anything they want. It’s a big achievement.”

Improving Efficiency and Traceability

Autodesk Build has been rolled out across Eamon Costello, with five live projects and three more to come shortly. With around thirty users to date, Paul believes that the time savings have been the biggest benefit so far. Sheet comparisons, for example, had been completed manually, with site managers and engineers taking what were originally hard copy drawings and comparing them line by line.

“With Autodesk Build, you can take two versions of a drawing and see the changes that have been made instantaneously – without the risk of missing anything, like previous revisions,” Paul explains. “In fifteen minutes, I had trained our office administrator to complete sheet comparisons; it’s invaluable from a site management perspective.”

Traceability across the business has also improved. “Previously, it was a huge chore for people to complete checklists and take photos back into the office. Now, documentation and quality checks can be completed digitally, providing us with information in a standardised format. It’s much easier for the team, and we’re benefitting from a higher quality of information and traceability,” says Paul.
 

“Documentation and quality checks can be completed digitally and we’re benefitting from a higher quality of information and traceability.”

Paul Lynch
Director

Ways of Working for the Future

Introducing Autodesk Build has already helped Eamon Costello deal with the challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, such as using the solution to host remote site meetings. Having a centralised source of information has also made the business more resilient to unexpected events, such as staff absences.

As well as supporting the current team, Paul believes that having modern construction software in place will help attract younger people to the business. “We’re constantly recruiting for all kinds of roles. As soon as we tell them that we use Autodesk, you can see them getting engaged and interested.”

In the year ahead, Paul and the team will focus on using even more features on Autodesk Build, including progress tracking, scheduling, and assets.
 

“The Autodesk product development team has been hugely responsive to our needs. With a few minor developments, it will be a fantastic solution that will grow with us and help us to keep up with the future of the industry.”

Paul Lynch
Director