Founded 75 years ago, Central Arkansas-based Nabholz is known for its full range of construction, industrial, excavation, and environmental services in the health care, manufacturing, and industrial sectors. The company works in multiple states including Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Tennessee — a business decision that has required some creative thinking and technology to assure operational ease.
A key part of Nabholz’s longevity, cross-sector expertise, and continued geographic expansion is its emphasis on safety, quality, and innovation to drive productivity, accuracy, and efficiency.
“Our larger goal is to stay at the forefront of the construction industry,” said Yeargain Bequette, General Superintendent at Nabholz. “We do that by using ever-advancing tools and techniques to drive effective project delivery, whether that’s improved accuracy, shorter timelines, better as-built models, or all of the above. We’re also finding that technology is one of the best ways to attract young workers to our industry.”
In particular, Nabholz has relied on GNSS technology for layout, machine guidance, and as-built data collection for over a decade. That commitment to technology has helped the Nabholz team drive productivity, efficiency, and a wide contingent of satisfied customers.
It has also made for some unexpected challenges in the way of equipment maintenance and associated costs that come with a multi-state operation.
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“Our crews are spread across six states on different jobs of varying scope and scale,” Bequette said. “Along with heavy equipment, we have a lot of base stations, rovers, and data collectors that vary in age, each with different firmware.”
He and his team were having difficulty managing the systems, coordinating with machine control systems, and achieving consistent GNSS satellite access.
“We were also struggling to efficiently manage invoices for repairs or updates, upgrades to outdated systems, or address issues with connectivity and accuracy due to older firmware and equipment,” he added.
The introduction of a construction on- and off-machine subscription offered an ideal solution — and a welcome adjustment to outdated bidding practices.
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In fall 2023, Nabholz opted into Trimble's Works Plus subscription through its local dealer, SITECH Arkansas. The Trimble Works Plus Subscription offers an all-inclusive customized support for machine control, site positioning systems, correction services, and/or office software for a fixed monthly fee. The subscription includes installation, upgrades, repairs, and SITECH support.
For Nabholz, the subscription program provided the opportunity to deliver current management of its growing fleet of rovers, data collectors, and base stations. The company currently maintains a dozen base/rover combinations. The subscription includes access to Trimble WorksManager software, which allows real-time tracking of equipment and quantities of dirt moved on job sites, as well as access to the Internet Based Satellite Service, improving connectivity even in challenging environments like dense urban sites.
“The subscription covers all costs, including repairs and updates, eliminating unexpected invoices,” said Dustin Mabry, Superintendent at Nabholz. “It includes automatic firmware updates, which ensures that all equipment is up-to-date and functioning optimally. It has basically simplified everything by giving us one monthly fee that covers repairs, replacements, and firmware updates, so everything is always current across our suite of solutions.”
Once Nabholz signed on to the subscription, SITECH Arkansas initiated the swap out of all Nabholz's old equipment for new equipment and updated firmware.
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“It took us about a month to get everything current, but once it was done, the difference was amazing,” Mabry said. “Not only are our systems up to date, but we now have access to over twice as many satellites and we’re always connected. The best part is that we can contact SITECH anytime we need assistance with new setups or have any issues — and they are quick to help resolve problems. The SITECH Arkansas technicians are fantastic and always available to provide support over the phone or in person.”
The subscription includes repairs and replacements handled through SITECH Arkansas, further simplifying equipment management.
Overall, the Works Plus subscription has simplified the tracking of costs and equipment management for Nabholz, eliminating the need to keep track of individual invoices or manage the replacement of broken or old equipment.
It has also improved field operations. Because the base and rovers are always current, Nabholz crews see improved GNSS accuracy, connectivity, and access to more satellites, therefore happier project teams.
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More current equipment will be invaluable on several projects that Nabholz is currently working on. With Works Plus helping to modernize field solutions, Nabholz looks forward to centimeter-level GNSS capabilities across its workflows. One of those projects is the Northwest Arkansas National Airport Terminal Modernization Project, a $34 million project to modernize the outside and lobby. The renovation includes the addition of more elevators, escalators, and stairwells as well as new baggage-handling equipment and a number of architectural upgrades, including new paint, terrazzo floors, lighting and sound baffles, a new information desk, and new flight information displays.
On these projects, they are using the technology for field layout and as-built data collection, which is subsequently used to provide updated 3D digital models to the client for progress checking.
One big benefit of the subscription program for Nabholz has been cost assurance and improved financial management.
“The ability to accurately calculate GNSS equipment costs was a big selling point for subscriptions,” Mabry said. “Before the Works Plus subscription, we established a set fee for layout equipment that was rolled into the project bid. Those monthly costs could fluctuate up and down. It was just an estimate based on experience and maintenance costs, because we didn’t have any specific project-based numbers to work from.”
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“Now, we know exactly what our equipment costs are each month, so [we] can allot them into equal, predictable amounts, simplifying our financial management,” Bequette said. “There is a lot less variability. Our project managers can visibly see how much it's costing us compared to revenue. The subscription simplifies things and just makes sense.”
The predictability of technology costs is also helping the company plan for additional technology investments in the way of more base stations, rovers, and other GNSS-enabled solutions. Looking forward, Nabholz is also considering adding its machine control systems to the subscription.
For now, streamlining its technology investment through a subscription is helping everyone from project managers to field crews stay online and on time while continuing to deliver solutions with efficiency.
