Streamlining Construction Approvals

Construction approvals dashboard

Overview

A regional contractor managing 40+ active jobs struggled with slow approvals, lost forms, and fragmented communication between field crews and office staff. Tristar Labs implemented a targeted intake-to-approval automation that connected forms, approvals, and a lightweight approvals dashboard.

Challenge

Approvals were manual and paper-based, average sign-off time was 72 hours, and missing paperwork caused rework and delayed invoices.

Solution

  • Designed an intake form with validation for field submissions.
  • Built routing automations that send approvals to the right manager based on job and region.
  • Created a simple dashboard that shows pending approvals, SLAs, and completed items.

Results

  • Approval time reduced from 72 hours to under 8 hours.
  • 30% fewer missed forms and reduced rework.
  • Faster invoice cycle — 18% improvement in days-to-bill.

Timeline & Tech

Delivery completed in a 6-week engagement. Tools used: Google Forms/Sheets, Apps Script integrations, small serverless functions, and a lightweight dashboard built on the Google Workspace stack.

“Tristar cut our approval time from days to hours — we started invoicing faster the same month.” — Operations Manager, Regional Contractor
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