The challenge:

Before working at Central Bank, Zinn learned the hard way what managing a construction loan portfolio was like without construction lending software. The manual data entry and constant spreadsheet editing were tedious and time-consuming, not to mention risky. If a spreadsheet was not updated correctly, or if a formula was accidentally deleted, reporting became a lengthy process of checking and double-checking the numbers. And the more people that were involved in a loan, the greater the chance of human error.

Knowing that automation was a good choice, Zinn and her coworkers asked their institution to implement Construct to make the construction loan process more streamlined and efficient. Zinn and her team had previous experience with the software and were confident that its functionality and scope could help manage the large portfolio at Central Bank.

 “Construct includes everything that we need to upload all the draw requests, invoices, and lien waivers for each project,” Zinn said. “And by allowing inspectors to enter their notes directly into each project, Construct makes the inspection process, which was one of the most time-consuming parts of the manual process, feel easy.”

The inspection process can be a major pain point for financial institutions when it comes to construction lending. At Central Bank, inspectors would fill out forms by hand before turning them in for bank staff to enter digitally. With Construct, inspectors can log information and photographs directly to the software onsite, making them immediately available to Zinn alongside previous draw requests.

“Everything's right at our fingertips,” Zinn said. “At a glance, we can see what progress has been made on each of our projects.”