Armistead Mechanical + Rhumbix: Streamlining Field Operations

For Union Mechanical Contractors

Company Overview

Armistead Mechanical, Inc. is a leading multi-trade mechanical contractor based in the New York/New Jersey region, specializing in plumbing, HVAC, and process piping. Operating three companies—Armistead Mechanical, Acorn, and AMI—the organization manages complex commercial and industrial projects with a skilled union workforce across multiple jurisdictions.

With approximately 50 foremen and project managers overseeing diverse project portfolios, Armistead handles both lump-sum and time-and-material work, requiring sophisticated systems to manage labor tracking, change orders, and field documentation across distributed job sites.

The Challenge

Armistead Mechanical faced significant operational inefficiencies that were delaying payment and creating administrative bottlenecks:

Manual T&M Documentation

Field teams relied on paper carbon-copy tickets or Excel spreadsheets for time-and-material work, creating delays in processing change orders and getting customer signatures.

We have a paper copy, you leave them on someone’s desk and it gets lost. So you only have carbon copy, which is sometimes you can barely read it.

— Edgar Cortez, Director of Construction Technology

Slow Payment Cycles

The cumbersome workflow for T&M tickets meant waiting 4-6 months to get paid on extra work, with documents getting lost between field and office.

Disconnected Timekeeping

While implementing TriXPara for basic timekeeping, Armistead lacked an integrated solution that connected daily time entry with T&M ticket generation and field documentation.

Limited Field Mobility

Foremen needed to capture time, materials, equipment, and notes on-site but lacked mobile-first tools designed for field conditions, including offline capability.

No Real-Time Visibility

Project managers couldn’t see labor distribution, production progress, or cost code performance in real-time, making it difficult to proactively manage projects.

The Solution

After evaluating multiple platforms including Trimble’s Project Site and TriXPara, Armistead selected Rhumbix for its comprehensive field operations platform that uniquely balanced ease of use for field teams with powerful project controls for the office.

Key Capabilities That Won the Deal:

1  Mobile-First T&M Ticket Generation

Rhumbix’s intuitive mobile interface allowed foremen to capture labor, equipment, and materials on-site using voice-to-text, attach photos and packing slips directly to tickets, copy time card data to T&M tickets with one click, route tickets via email for customer signatures, and track ticket status from submission to approval.

2  Consolidated Time & Production Tracking

Rather than juggling multiple systems, Armistead could enter crew timekeeping in 4-6 clicks using bulk entry features, track time across multiple cost codes with proper phase code allocation, handle union requirements like classification changes and shift differentials, and support both crew-based entry (foreman) and individual entry (office staff).

3  Powerful Analytics & Reporting

The platform provided unprecedented visibility through real-time labor distribution dashboards showing trade breakdown by project, production tracking with earned vs. actual hours and units per hour, budget burn analysis with gain/loss visibility at the cost code level, and customizable filters to view data by project, foreman, or cost code.

4  Seamless Spectrum Integration

Rhumbix’s bidirectional integration with Viewpoint Spectrum meant projects, cost codes, and employee data automatically synced, union trade classifications and pay rates flowed from Spectrum, time cards could be approved and exported for payroll processing, and no duplicate data entry between systems.

5  Flexible Form Builder

Beyond T&M tickets, Armistead could digitize daily construction reports with weather and crew details, Job Hazard Analyses (JHA) and Job Safety Analyses (JSA), toolbox talks with 150+ pre-built topics, and custom forms specific to their workflows.

The Implementation

Armistead took a phased, strategic approach to implementation:

Phase 1: Trial & Validation (January – March 2025)

• Edgar Cortez and foreman Nigel Domer conducted hands-on testing
• Evaluated both mobile app and web interface usability
• Tested T&M ticket workflow from creation to signature
• Validated integration requirements with Spectrum

Nigel loves it. He actually wrote a recommendation to issue iPads and mobile devices to all the foremen specifically for large projects.

— Edgar Cortez, Director of Construction Technology

Phase 2: Focused Deployment (April 2025)

Rather than a company-wide rollout, Armistead strategically selected:

• 15 field licenses for foremen and project managers across 3 major accounts (Hospital, Pfizer, and Silo projects)
• 100 office worker licenses at $60/year for overhead timekeeping
• Focus on T&M ticket generation as the primary use case

Training Approach

• Remote training via Zoom with Clinton Cook (Customer Success Manager)
• Customized training materials and videos
• Train-the-trainer model with key champions
• Weekly sync meetings during trial period for rapid feedback

The Results

Immediate Operational Improvements

Faster T&M Processing: Field teams can now complete T&M tickets on-site and route for digital signature immediately, eliminating lost tickets and reducing payment delays from months to weeks.

Streamlined Time Entry: Foremen using the mobile app can enter a full crew’s time in minutes using bulk selection and copy-forward features, with offline capability for areas without coverage.

Real-Time Project Visibility: PMs can log into the web dashboard and instantly see labor distribution, cost code performance, and budget burn across all active projects—no more waiting for end-of-week reports.

Reduced Administrative Burden: The ability to copy time cards to T&M tickets eliminated duplicate data entry, while automated workflows reduced manual approval steps.

Better Decision-Making Data: Production tracking dashboards with earned vs. actual hours gave leadership unprecedented insight into which cost codes were profitable and which needed attention.

Strategic Wins

Technology Stack Consolidation: By choosing Rhumbix, Armistead could potentially consolidate multiple tools (TriXPara for time, Excel for T&M, paper for field logs) into one integrated platform.

Foundation for Future Growth: With plans to integrate Autodesk Build for project management and Rhumbix for field operations, Armistead positioned themselves for a modern, connected tech stack.

Scalable Across Business Units: The platform’s flexibility meant it could work across all three companies (Armistead, Acorn, AMI) with different workflows and requirements.

Key Takeaways

“The biggest sale is the analytics”

While T&M tickets solved the immediate pain point, Edgar Cortez noted that Rhumbix’s production tracking and labor distribution dashboards were “the biggest sale” because they provided insights Armistead couldn’t get from other systems.

Mobile-first matters for field adoption

The trial confirmed what Rhumbix has always believed: field teams embrace tools built for mobile devices. The web interface works, but the mobile app drives adoption.

Integration is non-negotiable

For union contractors using Spectrum, seamless ERP integration isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s table stakes. Rhumbix’s bidirectional sync with Spectrum eliminated concerns about duplicate data entry.

Start focused, then expand

Armistead’s decision to start with T&M tickets on specific projects rather than company-wide timekeeping rollout demonstrated a pragmatic approach: solve the biggest pain point first, prove value, then expand.

Looking Ahead

Armistead Mechanical continues to evaluate how Rhumbix fits within their broader technology ecosystem, particularly as they implement Autodesk Build for project management. The company represents a growing segment of forward-thinking mechanical contractors who understand that field operations technology is not just about digitizing paper—it’s about gaining real-time insights that drive better business decisions.

With Rhumbix, Armistead has the foundation to:

• Capture T&M work digitally and accelerate payment
• Track productivity and cost code performance in real-time
• Build a data-driven culture around field operations
• Scale operations across multiple companies and regions

  Ready to streamline your field operations? Click here.