Parkway Construction, a Texas-based general contractor known for delivering high-velocity retail and commercial builds, has transformed its preconstruction approach by expanding its partnership with Join, the collaborative preconstruction platform. The contractor now leverages Join Benchmarking to harness the power of historical project data—over 1,500 completed projects—to make smarter, faster, and more confident cost decisions.
This strategic shift came after a pivotal internal moment in early 2024.
“We have to fix this. We cannot do this again,” said Mark Lundell, Sr. Director of Preconstruction at Parkway, recalling the frustration of watching a VP spend three weeks recreating an estimate from scratch for an audit.
The root of the problem: no centralized system for retrieving or tracking historical cost data.
At the time, Parkway had recently implemented Join to improve collaboration and transparency in preconstruction. But Lundell recognized an even bigger opportunity—to elevate estimating through institutional intelligence.
From Speed Builds to High-Stakes Projects
For over four decades, Parkway built its name on speed, simplicity, and scalable systems, excelling in repeatable projects like restaurants and retail locations. But a shift toward complex, high-profile projects—including religious temples for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—introduced new layers of risk, detail, and accountability.
Yet, the tools hadn't evolved to match the firm’s new project demands. Spreadsheets and anecdotal knowledge remained the norm.
“There was no standardized way to benchmark new work against past decisions,” said Lundell. “We needed to reset how preconstruction functioned.”
Phase One: Centralizing with Join
Parkway chose Join to help modernize the preconstruction department, favoring the platform’s ease of use and ability to track decisions in real-time.
“We wouldn’t normally use Join for a $2M restaurant,” said Lundell of their first Join-powered project, a new prototype for Pollo Campero. “But being a prototype that gets replicated 100 times—if you make one small mistake 100 times, it becomes a big mistake.”
“Let’s get this right and make sure that the cost and all the decisions are really thought through… so we can do this one time and do it really well for the owner,” he added.
The feedback was immediate and enthusiastic.
“The owner loved it,” said Jake Bloom, Parkway’s Preconstruction Manager. “And our design manager kept emailing everybody—including our senior architect—saying, ‘You guys have to see this new program that precon is using. It’s amazing.’”
Phase Two: Unlocking Benchmarking as a Strategic Tool
While Join’s transparency and team alignment proved valuable, the real breakthrough came with Join Benchmarking, a feature that was initially “an afterthought,” according to Lundell.
“But then it hit another initiative we’d created: to catalog data from a cost perspective,” he said.
Benchmarking enabled Parkway to query and compare cost data across 1,500+ completed projects—eliminating guesswork, reducing duplication, and creating a consistent system for informed cost modeling.
Phase Three: Benchmarking Becomes Core Strategy
Once leaders saw Benchmarking in action—especially the VP who had manually rebuilt the estimate—it was a turning point.
That same VP became a vocal backer of Join across business units, helping drive firm-wide adoption. Benchmarking is now Parkway’s “single source of truth” for cost guidance and preconstruction intelligence.
Real Results: Impact of Join Benchmarking at Parkway
With Join Benchmarking now fully embedded in its precon process, Parkway has realized measurable improvements:
- Instant access to cost data from 1,500+ past projects
- Faster decision-making backed by evidence
- Knowledge retention, even amid staff turnover
- More accurate forecasting and alignment with owners
“With Join Benchmarking, we can repurpose company expertise—data, best practices, standards, lessons learned—in a way that’s visible and valuable,” said Bloom.
Preconstruction is no longer just about “getting to a number.” For Parkway, it’s now a strategic advantage—a combination of technology, transparency, and data intelligence that’s enabling them to confidently pursue and deliver highly complex builds
About Parkway Construction
Parkway Construction & Architecture, headquartered in Lewisville, TX, has delivered thousands of successful projects for clients like Raising Cane’s, Public Storage, and General Atomics. Specializing in design-build delivery, the firm integrates all stakeholders early to minimize delays and optimize cost and quality. Ranked #219 on ENR’s Top 400 Contractors list, Parkway also operates offices in Utah and California.
About Join
Join is a cloud-based preconstruction and design-phase platform built to streamline decisions, connect teams, and improve construction outcomes. Trusted by over 40% of the ENR Top 50 contractors, Join enables teams to manage scope, cost, and risk from concept to constructability. Learn more at join.build.
Originally reported by Join in Construction Dive.