NEWSLETTER

BSD Customer Case Study: Software Functionality and Great Support Lead Virgo Gambill to SpecLink

Virgo Gambill Architects is located in Augusta, Georgia. Their staff includes registered architects, designers, interns, draftsmen, and an office manager. The practice has an international flair, with associates from England, Italy and South America..

The range of services Virgo Gambill offers is impressive and includes architecture, interior design, master planning, graphic design, facilities needs studies, 3D modeling, rendering services, CADD systems, and furnishings selection and procurement. They provide these services to a wide range of clients for all types of commercial & residential projects including medical offices, hospitals, multifamily residential, and emergency operation centers, radio towers, secondary schools, technical schools, fire stations, senior centers, car wash, historic façade renovations, day care centers, churches, regional airports, and auto dealerships.

Virgo Gambill recently celebrated its 25th anniversary of providing architectural services for the people of the Greater Augusta Area. They have a portfolio of over 400 projects, many of which have won awards: Old Government House, Georgia Golf Hall of Fame Gardens, Bus Transfer Terminal, Port Royal, Augusta Aquatics Center, and Byrd Elementary. Although VGA is based in Augusta, Georgia, the company has provided design services for clients on projects in eight states and includes an international client based in Paris, France.

The Need:
For over 15 years, Virgo Gambill experienced success as an award-winning architectural firm. They knew that great designs required great specifications. While they felt they were doing reasonably well with their specification writing – using their “home-grown” word processing based system and free specifications available from various manufacturers, they felt their existing process still needed improvement. After reviewing BSD SpecLink, Ray Baird, AIA, was confident that Virgo Gambill could move up a level with its specification writing. He was convinced that their specification writing process would be faster and smoother if they were to adopt SpecLink.

The Solution:
“A combination of the various features, coupled with the price and ease of use were the main reasons we made the switch to SpecLink,” says Baird. “Plus we knew we could save time using SpecLink – and we have, cutting our specification writing time by at least 50%.”

Baird’s praise for SpecLink continues, “Standardized specification format, updated references, and easy editing made writing specifications with SpecLink so much better and easier than our previous method. And the fact that it is written by professional spec writers was obvious. Our architects now do spec generation and editing, instead of having it done by clerical personnel, which contributes to the time savings.”

The Outcome:
While the functionality of the software was at the center of Virgo Gambill’s decision to go with SpecLink, Baird has found another place to compliment BSD. He states, “The other reason why we like Speclink and are able to do so well with it is the OUTSTANDING technical support that is available. BSD’s tech support staff has always been available to help us. We have never once failed to get timely help when needed! Everyone has always been so helpful, friendly and personable. For me, the end user, they are the heart and soul of BSD – and the reason I am a very satisfied customer!”