Crossland Construction Responds to Regulatory Changes on the Fly with Document Generation for Power Automate

If you dream it, Crossland Construction can build it. From a humble garage operation to a Top 55 Contractor in the nation, this family-run business completes a diverse range of projects from large Fortune 500 names to local community projects and major infrastructures - they’ve seen and built it all.

“We come from a long line of real builders, which is rare to find,” said Collin Crossland, business intelligence analyst.

But with growth comes challenges, especially in an industry where new regulations in a single state can cause a ripple of administrative headaches.

That’s the problem Crossland faced when Texas, its second-largest market, changed its lien laws to require multiple waiver releases for different project phases.

“Suddenly, we had to track down every Texas job and subcontractor check we sent out,” said Collin. Managing this manually via binders and snail mail was a major drain on time and resources.

By automating waiver release workflows with Docusign and Microsoft Power Automate, Crossland saved thousands while gaining the agility to keep pace with ever-changing regulations.

Streamlining how lien waivers are generated and tracked

Before the regulatory change in Texas, Crossland used a single blanket release document across its six-state footprint. Under the new law, however, the company had to collect separate unconditional lien releases from subcontractors for progress and final payments. The sheer volume of paperwork and lack of visibility created a “nightmare” for internal teams.

“We were spending over forty grand on postage in Texas alone, and we had no idea how many documents were going out or coming back in,” said Collin. To tackle the challenge without breaking the budget, he developed a solution using the company’s existing Microsoft tools. “Docusign Document Generation was the missing piece.”

Here’s how the automated process works:

• First, Power BI performs biweekly scans of all payments to identify Texas projects.
• Then, it determines which outgoing payments are partial or final based on Crossland's accounting data.
• The appropriate Docusign template is automatically generated and populated with project and subcontractor details.
• From there, Power Automate orchestrates the workflow—sending out Docusign links, tracking signatures and storing finalized copies.

“It's essentially a tree of decisions, and at the end, you have your results," said Collin. "And then Docusign makes it easy to track expiring waivers, see who we need to follow up with, and keep contact details up to date for accounting and insurance.”

Realizing fast ROI

Beyond its seamless integration with Power Automate workflows, Crossland chose Docusign Document Generation for its ease of use, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness compared to other software solutions the company explored.

Eliminating the hefty postage costs alone gave Crossland a jumpstart in capturing ROI.

Immediately after launching Docusign, Crossland saw completion rates exceeding 85%. Close to 70% are signed and returned the same day. The swift turnaround keeps projects moving while helping to protect Crossland against potential legal pitfalls.

Just as important, it’s freed up employees to focus on other things that help grow the business.

“My job is to make everyone’s life a little easier,” said Collin. “I love running into the accounting team now because they’re like, ‘Thank you!’”

Building a digital-forward future

Now that Crossland has laid the groundwork, the sky's the limit. “That’s the beauty of this whole thing: We can take what we learned and apply it to new ideas, new processes, and new problems,” said Collin.

According to Collin, the more people who embrace digital technologies like Docusign, the better. It's not just modernizing processes; it's helping to create an industry that's more efficient, adaptable and ready for future growth. 

With a network of about 40,000 vendors, Crossland’s reach and potential impact is significant.

“Some will likely adopt Docusign in their own business this year," said Collin."It's going to help them, contribute to a safer industry overall, and ultimately help owners maximize their construction dollars.”