Case Study: How Texas Hill Country Mobile Mixers Cut Costs and Tightened Operations with Tough Commerce

Executive Summary: Texas Hill Country Mobile Mixers, a $15M volumetric concrete company, was able to crush scheduling, invoicing, and communication issues by switching to Tough Commerce. The move helped Texas Hill reduce human error and amplify customer satisfaction—all while cutting down on other expenses.

Who We Spoke To: Maddie Maltsberger, who is responsible for accounts receivable and payable, invoice management, and financial management at Texas Hill.

Company Overview: Founded in 2015, Texas Hill is a volumetric concrete company with a unique approach to the business: they separate raw materials in bins rather than using ready-mix, offering more flexibility on the job site. With 15 operators and an annual revenue of nearly $15M, the company completed 3,150 jobs in the past year.

The Challenge: Mistakes that Eroded Profit and Frustrated Customers

Before adopting Tough Commerce, Texas Hill faced several operational hurdles:

• Communication Issues: Drivers often lacked clarity on job details and material requirements, leading to costly rework that the company had to foot the bill for.

• Manual Scheduling: Due to shortcomings with FieldForce, Texas Hill’s original software choice, the team was often forced to rely on physical paper and Google Calendar for scheduling, which were prone to errors and inefficiency.

• Invoice Errors: Frequent invoicing mistakes required revisions that delayed payments and frustrated customers. This led to more work on the admin side and took away valuable time to focus on other areas of the business. “We’d have to double back and revise invoices, rushing to make sure the customer got the revised one before they sent out payment for the first one,” Maltsberger explained.

The Solution: Committing to Tough Commerce

After clocking drawbacks in competitors’ demos, Texas Hill chose Tough Commerce, won over by their:

• Ability to create and manage projects all within the platform

• Automatic input of current pricing, PO numbers, and addresses

• Consistent information across all orders within a project

An Excellent Customer Service Experience:

The Tough Commerce team made the transition as seamless as possible, assisting with the migration of customer information and existing workflows. They consistently impressed Matsberger. She notes: “They respond really fast through the live chat, and if it’s something they can’t solve right there and then, they’ll have someone contact us through phone or email, getting it resolved that day or in the next couple days at most.”

The Result: Tighter Operations and Money Saved

Adopting Tough Commerce led to sizable improvements, including:

1. Enhanced Communication

The team now enjoys real-time updates between the field and office, without lags or the errors associated with them.

2. Reduced Errors

Thanks to a tighter order entry process, there are fewer mistakes in job details and concrete mixes. Any issues are caught and resolved before they become a problem.

3. Faster Invoicing

The ability to integrate with QuickBooks means that admins no longer have to enter info into the QB manually, leading to faster invoice delivery with much less room for human error. This saved time on invoicing man hours has led to substantial savings, up to $150/day.

4. Improved Scheduling

With real-time driver location tracking, the team can make easier schedule adjustments, and ensure drivers always know where they need to go.

5. Customer Satisfaction

The customer portal has been a game changer for clients, allowing them real-time, self-serve access to all the updates they previously phoned in for.

6. Cost Savings

Texas Hill has been able eliminate multiple subscriptions previously needed for things like driver scheduling, because Tough Commerce offers it in their platform. Because their previous software, FieldForce, was offered through Verizon, their phone carrier, switching to Tough Commerce meant they were free to change carriers, which cut their bill in half.

Texas Hill’s Advice to Other Companies

"This is an all-in-one solution for scheduling, dispatching, driver management, and financial oversight. It helps us run more efficiently in the office, with real-time updates keeping everyone on the same page." - Maddie Maltsberger

Tough Commerce has proven invaluable for Texas Hill’s multi-million dollar operation. To get started with Tough Commerce in your own company, start by viewing the platform.