Crete United Centralizes Agreements and Accelerates Decision Making Across 40+ Operating Companies with Docusign IAM

For Crete United opens in a new tab, every successful project begins with a clear understanding of responsibilities. As a national network of leading mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and building automation specialists, Crete United helps customers complete complex projects safely, on time, and with confidence.

“Our goal is to make sure that clients’ projects are a success,” says Jonathan Pettus, Contract Administrator at Crete United. “That means doing the job right and keeping our crews safe at the same time.”

Teams need to move quickly, make informed decisions, and stay aligned on the commitments made to customers. Every agreement contains critical details about scope, timelines, responsibilities, approvals, and financial obligations that can influence how projects are executed and how quickly work can move forward.

As the network grew, maintaining visibility into that information became difficult. Without a centralized approach to agreement management, employees struggled to quickly access the information they needed to quickly make decisions.

 By adding fast, standard workflows to process contracts and making the information inside easier to find, the organization could speed up decision making, reduce risk, and deliver the best possible customer experience by completing jobs right and on time.

Gaining visibility across the agreement lifecycle

Crete United selected the Docusign Intelligent Agreement Management (IAM) platform as the foundation for its agreement transformation initiative.

“When I saw what Docusign could do for contract lifecycle management, I realized it was going to completely change things for us,” says Pettus. “It’s so much more than just electronic signatures. It’s a fully customizable agreement solution that brings visibility to all contract assets.”

Using Docusign IAM for Sales, Crete United uses Agreement Desk to create a single centralized environment for creating, negotiating, and managing contracts across its network of operating companies. Agreement Manager provides a single location to organize, search, and understand agreements, making critical contract information easier to find and act on. Teams can use this information to make more informed decisions and manage risk throughout a customer engagement. 

Crete United worked closely with the Docusign Customer Success and Professional Services teams to tailor workflows and best practices to fit the network’s unique operating company model. The solution was rolled out within four weeks, with training materials that drove adoption across the organization.

Using Docusign Iris to accelerate reviews and strengthen decision making

With visibility established, Crete United focused on improving how teams reviewed and negotiated agreements.

The organization implemented Docusign AI-Assisted Review with custom playbooks that help teams quickly identify contractual risks, assess proposed changes, and negotiate agreements more effectively. By allowing team members to ask questions in conversational language and receive clear explanations, it’s much easier to confidently evaluate and understand complex agreements.

“We’re putting decision-making back in the hands of business teams by using AI-Assisted Review to give them the understanding of legal language and conduct reviews themselves,” says Pettus.

When teams do reach out to legal for assistance, they come prepared with specific, well-defined questions. This has reduced contract review times and costs.

The results have been significant. Working with Docusign, Crete United helped cut contract negotiation and redlining timelines by 80%, while redlines and added commentary now achieve acceptance rates exceeding 90% across counterparties. This enables the organization to move faster while maintaining greater consistency and control over agreements.

Expanding capacity to support more customer opportunities

With Docusign, Crete United transformed contract management from a bottleneck into a sales driver. Previously, Crete United averaged just three to five contract reviews each month, limiting its ability to respond quickly to new opportunities. Following a trial rollout across seven operating companies, Pettus managed 121 review requests in just four months, a significant increase in business opportunities handled.

By combining AI generated agreement summaries and supporting project documentation such as design plans and timelines in a centralized workspace with Agreement Desk, Crete United reduced time to respond to proposals by 50%, with teams now responding to deals less than 48 hours from receipt of the request.

Automating agreement processes at scale

Crete United also implemented Docusign Workflow Builder to standardize and automate agreement processes company-wide.

Workflows now route the contracts to the appropriate stakeholders at the right time, providing an auditable record of approvals. This eliminates manual handoffs while ensuring a consistent process.

Teams can now get agreements approved 90% faster, helping customers keep their projects on schedule. 

Better decisions across every project

By transforming hidden contract data into actionable business intelligence, Docusign has made agreement management a strategic capability for Crete United. The result is a stronger foundation for growth, smarter decision making, and a more disciplined approach to managing risk across every project.

“Docusign IAM has become our superpower, allowing us to make more informed decisions before work even begins,” says Pettus. “We can now step into projects with confidence because we understand our obligations and can proactively address issues to help our clients succeed.”