How DuBois Central Catholic Customized Coast to Speed Up Work Orders

Kenneth Coder is the maintenance and facilities director at DuBois Central Catholic School, a PreK-through-senior private school in DuBois, Pennsylvania. With 423 students, roughly 70 employees and 100,000 square feet to manage, Coder leads a lean team of five — himself and four maintenance technicians — responsible for keeping everything running smoothly, every single day.

That’s a tall order with limited staff. And before Coast, the system holding it all together was barely holding up.

A Spreadsheet That Couldn’t Keep Up

For years, the team managed maintenance requests the same way most schools still do: through phone calls and spreadsheets. Teachers or staff members would call the maintenance office when something broke. The maintenance team would manually log the request into a spreadsheet, assign the work and eventually close it out once completed.

At first, the system worked. But as the school’s maintenance demands grew, so did the spreadsheet. “It was just getting too big,” says Coder. “It was difficult trying to go back and find [a work order] that was still open versus one you were working on now.”

The real bottleneck wasn’t the spreadsheet itself. It was everything that had to happen before a work order made it to the list. A teacher would call. The call would go to voicemail. Coder or one of his technicians would finally listen to it. Then, they’d have to track down the person to clarify what was actually needed, and only then could they start the work order process. The whole chain depended on timing, availability and memory.

“Someone would call or leave a message,” Coder explains. “We’d eventually get the message when we got back to the office because we’re not usually in the office very often. Then, we’d go find that person, find out what they really wanted and go do it.”

Searching for a Better Maintenance System

Coder started researching top CMMS software solutions online and evaluated three or four, comparing features and usability. Coast stood out immediately — not because of any single flashy feature, but because of how well it fit the way his team actually worked.

“I just liked the way Coast was set up and how I could tailor it to my needs,” Coder says.

That flexibility mattered. Like many school maintenance teams, DuBois Central Catholic needed a system that could adapt to their workflow instead of forcing them into rigid processes.The team also wanted something simple enough that teachers and staff would actually use it. Instead of relying on phone calls or hallway conversations, staff could now submit requests directly through Coast using either:

• A simple URL
• QR codes placed around campus

Coast’s free trial also helped seal his decision. Within a short testing period, Coder could see that Coast was built for teams like his: small, busy and in the field more than at a desk.

Fast Implementation & Immediate Team Adoption

Implementation at DuBois Central Catholic was about as frictionless as it gets.

“We got it activated, I put all my guys in the system, and we started using it right away,” Coder says. “It was very simple to pick up. We tweaked and tailored it to our needs, and it’s worked great ever since.”

The work order management side of things was live almost immediately. The harder part, Coder says, was changing the habits of the teachers and staff submitting requests — getting 70 employees to stop picking up the phone and start using a URL or QR code instead.

“It took quite a while to get that,” he admits. “But now we’re into the third year, and the phone calls have greatly decreased. Mostly everybody uses the work order system now.”

Coast’s flexibility in submission methods helped bridge that gap. Coder deployed both direct URLs and QR codes throughout the building — whichever format worked best for a given space or population of users. Now, requests arrive fully documented inside Coast.

“They can type the whole [request] out, explain it, and we can get it done without even having to make contact,” Coder says.

Turning Around Work Orders in About a Day

Today, DuBois Central Catholic uses Coast primarily for:

• Work order management
• Preventive maintenance scheduling
• Campus-wide maintenance tracking
• Team communication and assignment management

As a result of using Coast, work order response time has dropped dramatically. Where the old system could leave requests in limbo for days, the team now closes out most work orders in about a day. Plus, the maintenance team can now stay on top of incoming work orders in real time.

“As soon as we get a work order, we’re usually on it,” Ken said. “There’s usually someone free that can take it directly.”

Preventive Maintenance Gets More Consistent

The improvement in preventive maintenance has been just as significant — arguably more so, given what’s at stake. The school’s boiler systems and hot water equipment are critical assets. Missed or delayed maintenance on either means disruption across the entire building.

With Coast’s preventive maintenance schedule features, Coder assigns recurring tasks to specific technicians with built-in alerts. Whoever is assigned keeps getting notified until the work is done — there’s no forgetting, no falling off the radar.“Our preventive maintenance has really increased because of the work order system,” Coder says. “You can set a date, and the person I assign it to keeps getting alerts up until the time they get it done.”

It’s that kind of accountability that Coder credits with reducing wear and tear on the school’s key assets.

Making Maintenance Easier for the Entire Team

Ask Coder which member of the team has taken most naturally to Coast, and the answer is immediate: his assistant, Dan. 

Dan’s day looks a lot like Coder’s — rarely behind a desk, fielding requests in real time. Before Coast, that meant trying to hold onto verbal work orders in his head until he could get back to log them somewhere. Now, he logs them on the spot.

“A lot of times when we’re out, someone tries to tell you a work order, and you have to try to remember by the time you get back,” Coder explains. “Now, he gets right on his phone and makes his own work order, so it’s already there with his name on it.

That shift — from relying on memory to capturing requests instantly — is exactly the kind of behavioral change that compounds over time. Nothing falls through the cracks. Every request is traceable. The whole history of a location or piece of equipment is one tap away.

Built to Fit, Not the Other Way Around

One of Coder’s most-cited advantages of Coast is how deeply configurable the platform is. His team didn’t just adopt a generic tool — they built something that reflects the specific layout and operations of their school. “We’ve tailored it immensely,” Coder says. 

The Locations workspace alone contains roughly 100 entries: every classroom, the auditorium, the gymnasium, outdoor areas and more. When a new space gets added or a situation comes up that isn’t covered yet, it takes seconds to add.“If we don’t have something, we can add it into the Locations workspace right away and not have to worry about it.”

That level of customization — combined with work order history across every asset or space — means Coder can look back and see exactly what was done the last time something broke. That context matters when deciding whether to repair or replace.

Advice for Other Facility Teams

Coder’s message to other facility maintenance managers considering Coast is straightforward: Try it. “Do the free trial. It’s very simple. Just add your guys, tailor it to your needs, and you can refine it over time. We’ve gotten it down to a science,” he adds.

After three years using Coast, DuBois Central Catholic’s maintenance operation looks nothing like it did with the old spreadsheet. Coast helped create:

• Faster work order turnaround times
• Better preventive maintenance consistency
• Fewer missed maintenance requests
• Reduced phone call dependency
• Improved technician accountability
• Easier campus-wide maintenance tracking

Most importantly, it’s taken some of the burden off Coder and his staff. “This has made my job a whole lot easier,” Coder says. “I don’t know how we’d do without it now.”