How Brex helped Landry/French Construction cut month-end close from 20 hours to 3

Four card programs, zero automation, and 20 hours of manual reconciliation every month

When Shannon Hall joined Landry/French Construction as CFO, the finance operation was drowning in manual processes. The company managed spend across four different card programs: Ramp for general expenses, dedicated Lowe's and Home Depot cards for materials, and fleet cards for vehicles. "The guys were carrying four cards with them, and were earning little to no rewards at all" Shannon explains.

The accounting team manually entered every transaction from statements with zero automation. "There was no back end accounting set up for it. My accounting people were manually entering the transactions off the statement," Shannon says. The manual process forced shortcuts that compromised data quality. When department heads asked for spend reports, they'd get numbers without vendor descriptions or backup documentation.

Between two accounting team members, reconciling the four card programs consumed 16 to 20 hours every month end. Then came the breaking point: Shannon lost access to the Ramp account entirely from a previous employee — and regaining the login took three weeks, after a handful of headaches trying to reach Ramp’s customer service team.

Consolidation, automation, and customer service that responds in hours

Shannon looked for an alternative to Ramp, and found Brex at the top of the list. What caught his attention: customer service reviews, a rewards program that actually felt rewarding, and a travel platform that could increase rewards value.

The decision came down to strategic priorities. Consolidating four cards into one would simplify field operations. Maximizing rewards across all spend would deliver tangible returns. And working with a responsive partner would prevent future issues accessing the platform.

Working with the Brex team, Shannon set up standardized reporting that exports directly into templates for upload to the company's ERP. The team configured general ledger accounts, cost codes, and budgets within Brex so transactions flow with complete coding attached. "It generates a standard report. I adjusted a few ways for how I want it to look. I copy-paste into a template, and up it goes."

Shannon became the Brex champion internally, automating the review of transactions to ensure receipts and documentation are attached before generating entries for the controller to upload. Field crews now carry a single Brex card instead of juggling multiple cards.

Throughout the transition, Shannon experienced the customer service difference that initially drew him to Brex. Response times measured in hours, and regular standing meetings with account managers every three weeks ensure proactive support.

"The Brex team has simply been top notch: through the whole process of the onboarding, the setup, helping get everything just right, and strategizing how to get the cards going," Shannon says. Technical questions get answered within hours. Credit line increases happen immediately. "The customer service with Brex is nothing shy of top notch. There's no other way to say it."

“Transitioning to Brex from Ramp reduced our month-end close from 20 hours to just 3. And throughout the whole process the Brex team has simply been top notch.”

— Shannon Hall, CFO, Landry/French Construction

85% time savings, 50% cashback increase, and finance operations that enable growth

What previously took 16 to 20 hours every month end now takes approximately 3 to 4 hours total. "I review all the transactions, and make sure the receipts, documentation, and coding is right. Then I generate the entry and give it to my controller to upload. All of that over the course of the month is 4 hours."

The 85% reduction in reconciliation time freed the finance team to focus on strategic work instead of administrative data entry. And consolidating spend onto one card has also generated higher rewards by earning on all of their spend.

Before Brex, Landry/French was earning little to no rewards on significant spend categories like materials and fleet fuel cards. By consolidating all spend onto Brex, the company now earns rewards across the board — resulting in more than $20,000 in rewards, “easily 50% more than what I would have earned had with Ramp”, says Shannon.

Field teams no longer juggle multiple cards. Department heads see transparent spend data with complete vendor descriptions instead of just numbers. Transaction details flow from Brex into the ERP and then into the construction management system, giving project managers complete visibility into job-related spend.

Best of all? Brex has empowered accountability for every employee. Shannon says, "Being employee-owned fosters a culture of teamwork, accountability, and ownership. Brex helps every employee drive the financial success we all benefit from.”

Ready to see how Brex can streamline your financial operations? Sign up for Brex today and discover how our integrated platform can eliminate the complexity of managing multiple financial tools while delivering measurable time and cost savings.