How Carrillo GC Saved $47K in One Month
When Mike Carrillo founded Carrillo General Contracting in 2011, he managed every invoice by hand. Fourteen years later, Carrillo GC has grown into a regional powerhouse with over 200 active subcontractor relationships, annual revenue exceeding $180 million, and a 12-person AP team processing more than 800 invoices every month.
This is the story of how Carrillo GC deployed Covinly and caught $47,000 in duplicate payments, pricing errors, and contract mismatches in its very first month — transforming AP from a reactive cost center into a proactive financial control.
Carrillo GC operates across commercial, industrial, and mixed-use construction in the Southwest US with over 200 subcontractors. The 12-person AP department used a heavily customized legacy ERP with manual data entry, spreadsheet-based three-way matching, and physical signature approvals for invoices over $5,000.
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Invoices processed per month before Covinly
An internal audit sampled 200 invoices and found discrepancies in nearly 12 percent. Duplicate submissions, pricing mismatches, and billing errors were going undetected. The average processing cycle was 21 days.
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Average invoice processing cycle before implementation
Key issues identified:
- 4.3% duplicate invoice rate
- 7.8% contract pricing mismatches
- 14 minutes average for manual three-way matching
- 35% of invoices missing early payment discount windows
- No automated anomaly flagging
After a two-week proof-of-concept, Carrillo GC selected Covinly for its ERP integration capability, AI-powered duplicate detection, and contract-aware pricing verification. Implementation took four weeks and less than 40 hours of internal staff time.
Covinly flagged 63 invoices with discrepancies totaling $47,200. Twenty-eight were duplicate submissions, 19 had pricing exceeding contracted rates, and 16 had quantity mismatches or incorrect calculations.
“I knew we had a problem, but I didn't know it was a $47,000-a-month problem. Covinly paid for itself before we even got the first invoice from them.”
— Mike Carrillo, CEO, Carrillo General Contracting
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Discrepancies caught in the first 30 days
Performance comparison:
- Processing time: 21 days → 6.4 days (69% improvement)
- Duplicate rate: 4.3% → 0.1% (97% reduction)
- Three-way match automation: 0% → 82%
- Discount capture: 18% → 71%
- Cost per invoice: $14.80 → $4.60 (69% reduction)
- Manual verification hours: 340/month → 85/month
IOFM benchmarks show manual invoice processing costs $12-$30 each. Intelligent automation typically brings costs below $5 within the first quarter.
Cumulative savings exceeded $215,000 in prevented overpayments. Early payment discount capture added $38,000 to the bottom line. Total ROI exceeded 900% in the first half-year. Two team members were redeployed from data entry to vendor relationship management.
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Cumulative prevented overpayments in six months
Best-in-class AP departments process invoices 80% faster and at 60% lower cost than peers. The key differentiator is nearly always intelligent automation.
If your organization processes more than 500 invoices per month with manual verification, you're likely experiencing similar leakage. The question isn't whether the errors exist — it's whether you have the visibility to find them before payments clear.
Written by
Sarah Blake
Product Marketing
Sarah translates complex AP automation concepts into clear, actionable insights for finance teams. Previously led content at a leading procurement platform. Focused on helping AP teams build the business case for modernization.
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