Construction Biz Wiz

Construction companies are realizing a return on investment on their contractor software that helps to establish standardized, repeatable processes.

Contractor software that allows seamless workflow across applications for estimating, project management, accounting, and more can improve accuracy, efficiency, and productivity, and so increase profits and quality of work.

A new best practices guide, published by the industry’s leading provider of software for contractors, explains why standardized processes are so important to compete in today’s market:

“Only standardized business processes give companies the ability to correctly ascertain the cause of faults or missed expectations. Without standard processes, you can’t know whether a disparity between your estimate and actual cost is the result of a project problem or employees taking different approaches.”

The guide also addresses how contractors can use construction software to gain information visibility:

“Information visibility means exposing the expert knowledge hidden in the minds of estimators, project managers, and accountants so that others in the company can see that information in a way that makes it useful and actionable for them. It leads to better quality for the customer and improved profitability for the construction firm.”

With standardized business practices and information visibility, construction businesses are optimizing for profitable growth.

Download a free best practices guide to read how contractor software helps improve processes and profitability.

A recent article published by Grading & Excavation Contractor points out that there is little room for errors in bidding and managing opportunities in the competitive marketplace. Construction estimating software proves to be an ideal method for maximizing those efforts.

As the article explains:

Connecting the office and field through collaboration with construction software and mobility is an important theme among contractors lately, says Mike Gillum, director of Product Development and Estimating at Maxwell Systems.

“Contractors need to collaborate with all the different members that may be involved in a particular project. You have the owner of the project and the general contractor, and then there could be dozens of subcontractors that are working on a particular project, and when that happens there are bits and pieces that are flying back and forth between all those different partners and you need tools for collaboration. Our ProContractorMX web-based construction project management software solution helps contractors effectively manage their projects.”

Construction estimating software should help you with anytime-anywhere access to online scheduling, reporting, alerts, and collaboration, as well as document control to complete projects efficiently and effectively.

“As an owner you can use [construction estimating software] to give everybody on the team access to the data they need,” explains Gillum. “But it’s really about collaborating with all the different partners in a construction project.”

Download the full article to read more about software for construction estimating.

Contractors are investing in all-in-one construction management software to cut overhead expenses, eliminate mistakes, improve efficiency, and best manage projects from end-to-end for optimal profit.

For example, a full-service general contracting firm has chosen the industry’s only all-in-one solution to reduce overhead, improve productivity, and grow revenue 400%.

The solution brings together applications for estimating, project management, and accounting for seamless workflow.

“The way our system is working now, many steps have been eliminated,” explains the firm’s CEO. “We’ve been able to get as lean as we could on overhead, which was a huge help in this economy.”

The company’s CFO adds:

“We wanted a program that would allow us to grow to $100 million a year and we looked at probably 15 different solutions. I love the efficiency that we’ve been able to achieve and the quality of the financial management from a project standpoint and just from the raw company standpoint.”

The CEO also appreciates the solution’s tools that improve efficiency and timely response:

“Project managers can be much more efficient in doing their costs to complete because all the data is right there at their fingertips,” he says. “They can’t manipulate it because of the controls we have in place, but the data is there and they can see exactly who’s been paid what, what invoices have been sent, what invoices are still outstanding, or if there is a hold for insurance issues or other reasons.”

Download this free case study to learn more about how this construction company has improved efficiency, the quality of managing financials, and productivity by using construction management software.

If you’re in a construction business that knows the value of submitting a precise and profitable bid, then you can appreciate the investment in contractor estimating software.

Take a look at the alternative … Estimating methods that rely on piles of paperwork and complex spreadsheets that demand manual updating are being retired due to the time and money that can be wasted in the process.

Such methods create a slow process and obstacles for accuracy and efficiency. Plus they require estimators to spend most of their time doing basic math and not allow enough time to analyze estimates to uncover more opportunities for profit in jobs.

Of course best possible profit is always great – but the other end of the spectrum is missing something in the takeoff – which might lead to you winning the work as the lowest bidder, but will cost you money the moment work begins.

So that touches on the one of the most critical words in estimating: Details. Another one? Documentation! If there is ever a disagreement, the one with documentation wins. Having that detailed backup or record of accountability – who said what, did what, when, and why – will prove invaluable if there is a dispute. A reliable audit trail of activity is critical in today’s competitive marketplace.

And that brings us to job tracking tools…

• Do you know if you’re making or losing money on a job in real-time?
• Do you know if you’re winning the right bids that your business can perform for best profit?

A contractor estimating software solution can help you with the right tools to make timely decisions.

Construction businesses are winning more work by implementing contractor software for estimating and takeoff. Such a solution helps contractors save time, win more work, bid with better profit margins, and control the process for important business insight.

Download this free worksheet, “Win More Work,” to help diagnose where you could be losing time and wasting money to uncover ways to bid at your very best.