The construction industry is extremely fragmented, with contractors working on projects ranging from residential homes to highways and tunnels through mountains. Not surprisingly, with such a wide range of construction segments, the industry is composed of contractors from a wide range of professional experience levels. Some contractors have been using construction-specific software for years. Others are just starting out and don’t know what construction software they need or, for that matter, how to begin selecting it.

To help those who are new to construction software, we have created a four-part series of articles called “What is Construction Software?” These articles explain the basics of the three main types of construction software — estimating, job costing and project management software. From there, the articles assist the reader in the software selection process and offer additional resources for contractors who are considering an investment in a construction software program.

The first article of the series is The ABCs of Construction Software. This article shows those construction firms who have not yet implemented a construction software program what benefits they can expect after choosing the right program for their company. The article describes the three main types of construction software and provides five main steps to follow when choosing the right software program.

The second article, The ABCs of Construction Estimating Software, discusses how estimating software can be used for more than the general actions of performing calculations and keeping track of costs. In addition, the article provides several warning signs that those who are using generic estimating software, such as Microsoft Excel, may want to switch to a construction-specific program.

The third article of the series, The ABCs of Construction Job Costing Software explains the capabilities that job costing software has in comparison to the general accounting software most construction companies start off with. The article also emphasizes the importance of considering your company’s long term growth when choosing a job costing program and the construction-specific modules that come with it.

The article series wraps up with The ABCs of Construction Project Management Software. This article gives an overview of the nine main areas of knowledge that characterize project management and provides a list of the advantages that project management software gives to the contractors that use it.

If you fall into the category of people who want to know more about construction software or who are beginning to think about buying construction software, the four articles above are a good start. From there, take a look at our construction estimating, construction job costing and construction project management software buyers guides for more tips and guidance on the construction software selection process.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 8:19 am and is filed under Project management and scheduling software, Job cost accounting software, Estimating software. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.