Our construction software reviews serve two main purposes. One, of course, is to help readers decide what software best fits their needs. The other, less obvious, purpose of the reviews is to illustrate how construction software makes life a heck of a lot easier for users. Typically we talk about the benefits for project managers, cost estimators, engineers and accountants, but there are advantages for salesmen and saleswomen as well.

For example, sales and marketing at Southern Crafted Homes used to be a bit disorganized, with no standard form for contracts, a set of index cards for handling traffic and an outside firm taking care of mass mailings. Two years ago, the contractor implemented Sales Simplicity, and, as director of information systems George Chambers put it in his Sales Simplicity user review, “everything is streamlined.” Chambers added:

[D]ocumentation is standardized and controlled in electronic folders, communication flows electronically, budgets are much tighter, cycle times and errors are reduced, and the ability to work on process improvements exists…. Now we can target [mass mailings] based on demographics, do email blasts almost immediately, check on delivery and obtain feedback at a cost that is part of the infrastructure.

Fulford Homes, meanwhile, has reaped both savings and revenue in the year since its sales staff started using Dynami Builder. The savings come from safeguards that prevent users from selecting incompatible options — 9′ basement walls in an 8′ basement, for example. The revenue comes from an interface that shows sales staff more of the options available to homebuyers. As Matt Lanter, director of sales and construction, put it in his Dynami Builder user review:

Our initial findings are that the dollar amount of each sale is increasing because the buyers are adding simple options (like upgraded bath hardware) that most past buyers have not added.

You’d be hard pressed to find a salesperson who doesn’t want to bring in bigger sales, all while keeping customers satisfied. With the right software, a construction company can help its sales staff exceed its goals — and boost the bottom line. Keep that in mind as you research your construction software options.

With a name like ConstructionSoftwareReview.com, end user reviews of construction software products are obviously a key part of what we do. However, as you may have noticed, over the last couple months we have started rolling out additional content that aims to offer readers additional perspective on how to use construction software. (So much for my diabolical plan to take the summer off. Ah, there’s always autumn.)

One example of this new content is our three-part series examining the effectiveness of Microsoft Excel as a construction estimating tool. Here we report on Excel’s flexibility and its limitations; we also list some of the add-ons that vendors have built for Excel. We’ve also posted a four-part series that defines, as best as possible, what is construction software. Finally, we can happily report that we will have a lot of new content for you in the next few weeks.

We’re bringing all this up for two reasons. One, admittedly, is self-promotion. The other is to ask for help — as we continue to grow, we are looking for construction professionals who a) have some experience using construction software and b) would like to share what they have learned with their peers.

What could you write about? Here are a few thoughts:

• If you’ve been using the same program for years, then chances are you’ve come across some shortcuts or other general tips to save time.
• Perhaps you’ve made the move from a general type of software (think Excel or QuickBooks) to a more specialized construction software application and have some thoughts on advantages, disadvantages and the like.
• Maybe it took you months to learn how to do something using your software and you reckon that telling others how to do it will spare them the headaches and gray hairs you endured.
• Perhaps you just went through the process of buying construction software and have some do’s and don’ts for those who are beginning to buy.

If any of those scenarios apply to you, and if you’d be interested in writing about your experiences, let us know. If you think you may want to write in short bursts, then the blog might be up your alley. (This post, for a frame of reference, is under 400 words.) If you have a lot to share, then longer tips or articles might make sense. Either way, we’d love to hear from you.

In a previous entry I highlighted how construction software reviews can be useful when you are thinking about buying software. Another point to consider, albeit with a grain of salt, is the case study.

When contemplating a major purchase, the opinion of other people who have made the same investment can be quite useful. Sometimes this can be quite simple — find someone in a parking lot who drives the make and model of the car you covet and chat for a few minutes, and you’ll learn a lot about that automobile. Sometimes, though, it can be difficult — after all, it’s hard to ask a fellow runner what he or she thinks about a certain brand of shoe in the middle of a road race.

For this reason vendors of all types, including construction software companies, put together case studies. A case study essentially discusses the “before” and “after” for a vendor’s customer — how that customer struggled to get by before buying construction software compared to how life became much easier after the customer started using the software. (When you go to a vendor’s website, look for pages marked “Success Stories” or “Testimonials” or “What Customers Say” and that will likely bring you to the case studies.)

One of our writers was recently doing some research and came across a couple compelling Maxwell Systems case studies. Residential builder K. Alan Co., for example, described how it used Maxwell’s estimating software. Said Rocky McCampbell, K. Alan’s estimator, builder and general operator:

Before I began using Maxwell Systems software products, my bid information was compiled on many, many pages of legal note pads. Viewing or capturing that information was a frustrating exercise in page flipping. Now the pricing information I need is categorically listed in my database and I can easily transfer the information and work I generate during the course of creating a [construction] estimate from Estimators Notepad to my estimate.

As you can see, information like this can helpful if you have seen a construction software vendor’s list of product features and benefits but want to know how that all can be put into action.

Of course, there is a major caveat — few case studies will say anything unflattering about a product. If a customer had trouble with implementation, say, or training end users or migrating data, you may be hard pressed to find that out from the case study.

To learn about a construction software package’s pain points, you’ll have to go straight to who is using the construction software — whether it’s over the phone, over a business lunch or in between sessions of an industry conference. It is an extra step, but it will help put the vendor’s case study into a proper context.

Last week we asked readers to share tales about how construction software has made life easier. In a recent conversation a ConstructionSoftwareReview.com writer had with Daniel Niedens, a principal at Colvin Kitchen & Bath, we learned how long it took, and how difficult it was, to prepare construction bids and turn them into purchase orders without the use of specialized construction software. (In this particular case, Colvin bought Smart Contractor. His full review of that job cost accounting software application will be live shortly.)

Niedens first described the complexity of the old process of preparing construction bids: 

Originally we had a spreadsheet template and an in-house price book for entering the item cost/labor into this spreadsheet. When I did a quote, I would open the template and get out our price book. I would pull the prices and numbers out of the price book, enter them into the spreadsheet and enter the labor into a separate column. If we did not have a certain item already figured in our price book, then I would have to get out the manufacturer’s catalog and price book, then do the math on our cost plus mark up to come up with the number to enter into the spreadsheet. This would do only one thing for me and that was just to establish a cost for the project.

Niedens continued by telling us what it took to prepare the written proposal:

I would then take this completed spreadsheet and cut and paste a written proposal based on what I had estimated.  We did have a catalog of already written, generic descriptions of items to cut and paste, but I still needed to edit this for the specific item or explanation based on the project. This left open the possibility for missing items or writing items into the proposal that were never charged for. Lots of check and re-checks needed to make sure that they both matched to a “T.” I’m not in the business of giving things away and, at today’s material costs, it doesn’t take many [misidentified items] to get your attention.

The proposals then had be edited and checked to make sure mistakes were caught. Niedens noted:

Having, then, to edit both the spreadsheet and the written proposal separately with all the details involved in a kitchen or bathroom got crazy and time-consuming.

If the customer had not walked out during that two-hour ordeal and the deal was signed, then the real work could begin on turning that info into the correct part numbers and counts for the purchase orders. Niedens would pull out all the catalogs that had anything to do with the job, look up each item and handwrite cost information on a sheet. An assistant would then go into the archive of pre-made purchase orders and type this into the correct fields. Niedens then had to do another check just to make sure no mistakes were made.

All told, Niedens said it could take almost four hours to put together construction bids and their corresponding purchase orders. With Smart Contractor, on the other hand, the process takes less than an hour. Time, as the adage goes, is money, and Niedens reckons that he’s saved a lot of both.

Have you seen similar savings after you started using construction software? Do you want to share your story with us? Leave a comment or send me an email.