Buildertrend is better than a spreadsheet and here’s why

Spreadsheets are nice for numbers, but when it comes to construction project management, you need more.

The days of creating, formatting and explaining the intricate details of your Excel docs are over. With Buildertrend, you have so many tools in your belt that make communication and collaboration easy. When one spreadsheet turns into multiple tabs of manually-updated data, things can get messy.

See why Buildertrend is better than a spreadsheet and how it can make project management painless for you and your team.

Buildertrend is a central hub for all your job information

Excel can be a great solution for laying out financial data, but that’s just one tiny piece of the project management puzzle. In order to complete your projects on time and on budget, you need a system that can functionally handle every piece of the puzzle and help you put them together.

“Buildertrend is a central hub for you to view job progress and documentation for one project or gain insights across all projects,” said Anthony Petersen, customer success senior manager. “This is extremely hard to replicate inside Excel and under one file even with multiple tabs. Buildertrend creates processes and accountability through our best practices, order of operations and user roles. Excel typically falls on one person to update and communicate. With Excel we are unsure of who updated what and when, but with Buildertrend, many features include the date and user stamps to ensure you can get to the root of any issue quickly.”

Tracking every piece of your remodeling project or new build in Excel is not only inefficient, it’s not possible. With so many moving pieces, trying to manually keep documents updated while simultaneously collaborating with your team is a recipe for disaster.

“Spreadsheets I have seen from past clients often start with good intentions and then grow into multi-tab worksheets that house the entire operation,” said Nick Pitsch, training coordinator. “Buildertrend takes that same concept but provides well engineered features with specific function and purpose that can be linked to make sure all pieces of the project are moving along together.”

Buildertrend promotes effective communication and on-the-go updates

Communication is an essential element in the processes of construction management. Using only Excel to control every complicated facet of your projects creates a lack of communication and collaboration between all parties – especially while on the go.

“Excel is very hard to manage while on the go from a mobile device,” Petersen said. “From our mobile app, your clients, trade partners, vendors and team can log in from anywhere to view the information needed to answer their questions. As jobs progress a lot of communication happens, and Buildertrend is set up to notify and communicate changes seamlessly. Excel will often depend on manual communication such as forced calls, texts and emails. Our real-time notifications do the heavy lifting, and our custom permissions ensure everyone is on the same page.”

Gone are the days when everyone seems to be working from an old document version. With Buildertrend, you can ensure there is consistent communication and seamless collaboration between all stakeholders without the need for constant emails, calls and unnecessary rework. Everything’s in one place, so everyone’s always on the same page.

Buildertrend reduces the risk of human errors that cost you money

We’re all human and mistakes are bound to happen. With Buildertrend, you can help minimize the amount of costly errors by trading in your manual processes for efficient document control, effortless financial management tools and quick real-time updates.

“Excel provides the opportunity for human error,” Pitsch said. “I have spoken to more than a few contractors who have bad experiences because of a bad formula between columns or a copy and paste error. These have resulted in little to no profit on a job, over invoicing, forgetting to invoice or underpaying a trade partner. All of which are difficult to correct and communicate and can result in lost money and credibility. Our features are published and maintained by our engineers and go through a litany of tests before being live and in front of our users.”

At Buildertrend, we hold the highest standards for our platform, so you can rest assured knowing that your project data is current and ready when you need it.

Collaborate and get more done with Buildertrend

Keep your projects organized and on track by using Buildertrend as a central hub for all your important job information. Schedule a demo to learn more about all of the top-notch features and services Buildertrend has to offer.

About The Author

Chelsea Cole Chelsea Cole is a senior content marketing specialist at Buildertrend