Have you implemented the WIP report yet? If not, you should and here’s why

Back in June, we launched our newest financial reporting tool, the Work in Progress report also known as WIP. For many Buildertrend customers, this was a highly anticipated feature and has been quickly adopted.

Right now, many of you are probably creating WIP reports manually using Excel, which means updating and correctly calculating every field separately. Keeping the numbers updated is a daily process, and because life is busy, it’s nearly impossible to make updates in real time.

Enter the WIP report.

The new WIP report within our platform creates a near real-time, comprehensive report for each job or across all jobs. It allows you to access the right data at the right time for total billings, profit margins and cost to complete.

Great! So, what’s the catch?

There’s no catch! All Buildertrend users have access to and can implement the WIP report by adopting all other financial tools within Buildertrend. And by using all Buildertrend financial features, you’ll ensure accurate numbers, financial growth and continued success for your construction business.

Still not sure? To help you take that next step, we talked to some construction pros like you who are currently using (and loving) Buildertrend’s WIP report. Here’s what they had to say about using WIP to easily and efficiently manage their day-to-day financials.

So, what’s great about the WIP report?

Cash flow is key to your business’ success. It’s important to know how much money is coming in and how much is going out on a day-to-day basis. You can’t leave something as important as your profitability to chance.

“The WIP report allows us to be able to pull a lot of the information that is spread out in multiple parts of Buildertrend as well as some formulas we use internally and put it all into one document to get a very clean snapshot of where we are today,” said Travis Couick, owner of STAG Partners in Roswell, Ga. “To me, it’s vital to be able to increase our efficiency and the analytics of our projects and to get ahead of any issues that may be coming up. Without that, you’re flying in the dark.”

With the WIP report, all your financial data comes together for easy tracking and updates in near real time. No need for endless Excel spreadsheets.

“It’s amazing as a manager to be able to see all of the projects in one snapshot, so we don’t have to go digging around into multiple spreadsheets,” said Michelle Warren, president of Caliber Construction in Albuquerque, N.M.

Is it easy to see where you stand financially?

Organize and keep everything you need in one central location for seamless tracking and financial management across all your jobs.

“One of the things about Buildertrend as a whole, is it allows us to put everything that has to do with a job all in one place,” said Brendan McMullen, operations director at Caliber Construction. “If we’re doing our part correctly, I never have to get out of Buildertrend. One platform for everything. Without going job by job, you can open the WIP report and see where you stand with each job, on one page, in one screen shot. Then, if you see something that isn’t working for you or that seems out of place, you can go in and drill a little deeper to figure it out.”

Buildertrend’s WIP report provides you with an at-a-glance view of over billings and under billings for your clients, so you can initiate timely draw requests. You can quickly see the data that shows you where you stand on each project, so you can take immediate action and improve your margins.

“It’s the thing you’ve got to have,” Couick said. “You’ve got to have your WIP report to be able to show you where things are sitting and how they’re trending. It helps on the billing side of things. It makes sure you can track your over and under billing and where you are on each project. It helps us further automate our activities internally and gives us the checks and balances we need that allow us to work more efficiently.”

So, why should fellow contractors take the next step and implement WIP?

If we haven’t sold you yet, here are some more reasons why you should adopt that final financial feature and start using Buildertrend’s WIP report today.

“95% of contractors go out of business their first five years and mainly that’s because they don’t know their numbers,” said Mike Brown, owner of Heroic Construction in Delray Beach, Fla. “So, I’d say if you want to have a good grasp on your business you have to know your numbers and the WIP report is a great tool to help you do that.”

At Buildertrend, we’re all about providing you easy-to-access information and data that empowers you to make better business decisions that grow your business.

“We have a weekly meeting on the status of our projects and it is very easy to hone in on what the pluses are, where the challenges are hitting, and if you have multiple project managers, they can also see their project compared to the rest of the company’s,” Warren said. “It’s not siloed and it’s not isolated.”

The Buildertrend WIP reporting tool will provide you with accurate high-level financial information that improves the way you bill customers, pay trade partners and achieve the desired profit margins for every project.

“The WIP report is a key tool in being able to run any kind of construction company in mass if you’re managing any more than a couple of projects,” Couick said. “It’s really hard to take all this information and put it into one place to manage cleanly. The WIP consolidates it all and creates a very efficient and useful dashboard for you to be able to manage your projects financially.”

Work smarter, not harder with WIP

It’s time to take the next step toward financial management success with Buildertrend’s WIP report.

Stop managing countless spreadsheets that are outdated in a matter of hours and start using the near-real-time data that’s having an impact on your bottom line.

If you’d like to learn more about Buildertrend WIP reporting and how to implement it into your business, we’d love to chat. And if you’re new here and think Buildertrend could help with managing your business financials, schedule a demo today.