Here’s how to take advantage of construction tech to increase your profits

As a construction business owner, knowing where you stand is everything. This means making sure you’re in a good place with your team, your subcontractors, your clients, and most importantly, your financials.

Staying on top of cashflow is the most important part of construction project management and oftentimes it can get overwhelming. But with Buildertrend’s extensive list of financial management tools, you can manage money coming in and money going out with ease. Applying financial features like these makes it easy to keep your multiple projects moving.

Additionally, you can take advantage of Buildertrend’s financial reporting tools to track changes and make updates in real time. And say goodbye to paper checks and inconvenient trips to the bank. With online payments through Buildertrend’s partnership with Chase Bank, you can make your payment processes streamlined and simplify the way you pay and get paid.

In today’s uncertain environment, amid the coronavirus pandemic, it’s imperative to be financially competitive – and Buildertrend can help. See how our cutting-edge financial tools can help you win the financial management game by maximizing your time, maintaining client communication, and ultimately, increasing your profits.

Financial features for success

• Estimates: When preparing to start a new job, the Estimates feature will help you provide a rough number for how much a job will cost including specs for general items, allowances, approved selection choices and budgeted bids. Estimates can be imported from Excel or formatted from a template. In your estimate you can include intro text, a breakdown with scope of work and line items and closing text. Estimates can be easily formatted and customized to your company’s specifications and needs.

Using Estimates is a great way to track what you originally gauged the cost to be and compare it to the new expected costs. Estimates can also be converted to a contract and sent to your clients for approval and signature.

• Budget: The Budget feature is essential for keeping your projects and jobs on track financially. Whether you’re in the office or out in the field, the budget provides an at-a-glance view of where you stand for each job. Quickly view numbers from estimates, new expected costs, bills and POs, time clock labor, total costs and more.

Budgets can be set up from scratch, with a preexisting template or you can import your budget information through one of the many integration options we offer such as Excel. Additionally, once you have all of your budget information entered, you can use the built-in reporting options to quickly review the financial health of your job.

• Bids: Buildertrend’s Bid feature makes it easy to create bid packages for your trade partners. Each bid package can be easily customized for each trade with specifications, documentation and photos, so your subcontractors have all the information they need to make an informed bid for your job.

Using the Bids feature will make your bids process much easier by allowing you to send bid packages to multiple trade partners at the same time as opposed to sending them all individually. When sending bid packages, you can set up notification options that will inform your subs when they have a new bid as well as remind them of the due date for final numbers.

• Change Orders: Change is inevitable – especially during the renovation or building process. Using the Change Order feature within Buildertrend makes it easy for you to roll with the punches and manage changes with ease.

Like all the features Buildertrend has to offer, you can manage change orders from wherever you are using the mobile app. Efficiently send updates for approval and request electronic signatures from your clients. Upon approval, collect payments online without the headache of using paper checks or making inconvenient trips to the bank. Done and done.

• Payment Processing: Take your payment processing up a notch … or three with Buildertrend’s top-notch tools. Not only will you get paid faster with online payments, your financials will be automatically updated with our QuickBooks and Xero integrations.

Your payment processes will be new and improved, and you can rest assured that all your important financial information is in one place and is secure within our platform.

• Bills and Purchase Orders: Bills and POs within Buildertrend are features that allow you to record expenses for your company. Both features are similar in functionality, but one may be better than the other depending on which expense you’re recording. For example, if you’re recording an expense that has been paid in full, it’s most efficient to use the Bills feature. On the other hand, if you’re recording a partial payment toward one of your invoices it’s better to use a PO as they have additional functionality.

When working with a subcontractor, you can use Buildertrend to send them POs for approval before finalizing. You can also add notes on for added documentation. All bills and POs are stored and tracked within Buildertrend, eliminating any confusion or miscommunication.

• Invoices: Your clients have high expectations and want a single source of truth regarding the bottom line, as well as what they owe and when. Regardless of how you prefer to invoice – progress billing, schedule of payments, invoicing off estimates or billing from your selections sheet or change orders, Buildertrend streamlines your invoicing process with QuickBooks and Xero integrations, online payment processing and notifications for deadlines and reminders.

Let us help you increase profits with our cutting-edge tech

Using technology to manage your financials will help you to maximize your time, effectively manage your projects and increase your profits. If you’d like to learn more about how Buildertrend’s and how we can help you reach your goals, feel free to give us a call!

And if you’re ready to take the next step and ensure the success of your business, schedule a demo today!

About The Author

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