3 scary things that can happen without project management software

Project management for your construction company might feel like a nightmare some days – but it doesn’t have to. Home builders can benefit from the tricks of the trade offered by an all-in-one platform to keep projects organized.

Gather around as we share horror stories of what can happen without project management software.

The horror: relying on spreadsheets

There comes a time when basic systems can’t handle complex construction projects. From financials to day-to-day processes, keeping everything organized can be difficult – especially across several spreadsheets. The solution: Find a software designed specifically for builders like you. Buildertrend gives you a centralized location to put all data and documents pertinent to a project – and they’re available right at your fingertips.

Take it from Chris and Amanda Worlow, founders of Casey Construction Company Inc. Their commercial construction company found success after ditching spreadsheets and upgrading their systems. Instead of expending their effort on updating Excel docs, their processes are now streamlined with Buildertrend’s construction management software, leaving them more time to spend in the field.

“It was a huge frustration with basically all of our systems working out of Excel,” Amanda said. “Formulas would keep breaking or unlinking. It was just a very clunky system that created a lot of headache and longer work hours in order to get an invoice out to a client. Out of that frustration is when we really started looking at what we could do and what we needed.”

The horror: lack of communication

Communication is key at every step of the construction process. Even one delay in communication can cause frustrations and stall your team from finishing on time. Maybe your subs show up to the job site on the wrong day, or your team is ready to work when the necessary supplies haven’t been delivered yet. It can definitely feel like a nightmare at the time.

Knowing the importance of keeping your team, subs and homeowner clients in the know, we set out to make messaging available with most features. Our construction software also has features like To-Do’s and Daily Logs that can be shared with others to keep your project schedules on track.

For Brett and Kara Phillips, owners of High Street Homes, Buildertrend changed how they communicated with their team. It made it quicker to send information to their clients and easier to keep their team updated on upcoming schedule items. And by going digital with a custom builder app, they can now stay connected even when they’re not on the job site – something they wouldn’t have been able to do before.

“When we hired our project manager, we had to be out of town for two different things,” Brett said. “Buildertrend allowed us to stay connected to the projects and see what was going on. We were able to check in on the Daily Logs to see if things came up or if there was information we could share to support our team.”

The horror: growing pains with a growing business

More projects can bring more problems if you don’t have an app to keep everything running smoothly. All too often, builders reach a point where their small businesses are growing too rapidly for their systems to keep up. An expanding project list often creates a necessity to find ways to save time and money – which is where an app like Buildertrend steps in to save the day.

Matt Sneller, who oversees Sneller Custom Homes & Remodeling’s construction, used to keep track of everything in his head. In recent years, the team and workload have grown and grown. Managing that amount of project information without an organizational system simply wasn’t possible for him anymore.

“Now, we’ve got 15 projects going at a time and three project managers,” Matt said.

With these changes, owners Matt and Jenny Sneller decided to take advantage of the resources within Buildertrend to take the stress off project management.

“Everything we do revolves around Buildertrend now,” Jenny said.

The result? More freedom, more sanity and a healthy work-life balance as their business continues to grow.

Do you relate to any of the project management issues we unmasked this Halloween?

Buildertrend can help you stay organized and streamline processes. Schedule a demo today…if you dare!

About The Author

Lizzie Long Lizzie Long is a Content Specialist at Buildertrend.