Roma Homes: Buildertrend’s QuickBooks construction integration in action

Their story: A construction company at the intersection of science and art

Their goal: Take the stress out of accounting

Roma Homes has been a Buildertrend customer since 2016, and it was a word-of-mouth referral that first turned them onto the suite of project management tech, which includes construction estimating software.

“A friend of mine who lives in Michigan hired a builder to do his personal residence. He said, ‘Check it out. Look what this guy is using,’” Bill said. “I saw Buildertrend and immediately knew. This is the big piece that’s missing if we want to grow to that next level.”

With a smaller team, Bill and Alex needed a way to easily manage their finances so they could focus on what they do best: revitalizing up-and-coming neighborhoods all over Charlotte. Buildertrend’s smart money-tracking features paved the way.

Their solution: Project management software seamlessly integrated with QuickBooks for contractors

Many Buildertrend users get started with the platform using features like the Schedule or Daily Logs. Financials come second. Roma Homes took a different route. It was all about better budgeting right from the beginning.

Before using construction estimating software, Excel spreadsheets were the go-to for tracking and maintaining financials. As the company took on more business, the team needed a solution that was more robust, organized and mobile-friendly – something that could grow along with Roma Homes.

The Roma Homes team started with the Budget tool so they could first centralize their scattered information. This feature tracks important construction job costs, like time clock labor, bills, purchase orders and more – right from the palm of a user’s hand. Plus, the Budget has the power to show actual costs versus estimates to keep jobs on track.

No more fretting over financials.

“So much of what I do is from a speculative standpoint – I don’t do a lot of custom homes. I buy the land and build the house, so I have to know my numbers really well and know them quickly,” Bill said. “Buildertrend gives me the ability to always look at past data and accurately make decisions faster on what I am going to buy.”

To mine even more value from this digital construction platform, Roma Homes syncs the Budget with QuickBooks for contractors. Seamless integration means they don’t have to worry about interruption of workflow. Even better, this puts an end to time-sucking double entry. All it takes is the click of a button to get their numbers from Buildertrend to QuickBooks.

Their success: Creating structure to build better

“The level of organization is so much higher today,” Bill said. “You go from feeling like you’re shooting in the dark to much more focused. There’s major time savings in that.”

Roma Homes isn’t just saving time – organization through Buildertrend’s construction tech platform saves them money, too. Take sub management for example.

Instead of keeping subcontractor information in files and stashed in desk drawers, it’s stored in Buildertrend. This includes insurance information. That means they know when insurance is expired and requires a sub update it if they want to get paid.

“My first full-time year as a builder, we paid $8,000 in uninsured lack of proof because I did not have an organized process in place,” Bill said. “Now auditors are blown away. I click a button and the proof is right there. Most people come in with a stack of papers flying all over the place.”