09Aug
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Things you need to know about Buildertrend

Time is money. We all know that.

In construction, it’s very important for contractors and project managers to effectively manage time, resources, and people if you want to succeed in the industry.

Project management software may be hit or miss, but it can help you accomplish goals in a much more efficient and productive manner.

Before you choose an online or desktop project management software, you must evaluate the pros and cons of using such a program for managing jobs.

There is a lot of project management software out there for contractors, but the most popular one I’ve seen so far is Buildertrend.

This software doesn’t come with cheat codes, but there are ways to leverage the system to your company’s advantage.

Through this tool, you’ll get:

  1. Pre-sales process
  2. Project management
  3. Financial tools
  4. and Customer Management

So let’s break them down:

Before you pour the concrete and set up a building’s foundation, you need to know how you can efficiently acquire clients. Buildertrend’s pre-sales process feature does just that.

Within this system, you can:

  • Create estimates and proposals that allow for importing into Excel and other software.
  • Start working from pre-made templates installed within the software.
  • Collect digital signatures for contracts.

It also features robust leads and a client relationship manager where you can create, capture, and close prospective customers. Through your website’s contact page or Excel file, you can easily collect information or add the on-the-fly from the app itself.

Some extra features are their email marketing feature for automating email campaigns for client announcements and email blasts.

I think it’s exactly what makes this app a powerful one, especially for construction business owners.

Buildertrend is an end-to-end software built for contractors, but its project management feature specifically helps teams collaborate, communicate, and report in real-time.

Some helpful features are:

  1. Daily logs – so you can send notifications, and create notes with voice-to-text (if you suddenly remember something while you’re busy or driving). You can even automatically record weather updates that you can share with your teammates while they’re out on the field!
  2. To Do’s – easily create and assign tasks to your team, or subcontractors, or even send reminders to your customers. The best part is you can even attach documents and photos. Very helpful for when your team needs you to check an incident during construction!
  3. Scheduling – Buildertrend’s “backbone” to keep all your jobs on track. You can sync this to Google Calendar, iCal, or Outlook.
  4. Document and Photo Storage – they offer unlimited file sharing, which beats any other cloud sharing program on the market. Your team can easily access files from anywhere, and files can be organized within folders specific to the jobs they’re assigned to.
  5. Work in Progress Report-best for monitoring billings and any changes made in the duration of your project
  6. Lastly, you can even send messages! – this helps you unify your communication channels, versus sending emails from various accounts and confusing your clients and your team.

Their financial tools consist of various sections, which can help you systematize and automate your processes.

  1. Invoicing – I always tell my clients that it’s best to automate their billings so that they can collect fast and regularly. Buildertrend’s invoicing feature can be integrated with QuickBooks or Xero, allows you to accept online payments, and specify payment deadlines and reminders!
  2. Bid Requests – this allows you to create, compare, send, and store bids all in one place. You can notify your subcontractors through email, text, or even push notifications, set deadlines and reminders, and even accept bids and transform them into contracts.
  3. Payment processing – because of the pandemic, a lot of contractors shifted to online payments. Cashless transactions are IN, as you can get paid automatically and much faster. Buildertrend gives you the option to accept online payments through check or credit card, automatically update your invoices within QB or Xero once payments are received, and of course: this platform is completely safe and secure.
  4. Budget planning – bookkeepers are here to help you keep track of your budget. But if your books are a mess, then we have another problem altogether. Buildertrend’s Budget feature eliminates your stress about going over budget because you can track your finances on the app, and make adjustments for whenever you’re about to go over. You can even compute for estimates and choose several integrations with any other financial software you may be using.

QuickBooks is a very popular tool for bookkeepers and accountants. This is why it excited me when Buildertrend announced that they allow integrations with Quickbooks.

Some benefits to this are:

  • You have more options as you have an online, cloud-based version of your job costs, which you can access whenever you need them
  • Buildertrend’s support reps are all Quickbooks experts. You can always seek help whenever you need support.
  • Software is easy to set up and use. Accounting is done automatically.
  • Say goodbye to spreadsheets
  • No more worrying about losing receipts as you can easily back everything up
  • Seamless connection with your bank accounts, credit cards, and other apps to access your business in its entirety

keeps all your information in one place and helps you stay organized.

From customer logins to client selections, surveys and reviews, and their main communication section where you can message your team in one place, it’s such a powerful app, isn’t it?

Other additional features are:

  • Purchase Orders for tracking approvals, PO status, and invoices;
  • Time Clock for tracking your team’s time through its built-in clock in and out feature;
  • Change Order Tracker to help you get approval and collect online payments.

And the cherry on the top is that this is available on both iOS and Android! You have the power of an entire system in the palm of your hands.

Now that you’ve seen the many features of Buildertrend, it might seem a bit overwhelming as its capabilities seem endless.

However, you must understand that your core priority is project management because you get to focus on systems and build the foundation you need to keep your company running efficiently.

Buildertrend’s advice is that you should start with their project management feature before you branch out further. This way, you can solidify your foundation before you start setting up everything else.

Like anything that can help grow your construction business, Buildertrend in itself is a solid investment.

The onsite advisors of Buildertrend advise its users to immerse themselves in learning more about the system in the first 90 days.

Devoting this time to getting comfortable with the tool allows you to leverage its features to your advantage. Plus, it makes it easier for you to train new people if you know the app inside-out.

Disadvantages

Like any other system, of course, Buildertrend isn’t perfect and it may not be for every contractor out there.

There are obvious pros to the software because of its robust and comprehensive features, but there are cons to the app.

  1. One setback is that, as it is cloud-based software, it does require an internet connection during use. And if you’re like almost everyone else who lives on their phone, you may need to have your charger in tow for whenever you head out and access this system a lot.
  2. Another feedback is that Buildertrend does not have 24/7 customer support. So if you need immediate help, you may need to wait for business hours to begin.
  3. Their construction management software is also available in English at the moment, and some of the features may have a learning curve at the beginning.

Suffice to say, all these cons have easy fixes. You can always bring a power bank for your phone, have a trusty bookkeeper who can help you manage the app, and you can always check other helpful resources if you’d like to relearn its features.

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