The Most Popular and Important Contractor Software Features
7 Construction Management Software features
Contractors usually make use of contractor software for one or more of the following purposes: customer relationship management (CRM), accounting and financials, scheduling, group administration, project administration, materials administration, doc administration, tools & equipment tracker, reports, bidding, and surety bonding.
So what do software solutions out there provide to assist contractors take care of the above elements of the job?
1. Customer Relationship Management
CRM features in contractor software allow contractors to enter their clients contact info or import it from elsewhere, and fix essential documents related to a selected client.
Some CRM solutions additionally allow contractors to automate scheduling and sending reminders to shoppers. Some provide client search and historical past options, permitting contractors to easily monitor every client’s progress and communication. CRM systems and features are among the many hottest with contractors and might create a vital distinction of their operations.
2. Accounting and Financials
Accounting options are indispensable, particularly if you happen to’re caring for accounting all by your self. Typically these embody budgeting, payroll, invoicing, billing, and money movement choices. They assist contractors make knowledgeable choices, typically straight from the sphere, resembling when they should plan bills and make monetary forecasts on the spot.
Other nice elements of such options are their ePayments and cost tracking functionalities or even, in some instances, getting into and tracking change orders.
3. Scheduling
As easy as scheduling options could also be, they continue to be very useful for contractors who need to arrange their days most efficiently and keep monitor of their group’s actions. Scheduling options permit contractors to additionally assign duties to their group members, monitor process progress and assign totally different ranges or precedence to every process.
4. Team Management
Team management features overlap with scheduling choices. However, whenever you have a look at particular staff administration options, one of the best offers targeted administration of staff activities, progress, status, and time monitoring. They also permit for more coordinated teamwork and maintaining teams notified of modifications to a job.
Certain contractor software options additionally offer GPS monitoring of the team, permitting you to know always the place your group members are situated.
5. Project Management and Document Management
Some contractors desire a separate project management performance, permitting them to adopt a chicken’s eye view of their projects, but additionally to zoom in and preserve monitor of even the minutest details.
Some of the above features may also be included right here but on a project basis — i.e. the financials of a project, the scheduled duties and a consumer’s info. But this performance usually contains kinds of data similar to RFIs in addition to buy orders, project part monitoring, subcontractor monitoring, permits, proposals and management of all different project-related paperwork.
6. Material Management and Equipment Tracking
Material administration monitoring features often come hand-in-hand with tool and gear monitoring options. These features can help you monitor and management what occurs to materials that your suppliers deliver, in addition to evaluate quotes you’ve obtained and cash you’ve paid for materials.
And because of equipment monitoring what occurs to your personal equipment — where it’s getting used and by whom, in addition to whether or not its guarantee is about to run out or possibly if it must be repaired.
7. Surety Bonding
Without being licensed and bonded, no contractor can carry out work legally.
Unfortunately, getting a bond can at occasions be a sluggish process, with approvals taking perpetually from paper-based bond purposes.
While sending one’s bond renewal kind has not yet been built-in into any of the main contractor software program solutions, certain surety bond companies have already made the step and have begun providing bond purposes or renewals on-line, by their very own software program solutions. Some of those provide the chance to entry one’s bond and print it inside 30 minutes of making use of, which is a superb aid to these contractors who’re on a decent schedule and may need left their bond renewal for the final minute.
Furthermore, these options even have renewal reminders which are dispatched forward of time to inform the contractor of the upcoming renewal deadline for his or her bond. They additionally embrace details about a contractor’s surety bond.