Why are Builders and contractors moving away from using Excel spreadsheets and Word for creating estimates and proposals?
They’re investing in integrated estimating and proposal writing software that allows them to estimate and create more accurate & professional looking proposals 3-5 times faster.
Once a job was sold these same builders and contractors were looking for a way to communicate what was estimated to their field employees, vendors and back-office accounting staff.
These were the features they were looking for in an estimating and proposal writing software program to take their business to another level:
Ability to Handle Multiple methods of Estimating
- The flexibility to build an estimate by stick, assembly, unit price and/or by lump sum
Assemblies
- The ability to enter one takeoff amount and figure ordering quantities for multiple items
Incorporating Scope of Work in Bid
- Incorporating scope of work into line items on the bid. This way as you’re building the estimate, you’re building the proposal or vice versa.
Incorporating Pictures in Bids
- The ability to add pictures to line items in the bid and print those pictures in a proposal.
Bid Sheet Templates
- The ability to build Bid sheet templates, which is a check list of items/assemblies with their associated specifications & pictures broken down by division/subdivision of work being performed.
- They are used to estimate new jobs so you don’t forget anything in an estimate. Examples of bid sheet templates: Custom Home template, Kitchen Remodel, Bathroom Remodel, Landscaping, Roofing, Siding, Standard Floor Plans and options, etc.
Document Creation
- Document creation is the creation of purchase order, subcontracts, work orders and RFQ’s from the estimate in seconds
Change Order Management
- Change order management is the estimating, tracking and generation of client change orders along with the creation of budgets, purchase orders, subcontracts and work orders associated with those change orders.
Digital Takeoff Integration
- Digital Takeoff is the ability to takeoff quantities and footages from a digital blueprint. Digital Takeoff is the ability to pull in those takeoff amounts into the estimating software
Job Cost Accounting Integration
- Job Cost integration is the ability to pull in the bid information and the associated budgets, purchase orders and subcontracts for the original contract and subsequent change orders into a job cost accounting system
Scheduling Integration
- Scheduling integration means pulling in the estimating tasks along with the vendors assigned to those tasks into scheduling software.
CRM Integration
- CRM integration means sharing client and job information with estimating software for creation of proposals
Builder/Client/Vendor Portal Integration
- The ability to share generated purchase orders, subcontracts and work orders to a Web portal with vendors and employees
Contractors Software Group offers three series of estimating and proposal writing software based upon size, needs and budgets. We also offer CSG Central, a web portal to share job information with employees, vendors and/or clients
To schedule a demonstration, go to: https://contractorssoftwaregroup.com/request-demo/
You’ll be glad you did!
