One of the few industries positively impacted by the shutdowns and lockdowns of 2020 was the residential construction industry. With people spending more time in their living spaces and their spaces having to serve more functions than usual, Americans upgraded, renovated, or remodeled their homes. Companies that were well-positioned prior to 2020 had a great year capitalizing on a surge in demand.
CoConstruct is an all-in-one residential construction management software built to help home building and remodeling companies centralize communication, accurately track costs, and efficiently manage their projects.
Director of Performance Marketing at Coconstruct
SourceForge recently caught up with Caroline Gardiner, the Director of Performance Marketing at Coconstruct, to discuss how adding the right construction management software can help home building and remodeling companies win more deals and build more profitable businesses.
Can you give us a brief overview of CoConstruct and the industries it serves?
CoConstruct was founded on the idea that there had to be a better process for home builders and remodelers to manage their projects. Today CoConstruct serves more than 100,000 construction professionals by helping them coordinate with their teams and clients, track their financials, and better manage their projects. Our cloud-based construction management software and its accompanying mobile app allow home building and remodeling companies to end the chaos of construction project management and create more rewarding building experiences for their clients.
We serve primarily the residential construction industry including custom home builders, full-gut remodelers, design-build firms, spec-builders, kitchen and bathroom remodelers, specialty trades, and more.
What are the biggest challenges facing the residential construction industry?
Material prices, especially lumber, have reached all-time highs this past year. This combined with the socioeconomic factors of shutdowns resulting from the pandemic has resulted in sky-high demand and sky-high costs for builders. For those who were able to procure materials at a reasonable price or pass the price increases onto their clients, it was a great year and builders saw their average profit margin increase. But for builders who were locked into fixed price contracts, they ate the cost of the price increases and their bottom line took a big hit.
Overlaid with these problems is the fact that the industry is very isolated. Often the only other home builders a company is aware of are their direct competitors and they usually don’t feel comfortable connecting with the competition to share best practices. So when crises or shifts in the industry happen, residential construction professionals don’t have a great place to turn for trusted information. CoConstruct helps fill this gap by providing a community of like-minded professionals to share tips, best practices, and industry learnings to help everyone grow their business.
How does CoConstruct help residential construction companies compete in the marketplace?
Builders that don’t use construction management software are typically using excel spreadsheets or a combination of standalone software solutions. The downside to these options is that they don’t connect with each other, meaning project managers have to spend more time inputting data from one system to another. So what originally is a time-saving investment ends up costing users more time. This method is also more prone to user errors that can directly affect a business’s bottom line such as copying over the wrong formula or punching in the wrong number on a markup or margin.
What CoConstruct does is provide home builders and remodelers a single-entry data system, starting with their estimate, that follows them through the entire life of a project. This flow of data from an initial estimate to the final invoice and closing punch list allows companies to be confident in their financials and to work more efficiently. This combined with CoConstruct’s suite of project management features allows business owners to spend more time working on their business.
What are the main features of CoConstruct’s software?
CoConstruct’s main features include single-entry estimating, a robust project scheduling system, a centralized communication hub for your team and your clients, integrations with accounting software, purchase order management, and a mobile app to keep your business moving on the go.
Outside of the software, CoConstruct also comes with a best-in-class support team full of product experts to provide coaching, technical support, and more to our users.
What are some typical use cases for CoConstruct?
We usually resonate with home builders and remodelers who are tired of working 60-70 hour weeks, who are tired of spending so much of their days in spreadsheets, and who are tired of being burned by misplaced budget commas ruining their profitability. Home builders and remodelers got into this business because they love working with clients on building their dream home or new kitchen, not because they love working in spreadsheets.
CoConstruct helps these builders and remodelers get back to running their business instead of the other way around. A more efficient process means business owners and project managers can have a better work-life balance with fewer long nights spent catching up on email or updating formulas.
We also help owners who are looking to expand their residential construction business. Builders and remodelers that are looking to add more staff or increase their project capacity greatly benefit from CoConstruct’s operational features such as timesheet management and performance view, which give businesses a dashboard that offers a comprehensive view of their performance.
How does CoConstruct compare with other construction project management companies?
CoConstruct was built by and for the residential construction industry so when you compare it to the other software solutions in our space you can really see why we stand out from the competition and why our customers love us. For instance, our spreadsheet estimate is based on the look and feel of excel spreadsheets, which our clients are familiar with, but it comes with way more functionality and usability.
CoConstruct also differs from the competition with our change order, selections, bid management, billing, and purchase order features, all of which are linked to the initial estimate to provide an end-to-end flow of data. These components are all part of the process for any home building or remodeling project so instead of trying to fit their workflow into a solution that doesn’t completely fit their use case, CoConstruct users can use a system that understands their complete project lifecycle and business model and has features to assist them in every step of the process.
How can companies get more information about CoConstruct?
You can schedule a time to talk to our sales team directly or watch a demo on our website.
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