NEED HELP with construction management!

[Tristan Brenner]

I'm a new investor/ builder out of Washington State and just finished my first new construction custom home build last year. I'm currently working to convert one of my rental properties into a duplex.

I have worked in construction for 10 plus years and feel I have a good grasp on what needs to be accomplished. The main thing that I learned from the build last year is that I'm really lacking in the management and time line of the project with no real systems in place. 

My question is, do you have or use specific construction management and accounting software that helps keep things moving towards the end goal in an organized fashion?

[Michael Hacker]

I use a combination of excel, google keep, and OneUp cloud based accounting.  One excel sheet to build budgets - this has every line item cost and material needed which keeps me from forgetting to include something.  Another spreadsheet used as a master database for all finishes and specs.  This has the cost and url for each item.  The formatting for both sheets are the same so I can copy past specs into the budget and everything lines up - the cost of the spec item is added into the budget.  Also helps to quickly buy out a job as almost every material item is purchased online (build.com, Amazon Prime and HomeDepot.com pick up in store are my best friends).  

I use Google Keep to record every last detail I can think of that relates to a contractor's scope.  So when they submit a bid, I can clarify that they have those items included.  Then I take a screenshot and text it to them when I award the job.  When they are finished and want to get paid, I can go over the list and there is no argument about an item being included in their responsibility.  I also have a master checklist for the entire job, which helps to remember small details that can be very important (call blue stake, install ufer prior to pouring concrete, etc) . There is a great book called the Checklist Manifesto by Gawande which has helped me a lot in organizing my approach.

As of last year I would use Freshbooks for accounting but I'm switching to OneUp because I feel like the interface is better.  The software automatically pulls transactions from my credit card and bank account, I then categorize the transactions (unless the software was able to do it automatically), assigning everything to the specific job and cost code.  I can export the profit loss back into the budget spreadsheet mentioned above, which is programmed to pull those items into cost categories, comparing estimate vs. actual.

These systems work for me because I'm a control freak and I like to customize the excel sheets exactly the way I want them.  However you set up your systems, you will want to consider how large you plan to scale and when you would bring in other people to help you execute.  This may dictate how you set things up.  Hope this helps,