Project management software - how do you manage your projects?

Question

As things with real estate are starting to pick up for me I'm now getting to a position where I could feasibly have more than one project running at a time and am trying to look at options for how best to keep these straight and on top of all the deadlines. The obvious answer to me is a free web based project management tool like Asana, Trello, or Freedcamp (there are many more I'm just getting started looking). However I also acknowledge there may be other options available out there.

I'm curious how others who have scaled kept track of their time lines and contractors once they had 2 or 3 projects going at once. Did you use project management software? Excel template? Keep it in your head? When did you change from your initial project management tool for 2-3 properties to something more sophisticated for managing 4-10 projects at once.

Greatly appreciate everyone's thoughts and contributions!

Bill Carovano · Answer

@James Masotti - Personally I think Podio is a very robust Project Management tool--among the best I've seen and I've tried lots of them over the years.  Here's how I see the strengths of Podio:

- it does CRM, Project Management, collaboration, and communications--all in the same system.  If you use Podio as it's designed to be used, it will streamline every thing you do--from managing leads, managing projects, reducing your internal email count, to making your internal communications more efficient because conversations (which otherwise might happen in email) happen "in context" -- of the client record in your CRM, the project, or whatever it is that you are discussing.  You won't have multiple systems--one for CRM, one for PM, another for collaboration.  Podio becomes the nervous system of your business.

- Podio has excellent automated workflows.  Rather than hire a VA, you can set up an automation.  Example: I worked with one real estate investor who used to pay a VA to manually look up property comps.  This was replaced by an automated Podio App for Zillow.  Rather than hire as many sales people to do follow ups--set up automated text messages, emails, letters, or postcards to be sent to your best prospects.

- Podio has really good integration with other services--like RightSignature for eSignature, Google Docs/Drive, Dropbox, Twilio for SMS, Lob for physical mail--either for marketing or other workflows like invoicing, and a ton of other services.  Podio is extremely flexible and extensible.

All that being said, here's the big challenge with Podio:  when you first sign up for Podio, there's a demo workspace with apps, but it can still look like a "blank sheet of paper."  The time & effort to set it up can deter some people.  The Podio team at Citrix can you with this, and there are lots of third-party consultants like me to can help as well.  I always suggest some "quick wins" when I am working with new Podio user.  We build something of high value, like a lead management App in Podio to replace a spreadsheet, or an automated document merge/eSignature system for contracts or propsals. Over time you can build out more and more of the system.  Personally I think the time and effort pays off in the long run.

David Robertson · Answer

Hey James,

I'm sure you've found a solution by now considering this post is 2 years old, but for future reference here is what I have found as far as software solutions for managing a handful of rehab projects at once.

Construction/Rehabbing Specific PM Software vs Generic PM Softwares

When choosing your software solutions you will need to decide if you prefer a house flipping software that is specifically built for managing a house flipping business or use a generic project management software.

Here is a list of Construction, Rehabbing & Generic PM softwares that may be a good solution:

Construction, Remodeling & House Flipping Specific PM Softwares

• BuilderTrend/Co-Construct - Home building project management software specifically built for custom home builders.  These softwares have a lot of functionality, but honestly there is a steep learning curve and the functionality is probably overkill for most rehabbers.
• FlipperForce - Web-based House Flipping Software built specifically for flipping & rehabbing houses w/ Estimating, Gantt Scheduling, Task Management & Budget Management

Generic Project Management Softwares

There are nearly an infinite amount of potential generic Project Management softwares available that provide powerful functionality for managing project schedules, tasks & documents.  Here is a list of potential options:

• Trello/Asana/Zoho Projects/Freedcamp/Basecamp/Workfront/Monday.com/Jira/etc,etc,etc,etc,etc - General project management software that includes tasks, Gantt scheduling, calendars, project forums, document storage & team collaboration tools
• TeamGantt/Gantter/MS Project - Gantt Scheduling Softwares for creating Gantt Charts & Timelines, & managing tasks.
• Podio - Customizable system that allows you to build workflows, track tasks, track leads, etc.
• Smartsheet/AirTable - Provide spreadsheet style platforms with additional functionalities for uploading documents/images, assigning tasks, calendar, images, etc
• Office 365/Google Sheets 
• Spreadsheets - Believe it or not, a lot of successful flippers still manage their entire business in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.  You can create your own, or there are house flipping spreadsheet templates available online

Chris Harjes · Answer

Thank you David, I think you're right on the money with this. We do still need a solid tracking app (Looking forward to trying Flipper Force) but we decided to trim down our operation to only two crews, each with assigned overall project managers who will track individual costs and productivity. That way we know how much things cost, and which workers are on the ball and efficient. It won't be perfect of course, but it will be a step up from the laissez faire system (or lack thereof) that we've been using in the past.

Wish me luck! I'll be in touch as we try Flipper Force.

Chris

David Robertson · Answer

I breakdown my budgets by Category (Roofing, Siding, Painting, Electrical, etc.) & track my job costs against each category so I can compare my budget vs actuals and calculate the variances.

For example:

• Electrical Budget: $4,000
• Electrical Actual: $6,300

Variance: +$2,300

This process is more tedious because you have to breakdown each invoice or receipt and allocate the costs to each Category, but it really helps you understand where you are spending your money and why you went over budget.

Otherwise, it sounds like you are having trouble measuring employee productivity?

So you want to know how many sheets of drywall or how many lineal feet of trim or how many square feet of wall is being painted per hour or per day, so you can compare productivities?

I think tracking productivity will be tough unless you have someone on site that is checking their work at the end of the day and documenting their progress.

Chris F. · Answer

If you are wanting to track construction, I suggest buildertrend. If you are looking to manage timelines for general tasks, asana or airtable are awesome.

Matt B. · Answer

@David Robertson

For what it's worth I've been playing around with your beta version of Flipper Force and would like to say; it has the potential to be a game changer for the flipping business. We've tried most of the systems you've mentioned, as well as the ones that more directly compare to Flipper Force, that are industry specific.

In my opinion, Flipper Force has more to offer, with less of the things you don't need. The thing that would put it over the top, is when it gets a fully editable and printable scope of work builder, along with the ability to edit some of the other forms. I know it's in the works, but we would be ready to subscribe and pay once that is finished, provided we don't come across something else that meets our needs in the meantime.

A thought for the future would be crm capabilities, to be able to match contacts with properties. Other than that can't wait for the finished product.

Chris Harjes · Answer

@David Robertson Thanks for the info!  I could definitely use a system for my flipping operation, doing about ten per year while working a full-time job "on the side".  I do have a hired manager, but he is overwhelmed with the 3-5 projects we have going at any given time, plus managing rental properties and overall bookkeeping help with my end of the business.

We're looking for something that can not only track project workflow, but individual (hourly) contractor time and productivity so we know who's getting shit done, and who's goofing off, padding their hours etc. Our needs got clearly defined last week when we tallied up the rehab cost on a midsized flip project, at $51k vs the $40k max we had budgeted. We're not even sure where the extra went, and are feeling like we're stumbling along in the dark.

Part of the solution will be to scale back the operation a bit, but we want to do so in a way that keeps our most productive contractors and sheds the rest. We think a smartphone app-type, GPS-enabled time tracking tool for tasks and hours would be a good start. But a burlier, more complete system is likely worthwhile. Let me know what you think!

Any other suggestions for what works well are most welcome!

David Robertson · Answer

@Matt B.

Thanks for signing up for our Beta and feedback!

FlipperForce is admittedly a bit of a work in progress, but we are still in our early stages and have a lot of tools and features on our product roadmap that we are wanting to build in the coming months.

Right now we are working on Print to PDF functionality for our Investment Report & SOW Report, which should be available by the end of next week.  We are also working on export to Word doc functionality for the SOW which will allow you to export the SOW to Word so you can make additional customizations.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist and still want to improve the functionality of some of our tools before we start charging for the software, but I think we will likely be ready to officially launch sometime in April.  In the meantime, you are more than welcome to use FlipperForce for free!

James Masotti · Answer

Josh C. - Definitely not in a spot to have full time people yet and even if I did I would need someone I trusted to manage them which only adds a further cost to things. I work a full-time (60 hour a week) job and don't really have plans to quit in the near future, so managing contractors is going to be the way to go for some time.

Project management software - how do you manage your projects?

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