Finally rigorous process management comes to small residential construction

The larger home builders have always had large scale project and modern business processes for building homes. They are able to leverage large economies of scale to more efficiently produce homes. This enables them to produce a home at a lower cost than a typical general contractor isn't able to do as efficiently. A friend of mine built his own home and had to deal with the vageries of the New Mexico and his project management tool was his spreadsheet. Smaller builders cannot afford or often lack the knowledge to implement such systems. A Construction Management System can be difficult to implement. 6x6 Builder has developed a web based system for managing, estimating for the builders. Their online building cost estimator for general contractors that integrates construction cost estimating and control tools in a complete construction project management system. This means a couple of things. The contractor doesn't need to manage an expensive piece of software. Being web based, all the problems that a typical software installation would entail are eliminated. The monthly price is reasonable at $69. It provides a rather extensive feature list but it provides an organizational structure that most general contractors lack. Most general contractors are not known for their organized management skills. The web based system is feature rich since it allows you manage you business, sub contractors, estimates and more.

One particular feature I found interesting was the ability to use and generate master templates for project and then customize these templates for later use. This allows a contractor to work from an existing template, customize it and then save it as a general template. This provides a pretty serious advantage since it's a great starting point. Estimating is always a somewhat black art but with 6x6 Builder's web based solution it's a lot more accurate. The system can query the latest prices on materials, fire off request for quotes and more. There is an entire subsystem devoted to sub contractor management along with pre-written contracts. Working with the system during my 7 day trial, I can easily see how this system properly used can save a contractor a huge amount of headache and time. In fact I will certainly use it as an owner/builder for my next home.