Corner Office: Online Project Management
HighCraft Builders is using technology to make sure the company, its clients and its trade partners are all communicating clearly.
“One of the successes of a remodeling project is keeping track of all the information and making sure everyone’s working off the same, most current information,” says company co-owner Bryan Soth.
The online system allows clients and trades to log-in and track project progress and financials.
HighCraft started out using BuilderTrend, a commercially available online project management software, but earlier this year started using its own proprietary system.
“BuilderTrend is very good, but we couldn’t tailor it to our individual needs, so we went ahead and developed our own version,” Soth says. “We left out what we didn’t use and brought back what we did use.”
Company co-owner Dwight Sailer says the system makes it easy for his project managers to track the project, as well as communicate with the company’s many out-of-state clients.
“Obtaining sign-offs and authorizations, whether it’s for a change order or other forms, is easier,” Sailer says. “All of that, when it was in paper only, inevitably stuff gets lost in the field or just doesn’t get turned in on time.”