My long-time readers know that last year I built a house and was looking for a construction management app.  Overall, it was a great process but I was surprised how old school everything was with paper documentation and an endless supply of emails.

About 95% of my calls were just calls to “check-in” and as when a certain sub-contractor would be there.

I was thinking it would be great if I could just check my phone and look at a simple project management tool to see when all this was going to happen.  That way I wouldn’t have to bother the general contractor.

While all this was happening my construction lending business was booming.

All my customers were complaining about sub-contractors “going dark” or not showing-up because of unexpected delays in another project.

One customer was not only not compalinging he was taking major marketshare from older construction companies and his jobs were getting completed faster.  I asked him what his process was for being such a new builder and being able to get jobs done faster.

He told me all his constuction management is automated!

I asked how in the world he did that?  He said he uses a tool called buildertrend that automatically emails AND texts his sub-contractors the day before they are supposed to show-up.  The sub-contractor has to verify they are going to be there.

He told me this one function has revolutionized his buisness.

His customers can also log-in and see all the progress and even leave notes without having to bother him on a call or emailing – which they love.

I did some research and found some more of buildertrend’s customers.  They all seemed to LOVE the software.

So I reached-out to Dave Arnold, the Corporate Development Manager for buildertrend.  Below are my notes from the interview.

Who started buildertrend?

Dan Houghton, Jeff Dugger and Steve Dugger.  The Dugger’s are brothers and Dan has been their friend since elementary school.

What has surprised you the most with creating buildertrend?

During the 2008/2009 housing recession we were expecting negative growth since our target market: homebuilders were going out of business.  However, we actually grew during that period because homebuilders started using it for remodeling.

During that time we also doubled-down on mobile – which has turned out to be a great move.

I’ve also been surprised with who uses buildertrend.  We be built it for homebuilders, but pool installers, manufacturers, and a variety of other industries use the platform.

Why do you think they use buildertrend?

[Tweet “Ultimately we built this solution to streamline communication, share documents and automate scheduling. If any of these issues are pain-points in your business you will find our solution helpful. “]

What is the biggest objection to buying this software?

Habits.  People get used to managing projects in excel and on notepads and don’t want to change.  This is human nature and it’s completely valid.  We provide all our new customers with a dedicated service manager and unlimited support.  This human element really helps.

Get a Free Demo of buildertrend here