Transforming construction project budgets with construction management software

Let’s take a look at some of the more common problems with spreadsheets as identified by others who study business processes and efficiency. No doubt you’ll find some of these familiar.

1. Spreadsheets are not connected – the data within each does not easily flow together, forcing you to create connections by jumping back-and-forth into different files to pull together a big picture of your project costs.

2. Spreadsheets introduce human error – the more you and your team use spreadsheets, the more likely user errors will crop up in the different formulas hidden behind each cell. How will you know when a figure has been mistakenly calculated? What happens when you pass that bad data from one spreadsheet to other existing documentation?

3. Spreadsheets are not scalable – the more you grow, the more you need admin tools specifically designed for your business. The last thing you need is to be chained to your desk constantly fiddling with spreadsheets and figuring how to share them with your team. Who has time for that?

Competitive builders are increasingly turning to home construction management software to create online templates for both estimating and budgeting.

Because this project management software is designed specifically for home construction, builders find that software speeds up the entire process of planning and managing a construction project. And because it’s a cloud-based platform, all phases of a construction project can be managed from anywhere there is an internet connection.

How Buildxact benefits your residential construction project

Let’s take a look at how Buildxact speeds the creation of an estimate and construction budget.

With Buildxact, you can create an estimate from a template in multiple ways:

1. Create your own

2. Use a Buildxact premade template

3. Import an Excel spreadsheet with a prior estimate

4. Use an existing estimate from an existing Buildxact job.

We have a small sample here to quickly illustrate a few points.

Here, we have a task for a window installation that includes line items for labor costs and material costs. The line items allow you to define the costs based on counts you calculated using a digital takeoff tool that comes included with Buildxact. You also can include markup to cover overhead costs and local tax rates. Buildxact has all the details for you in one place, and Buildxact lets you decide how much of this detail shows up in the final customer bid. 

You can save this entire task as an assembly to reuse in other estimates you create, or you can use the entire estimate as a template for your next construction project. You choose how much or how little you automate your estimating. 

Now, let’s illustrate the point made about connecting estimating to construction budgeting: 

Here you can see that Buildxact’s actual costings report shows the same line items that were in the estimate. The same $3,600 task now has actual costs applied against that estimated budget and shows with color-coded tiles whether the task is under or above budget. In this example, the window task is in the green on budget at 76% spent, but the Electrician tasks below it are over budget as indicated by the 109% red tile.

All the expenses are displayed for the user as the user records purchase orders within Buildxact. There is no need to create manual budget reports by double-handling data.

Try Buildxact today!

This is just an introduction to the power of Buildxact budget reporting.

Forbes has listed Buildxact software as the best overall construction estimating software for the past three years. Forbes editors considered pricing, general features and customer reviews when compiling their list of the best construction software solutions in the market. 

Ready to learn more? Schedule a demo today with a Buildxact team member, or if you are ready to jump In and try it, sign up for a free trial today!

The post The smarter way to create a construction budget appeared first on Buildxact AU.

The federal government have introduced various financial injections to boost the economy so what can home builders, renovators, suppliers, and homeowners look forward to this coming year? 

Government’s budget outlook  

With housing prices literally going through the roof in 2021, the government has placed a larger focus on helping Australians attain homes moving forward. In the budget announcement, the government pointed out the most important drivers of economic growth over the short term are government spending and residential building. 

These two factors have the largest impact on the economy and can lead to long-term growth. Government spending is imperative because it can stimulate the economy and create jobs. Residential building is important because it provides housing and creates a ripple demand effect for other goods and services. 

Here is a quick look at what you can expect from the Australian federal budget 2022 for the residential building and construction sector. 

Key budget takeaways: 

Residential builders and renovators

• Tap into the tax deduction schemes when you spend on digital technology to help your business – Get a $120 tax deduction for every $100 spent on technologies such as cloud-based software and rebranding your website design. Deductions are capped at $100,000 per year.  
• The same rate of deductions is provided if you spend on upskilling your employees – This goes together as a great incentive to train up your employees, especially in the field of using digital technology.  

• New Australian Apprenticeships Incentive Scheme – Beginning 1 July 2022, support will be given to employers and apprentices for in-demand occupations. Close to a billion dollars of funding has been set aside over the next five years to boost skilled jobs and trades.  
• Women in focus – Support, subsidies, and incentives to encourage women to pick up trades and promoting diversity within the ranks of the industry  

Suppliers

• Increased budget support for timber suppliers – More than $86 million to be pumped into wood plantations over the next five years

• Additional funding of $328 million for the Modern Manufacturing Strategy – Suppliers can look forward to increased funding to develop more advanced and sustainable ways of doing business and maintaining supply of building materials. 
• Same scheme of tax deductions for digital technology uptake and employee training – However, businesses must record an annual turnover of below $50 million to enjoy this scheme. 

Homeowners

• The First Home Guarantee scheme – The government is increasing the number of places to 35,000 from 10,000 per year. Homeowners can look forward to purchasing homes with a deposit of as low as five per cent. 

• New Regional Home Guarantee scheme – This program is encouraging home buyers to move to regional areas and provides support for 10,000 new home construction projects per year.  
• Family Home Guarantee to be increased – Support for single parents to purchase a home with a deposit as little as 2 per cent.  
• Additional $2 billion funding for the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) – More support for programs to produce affordable homes for Australians.  

The residential building and construction industry will soon be seeing some much-needed relief in the form of incentives and programs from the government’s budget. These incentives, tax cuts and programs begins on 1 July 2022, all stakeholders in the residential building industry can look forward to improved conditions and a better economic outlook. 

With an emphasis on upskilling the building sector with technology, this is the best time to train up your workforce with digital skills that can save both time and money for your business. Digital software improves operational efficiencies so this is the best time for businesses to participate in the government’s schemes that are designed to benefit the residential building sector. 

We are always looking for ways to help you improve how you operate your business and boosting your bottom-lines with technology. Contact our team today to learn how construction management software can help you take control of your business. 

To read more about the Federal Budget 2022, you can find more details here. 

We know times are tough right now and we want to help. For a limited time, subscribe to any Buildxact monthly or annual plan, and get 2 months FREE as soon as you’ve attended your first training session (save up to $500).

The post Budget 2022 – Key points for the building sector appeared first on Buildxact AU.