10 Tips to Help Subcontractors Choose the Best Construction Accounting Software in 2021
When you are a construction subcontractor who deals in trade-specific services, it is always important to have the latest technology, world-class equipment, and everything that can help win the confidence of the contractors.
Even though you believe yourself to be the best in your field, the constant need for evolution and improving existing operations could leave you overwhelmed. But at the same time, making the right choice with the essential technology like an integrated construction accounting software could make things amazingly simplified. Better decision making, performance needs, and revenue goals are a few of the most important factors that make this technology a more critical investment to make.
Since working on a construction project needs you to have a check on all the financial projections, taking control of the bidding, resource planning, change orders, and other aspects of the projects require well-versed construction accounting software. Here is a quick 10-point checklist that subcontractors need to keep in mind when planning to adopt or upgrade their existing solution to an intelligent construction accounting software technology. Let’s begin.
Identify Your Solution Requirements
The very first step of investing in a technology solution is learning your needs. This helps you to avoid any unwanted expenses and get a solution that can add value to your business. most of the time, subcontractors and even contractors when not informed of the requirements tend to get solutions that do not align with their needs completely.
Therefore, it is necessary that your construction accounting solution must fulfill all your project and business requirements. It can be anything from a cloud-based technology that helps you and your teams to stay coordinated with the project data or an accounting solution that offers integrated features of a CRM, ERP, and Project Management software.
Creating Estimates & Invoices
For subcontractors who do not have an integrated software system in place, working on the task of estimation, expense management, and billings could be tough. When not working on a dedicated construction accounting software, it would require manual efforts to work on these tasks which is not only an error process but also consume a greater amount of time to take information to the teams.
Therefore, subcontractors must look for a solution that can help define the scope of the project and enables users to track the schedule progress. Such technology can prove to be of great benefit to the contractors giving command on invoices, estimates, and driving precision with the expenses.
Cost Tracking
The next thing which subcontractors should look at a construction accounting software that can help track material and labor expenses. It should be a tool that allows both field and office teams to track data related to resource consumption, labor, and other expenses at the site. Such an approach to finding a solution could help subcontractors and their project managers to prevent unnecessary cost overruns.
In addition to this, subcontractors must invest in a solution that can help generate reports on the expected profit margin in context to the efficiency. Also, such data can further help contractors to retain customers, win bids, and ensure successful completion of prospective projects by taking insights into past performance.
Unbound Access on Cloud
When it comes to the construction business, subcontractors, project managers, and supervisors often need to work across various sites. Therefore, it becomes crucial to invest in construction accounting and project management software that can help have mobile access to all the important project data for timely decision making. Either it is expenses, transactions, material supplies, or transactions, having data on the cloud does not require your team to waste their crucial time traveling from one place to another.
Adding to that, using construction accounting software enables teams to check on all the updated plans, change order details, productivity lag, and overall progress reports. Furthermore, the information could be easily shared or accessed by general contractors and project owners to get a quick check on billings and process immediate payments.
Never Settle for Disparate Legacy Solutions
As 2020 has been a year of great struggle for the construction industry, 2021 for contractors is all about using time for productivity practices. And if you are planning to adopt or switch to an advanced construction accounting software, make sure you choose a solution that can help with resource and time allocation. This will help you avoid unwanted delays and ensure real-time access to project data driving better project efficiency and meet productivity goals.
Resist Costly Accounting+ERP Solutions
Over the years, ERP has become a significant component of the construction management process. However, many subcontractors are only leaning heavily on ERP technology to ensure better workflow and growth which at times lead them towards breakdowns due to improper business strategy and choice of ERP features.
However, if subcontractors need to have the best out of their business in 2021, they can simply opt for integrated ERP solutions that can help improve the offerings and quality of operations. Also, it should preferably be a cloud-based software that can add value to the business by delivering standardized features related to reporting, profit management, financial control, and more.
Besides this, it is important that subcontractors must take account of an end-to-end construction accounting and ERP solution that can help work on the financial tasks related to accounting, progress billings, invoices and payments, and of course advanced ERP and Project management.
Built-in Productivity Features
When it comes to project management, all goals are associated with retaining cash flow and subcontractors must aim for solutions that can allow bill payments without any errors. Since these tasks require substantial time to achieve, accounting software could help simplify things with easier processing. Moreover, using a cloud-based solution gives the benefit of creating bills that are more accurate and aligns well with the data from the project activities.
Some advanced construction accounting software such as ProjectPro even allows users to work on contract billings including the feature to process AIA format billings. Also, the user could simply practice billings processed with or without retention that can be assigned to individual contract lines or can be set at the job level.
Easy Implementation & Support
As the subcontractor industry is facing heavy competition, replacing old school practices and technology has become even more important. Therefore subcontractors who are looking for construction accounting software that can help give a boost to their revenue could simply go for an integrated solution.
However, contractors must opt for solutions that can help with implementation, migration, upgrade, training, and all other necessary support related to master setup, onboarding, etc.
Organizational Training
While adopting an integrated construction accounting software, most construction firms and subcontractors have the idea of business transformation in their minds. Therefore, it is essential that the process of selecting the right solution should involve implementation assistance as well as training support.
As business transformation is the priority for all who have well-defined objectives, investing in a solution that comes with training helps to have command over the IT process. Also, working on such a solution helps you to streamline the system while leaning out the effort made to foster project-related operations.
Aim for Business Direction
Finally, working on construction accounting software should help you define performance metrics taking access to dashboard data such as purchases, bills, salaries, labor hours, and more. Project managers can use this information to draw cash flow patterns and generate insights on future biddings to strengthen the project pipeline.
Also, these metrics can be studied to identify business performance variance for improved reporting that can help shape projects for better direction.
The Crux
Over the years, the entire concept of construction has changed with the introduction of intuitive technology that can help contractors locate trends related to business. Moreover, the advantage of identifying historical data and financial exposure helps to shape the project lifecycle cutting off any risks.
Subcontractors who need to prepare themselves for the opportunities in 2021 can take advantage of such construction accounting software technology to work on the financial stature of the business while improving routine business practices.
Overall, the idea of adopting a top-rated construction accounting software should involve the best research and strategy to help conscious business growth. Also, choosing the right software at the right time could help subcontractors have the potential to take a competitive advantage in the industry driving better and transparent relationships.
Choose wisely! Good Luck!
