Builder - January 2009 - (Page 85) TECHTOOLS TECHNOLOGY FOR THE MODERN HOME BUILDER ■ EDITED BY DAN DALEY Gen Y Wants Interface Learning about the next generation of home buyers would be smart and timely. T he needs and wants of the tech-savvy Generation Y won’t fi nd the conventional post-contract personal relationship with their builders to be enough. Just as they want automated technology in their homes, this fi nicky cohort, aka Millennials, who own millions of bytes of music but have never gone to a record store and who have figured out how to get around phone trees, also want high-tech solutions to manage every aspect of their new homes as soon as the ink is dry on the contract. Builders take note: Gen Y—80 million strong with $1.6 trillion in earning power (source: Robert Charles Lesser & Co.)— will be more than a third of U.S. residents by 2015, a point at which the U.S. economy and home sales should be on the upswing again. “These buyers will want a 24/7 electronic relationship with warranty and customer services that they can access on their own schedule,” says Craig Schweikart, vice president of Builder 360 at Constellation Homebuilder Systems. The company’s HomePlate product is a customized Web portal that offers a way to automate customer touch points during construction, closing, and post closing. It also offers long-term service linked to the builder’s own Web site, eliminating the need for the builder to create its own individual site. “It transparently stabilizes the pulling of active data from the ERP [Enterprise Resource Planning] and converts it to a customer face in a standardized way. Builder budgets will get a greater return on their IT investment when they select packaged solutions over custom development,” he says. “Software doesn’t replace people. It eliminates people doing redundant tasks,” says Schaeffer. The next phase of IT buildout is the company’s new trade portal, through which all of the builder’s 50-plus vendors S v9.5 age Software’s Sage Timberline Office Version 9.5 includes new features to help construction firms streamline operations and boost their bottom lines, including enhanced security and Microsoft Vista compatibility. This version also integrates with a broad selection of complementary products offered by Sage Construction and Real Estate Development Partners. The new Field Reports feature provides access to realtime information enabling quick response to changing on-site conditions. Version 9.5 starts at about $7,000. Tool for Tough Times A Jersey builder digs deep into its IT resources. Quick Tricks I T im Schaeffer Commu- tems. For sales, it uses Sales Simnities, a custom builder plicity, and for linking these in southern New Jersey, systems together and driving the has long been a paragon critical path of the home buildof integrating IT solu- ing process, the company emtions into its business model. ploys BuilderMT’s Workflow But since the housing crunch Management Suite. Running has put a full-court press on throughout this infrastructure builders, the company is reaching further “We can bring on techinto its IT toolkit to nology that keeps us weather the storm. on pace and actually “I’ve had to cut back in terms of hu- streamlines operations.” man resources like everyone else,” acknowledges is BuilderMT’s BPM software, company president Jason Schaef- acting as a mediator to create fer. “But during that process, we unique customizations as needcan bring on technology that ed. For instance, if a dumpster keeps us on pace and actually has to be ordered and its cost streamlines operations.” spread over three subcontracTim Schaeffer Communities tors, the icon-based BPM allows runs Timberline accounting and the order to be assembled in a estimating for its back-office sys- drag-and-drop manner. ntuit’s QuickBooks 2009 features some international tools for an increasingly global economy. It now supports and converts all international currencies, and users can connect directly to Intuit’s international payment will receive purchase orders and scheduling data once they log in. The most recent addition is the ability to attach documentation. “Everything is focused on streamlining, and a wellintegrated IT system is the best tool you can have,” Schaeffer concludes. B service to process wire transfers and drafts within the software. Intuit QuickBooks Accounting Premier Edition retails for $399.95. DO YOU HAVE A TECH STORY? E-MAIL DENISE DERSIN AT: ddersin@hanleywood.com W W W.BUILDERONLINE.COM ja n ua ry 2 0 0 9 BUILDER ■ 85 http://WWW.BUILDERONLINE.COM
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.