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Residential Construction Software

Residential construction software is used largely by homebuilders as part of the cost estimation and budgeting processes as well as modeling new home designs. Introduced to the industry two decades ago, residential construction software has made a major impact in a short period of time. Major hurdles for homebuilding projects can now be cleared quickly and efficiently with the use of a computer program.

Residential construction software can be purchased by a home builder and installed on their computers, or, increasingly, it can be Web-based. Residential construction software can be very general, covering the entire project, or it can be highly specific, depending on the contractor's needs. There are programs aimed at certain segments of the home building industry and can cover all stages of the process. There are programs for carpentry estimating; conceptual estimating; concrete estimating and insurance claims estimating, as well as any miscellaneous estimating work that needs to be done. There construction job cost software programs specializing in plumbing, piping and HVAC, as well as repair and remodeling tasks. All of these programs can be used to present a clear idea of the project's cost and progress.

Residential construction software is not overly expensive, with most programs falling into a price range between $60 and $250, depending on the capabilities of the software. Most residential construction software is designed to work within Microsoft's Excel program, though some of them are stand-alone.

The benefits of residential construction software are substantial. Using software programs that are develop budgets and establish cost baselines, general contractors are able to keep track of the financial status on a daily or hourly basis as opposed to far less frequently when the work was being done by an employee. All budgetary information is stored in one location and is easily accessed, as opposed to when it was manually placed in separate files. The likelihood of errors is also far less than it would be if the budgetary computations were done by hand.

Residential construction software can actually help a project's bottom line, as it reduces the number of employees needed to successfully see it through to completion. Instead of needing a number of fulltime accountants or estimators attached to each bid, one person--who may not even be working on-site--can use a software program to efficiently keep track of a project, or part of a project's, budget.

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