New Web-Based “Bid Management” Tool from BuilderMT Offers Bid Dashboard, EBidding, and Broadly Integrated Bid Data
All Bid Activity - By Option, Job, and Activity – is Now Managed On the Web and Integrated Into Estimating, Accounting, & Trade Portal
Lakewood, Colorado — June 8, 2009 — BuilderMT, the nation’s best-selling, most-awardwinning home-builder software, today announced it has unveiled a new Web-based Bid Management system, as part of their Workflow Management Suite 4.7 version release. The only system of its kind in the entire construction industry (commercial or residential sectors), the Bid Management system allows contractors a new level of sophistication and flexibility when managing bids. While allowing e-bidding, and electronic document management, users of Bid Management can manage bids three ways: by model/option, by job, and by activity.
Bid Management offers the ability to exchange drawings and bid documents, and even payment management. What’s more, with Bid Management, all data generated by the bidding process is automatically integrated across the entire job workflow, from estimating and purchasing to accounting and trade communications, through BuilderMT’s Trade Portal.
When managing bids by model and option, a construction company can request bid quotes from trades and suppliers for every model and option within one or all new-home communities or projects. However, the company can also manage bids by job, or elect to use the process for just one project. If the company wants to manage bids by activity, it can receive bids for specific activities such as excavation, framing, HVAC, plumbing, concrete, and drywall. Bid Management also allows onetime supplier bids, and rebidding.
The Bid Management system uses two modules within BuilderMT’s award-winning WMS (Workflow Management Suite). Bid Management resides in the Purchasing module, and that means that the bid data is automatically integrated through the entire BuilderMT system and to any other alliance software systems, from estimating and accounting to warranty management. Bid Management also resides in Trade Portal, and accordingly, the data generated by and managed within Trade Portal becomes integral to all communications with subcontractors.
Bid Management also offers a Bid Dashboard, which allows users to review all bids, with drilldown capabilities to bid-specific information. Upon acceptance of a bid, users of the secure Dashboard can see the costs for all jobs or for specific jobs, and even set up the supplier’s costs as the default for future jobs. They can view a comparison report of up to six bidders and select the lowest bid, as well as printout a bid contract to send to the vendor for signature.
BuilderMT’s Bid Management application is available for residential production builders, and for general construction companies of any size. The Bid Management workflow is available at no charge for users of BuilderMT’s WMS 4.7.
“BuilderMT Bid Management – along with their Trade Portal – has shortened our bid time by a week for our Production Homes and two weeks on our Semi-Custom Homes,” said Chuck Marshall, Sunriver Development. “I can literally bid out and the entire home in three days, release it for construction, and have all my costs stored or updated in our cost database during the bid process. I no longer have to track down trades to clarify bid items; everything comes to me ‘apples for apples’. I accept the trades’ costs and my budgets are built. And because we are short staffed due to the economy, this has really helped us keep our Purchasing Department ahead of the game.”
“We are taking this time in the down market to bring money-saving enhancements at no charge to our customers,” said Tom Gebes, BuilderMT’s president. “One of those enhancements is Bid Management, and our application is a dream for project managers. The summary data it presents, and the opportunity it offers to compare and manage bids, are astounding. What’s more, it offers linkages and pre-integration to your accounting and invoicing systems.”
About BuilderMT
For the construction industry at large, BuilderMT provides highly customizable workflow and building-process-management software that works in tandem with Sage Timberline Office accounting and estimating software, and with many other wireless and jobsite productivity tools. BuilderMT systems have been purchased by over 800 corporations and more than 7,000 individuals, and the Company manages construction for around 20% of the U.S. new-home market. BuilderMT is widely recognized as a leader in process-driven, best-building-practices for builders, as well as customer service, warranty applications, online training, and innovative wireless applications. To learn more, visit www.BuilderMT.com.
Recent awards for BuilderMT include:
• ConstrucTech Vision Awards for 2008 – Garman Homes
• ConstrucTech Vision Awards for 2008 – Tim Schaeffer Communities
• IHTA Award Finalist, 2008
• Professional Builder magazine’s 2008 Top 100 Products
• ConstrucTech Top Product 2007
• ConstrucTech Hottest Company of the Year 2007
• ConstrucTech Vision Awards for 2007—Eastwood Homes ConstrucTech Vision Awards for 2007 overall Team Award—New Urban Builders
• Tom Gebes named to Builder list of the Fifty Most Influential People in the Home Building Industry, 2006
• ConstrucTech Hottest Company of the Year 2006
• ConstrucTech Vision Awards for 2006—Graham Hart Home Builder
• ConstrucTech Vision Awards for 2006 overall Team Award—Generation Homes
• Home Builder Executive Magazine 2006 Award for Scheduling Software
• Home Builder Executive Magazine 2006 Builder Technology Innovation Award
• Tom Gebes, President of BuilderMT, Ernest and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalists for 2006
• ConstrucTech Vision Awards for 2005—Delcor Homes
• ConstrucTech Hottest Technology of the Year 2005
• TecHomeBuilder High Impact Products of the Year 2004
