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Projul construction management software (www.projul.com, 844/776-5853) is an all-in-one solution, developed by a construction company, designed primarily for small to medium sized residential remodelers and niche contractors.
The cloud-based platform, which includes mobile apps for Android and iOS devices, supports unlimited leads, customers, contractors, projects, and storage, along with unlimited support, assistance with onboarding, and training.
Features include pre-sales lead management; estimating; project management; and linear-style time-line view scheduling, with task-by-task understanding of what’s been completed, what’s in process for the day, and what the timeline for rest of the project looks like. You can drag and drop line items from an estimate onto a worker’s schedule to automatically turn it into a task or can drag and drop assignments to different days from different scheduling views.
The software also includes time-tracking, (including geo-fencing), real-time messaging among company employees, and photo management.
How it works:
Pre-sales lead management capabilities include grouping leads in phases—e.g. to contact, to estimate, to send—and allows you to attach notes, communications, photos, and other documents for easy access for referral or incorporation going forward.
Projul enables users to build and save editable estimates (and sections of estimates), notifications such as alerts for tasks and updates, and project schedules as templates for another, similar job, with editing of details such as labor and material costs, costs with markup, hard costs, and margins for consistent use by your estimators, start date, crew members, and other data. The software supports custom branding of apps, invoices, and estimates with your logo.
Clients can comment on estimates or change orders and can request revisions before they agree to sign and can accept and e-sign them from a smartphone.
In addition to the time-line view of scheduling, the software provides the ability to view and manage multiple projects on a color-keyed Gantt Chart that shows a timeline for projects, tasks and milestones.
Crew members with the Projul mobile app can, at the start of the workday, click the location icon to map their route for the day. As each task listed is completed, that can be reflected on the timeline.
Users can snap a photo and mark it up or include photos within tasks to keep field workers and management in sync. When a worker takes a photo, it is immediately uploaded into the project, which results in default organization. All photos are automatically stored in your Projul cloud, accessible from a master gallery filterable by customers, projects, project types, before and after, or other custom tags.
Projul partners with a third-party payment company to facilitate in-app payments from customers, who are invoiced by email. And can press a “pay now” button and submit their credit card or debit card details, or bank details (for an ACH transfer).
The solution integrates with QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online for accounting.
Pricing: billed annually or monthly, tiered by limit of users: 5, 15, 35, or unlimited. Mobile apps for Android and iOS devices downloadable at Google Play and the App Store.
HomeX (www.homex.com, 855/466-3948) is a home services platform connecting homeowners and licensed service technicians, including HomeX Remote Assist technicians who are expert plumbers, electricians, HVAC and appliance professionals for virtual assistance over a video call in the form of expert advice or step-by-step guidance for homeowner hands-on tackling of the project.
If that proves not sufficient, HomeX can, some cases, connect the homeowner with a contractor local in their geographic region who could take on the problem with an in-home visit.
How it works:
HomeX starts the process by offering customers a free assessment of the homeowner issue, using AI (artificial intelligence) to identify it, followed by a guaranteed estimate for a Remote Assist session conducted over a video call, with the cost filtered by the size of the job and the estimated length of time of the job.
If, after quick assessment, a Remote Assist session will not suffice, HomeX will not assess a charge but rather will recommend an in-home visit by a local pro in the HomeX network, if there is one within the geographic area.
Pricing for Remote Assist tiered as follows: small job, taking 10-20 minutes and requiring one or two tools, such as programming a thermostat or replacing an HVAC filter; medium job, taking 30 minutes and calling for a basic toolbox, such as clearing a condensate clog or unsticking a pressure switch; and big, multi-step, project, with a session lasting 45 minutes minutes and possibly requiring specialty tools, such as replacing a thermostat or an igniter. (If the homeowner needs to get a part for a large job, the timing of the session is paused until the part is in hand.)
HomeX Remote Assist can also help homeowners with installations, maintenance support, and gaining a better understand of their home through a detailed walk-through of an individual’s home systems and appliances. (Local contractors interested joining the HomeX platform can reach out at [email protected]).
Patti Feldman writes articles and web content for trade magazines and manufacturers of building products. She can be reached at [email protected].
Patti Feldman
Patti Feldman writes articles and web content for trade magazines and manufacturers of building products.