MS Project, ProjectLibre, Etc.. Construction Management

[Ryan Riedy]

Does anyone have a tool they use for construction management. We considered using MS Project, but found ProjectLibre (free). Every project is different, but it would be nice to have a chart that we could lay out. It would include the process in chronological order and estimated time per job (demo, rough ins, drywall, paint). A visual way to map out the flow of the rehab projects.

http://masterpiece-dbr.com/uploads/Remodeling_Schedule.pdf

This link is one that a home-builder created. Obviously something much more simple would work.

If you have used MS Project or something similar you will know what I am referring to.

What accountability tools do you use to keep a project moving along systematically that makes it easy to replicate? This tool could also help set expectations with contractors and keep everyone on the same page.

Thanks in advance.

[Aaron McGinnis]

Originally posted by Karen Margrave:

We are switching to Builder Trend also. We do new construction of single family and small commercial, BT seems like it will allow us to do all we need for the job, plus post pics for construction lenders and clients to see progress, deal with change orders, etc.
@Aaron McGinnis We've been waiting because we wanted to wait until QuickBooks was integrated into Buildertrend, which it is now. Do you use it with QuickBooks? If so, what if you quit using Builder Trend, would you easily be able to separate your QuickBooks or have to set it all up again?

@Karen Margrave - We do run Quickbooks. To tell you the truth, we haven't done much with integration of BT into Quickbooks. My impression is that it mostly will just run change orders into QB as an invoice.

For us, the big advantage of BT is the schedule integration and the ability to handle selections and change orders in one place with limited physical paperwork. We run enough jobs that trying to do the schedules by hand is a nightmare...