TLDR at bottom
I apologize if this isn't the correct place to be posting this. I've worked on building these systems for my business which has gone really well, I want to know if you think it could be made into a product or service.
Here's some background and what I've done:
The company that I help manage builds homes. Mostly spec starter to mid-tier (semi-custom) homes built on our land or sometimes on our client's land. My background is in accounting so I like spreadsheets and solving problems with math.
First I created a database on access that has allowed me to automate keeping track of all the cost inputs for every one of our home plans and having constant up to date prices for these homes. I even have a selections sheet for each plan that allows me to see exactly what the cost would be of common changes/selections for a new home build.
Next I input these selections into a project management software we already use that allows clients to make selections and ask questions on our specs. We market ourselves as a semi-custom builder, so we have to provide choices for each client but generally clients at our price level don't want to pay for the estimating time it takes to come up with the price. If I provide a decent amount of options to our clients that are pre-priced out that generally lowers the amount of questions and other requests they have. So not only am I not estimating as much because it's automated, my clients aren't asking me for a bunch of options, they're just choosing from the ones made available even though we will still entertain other requests.
Next, because I know what the exact cost of our homes will be at any given time, I've added a contingency and now market the prices of all these homes on our website. I've found a no-code app building software that allows me to imbed an app that displays all of our plans, prices, where they can be built and search functions to narrow down which "building opportunity" is best for the client on our website.
Lastly, I've automated most of the cash flow and income projection process. Keeping track of the budget for each home by having the job costs entered and tracked by Quickbooks has allowed me to within a couple of hours each month have an updated cash flow and income projections which is fundamental in our industry for knowing how many homes you should start at any given point.
It's all kind of simple stuff that most larger builders have incorporated some parts of, but most smaller builders don't have the ability to do this. I could easily see this being an all in one software package that saves even more time, I just don't have the ability to create that.
I just need to figure out if this is a viable product or service to offer to other builders, and how to go about figuring out what to do next with this idea if there's merit to it.
TLDR: I've created a set of systems for my company that has drastically reduced my work hours and increase our productivity a lot. I need help figuring out how to vet the idea.
[link] [comments]
