This article explores how contractors using landscape management software can streamline home renovation projects, potentially saving homeowners time and money.
The following is a guest post from my bloggy friend Megan Isola. Interested in having a guest post on my website? Click here for my guest post submission form.
Digital Tools for Dream Homes: Leveraging Software in Home Renovations
Taking on a major home improvement or renovation project can be an exciting prospect. But unless you have experience with such projects, you will likely need to hire a general contractor to oversee the project from beginning to end. There are a lot of good contractors to choose from, and depending on the scope of the project, different contractors may offer varying cost and schedule benefits. To ensure you are getting not only a good value from your contractor, but also working with someone who can keep the project on schedule, it could be beneficial to seek out a contractor that uses landscape management software.
Landscape management software allows a contractor to monitor multiple key aspects of a home improvement project via digital means on a computer or tablet. The insights your contractor gains from the software can be shared with you, helping you to understand and make changes, while also allowing you to see how your money is being spent as the project progresses. The overall benefit of such software is an improved success rate for keeping the project on schedule and within budget.
Working with a contractor who utilizes landscape management software
When selecting a contractor to oversee and carry out your home improvements, it will be well worth your time to find a contractor who makes extensive use of landscape management software. The world of home renovation contractors has changed a lot over the years, with some of the biggest and most beneficial changes coming with the development and deployment of software. A contractor that uses landscape management software is in a position to provide beneficial time-saving operations, which equals cost savings for you.
While the use of software to manage operations during a home improvement project can be as simple as a spreadsheet, it will be worth your time to ensure that your contractor is using a software package. Such a software package will enable the contractor to track multiple aspects of the project, from subcontractors to how far along the project is. Using these data points, the contractor can make adjustments as needed to keep the project moving forward and help ensure a timely completion.
When you work with a contractor who makes the most of landscape management software, you can easily keep apprised of the progress of the project. Your contractor will be able to generate reports and other visuals that you can use to better understand the overall process. You can use this information not only to track the project but also to see where your money is being spent, which may allow you to change your plans to reduce costs or point out potential cost savings to your contractor. Ultimately, though, the biggest benefit to you as the homeowner will be how much more streamlined the project will be, taking a lot of the burden associated with a major renovation away because you can be more confident that your contractor has things under control.
Planning your renovation project
Regardless of the size and scope of your project, you will have input into the planning of the project. To maintain some level of overall control of the project, it will be necessary to work closely with your contractor throughout the entire process. The level of communication you have with your contractor can vary depending on your personal preference and the size of the project. However, when you work with a contractor taking advantage of the benefits of landscape management software, you will be able to gain closer insights into the details of the project’s costs and timeline.
Using the data collected through the software, your contractor will be able to generate reports for you to review. As the contractor looks at these reports, they will be able to make changes to the process, and can then share the impact of these changes with you. You will be able to track the project from beginning to end, keeping apprised of how your money is being spent and how effective the initial project plan was.
Even if you are not reviewing the data gathered by the contractor, a good contractor will use the insights garnered from the software to tweak the project as needed, and they can provide you with an overall better understanding of the changes and why they were made. Having this information can make the project process go smoother, helping to ensure project success.
Funding a major home improvement project
Any home improvement project is going to cost a substantial amount of money. When working with a contractor that uses landscape management software, you will likely be making a trade-off of paying the contractor more to realize overall time and cost savings over the entire project. To secure a good contractor, you will probably need to have the funds to pay an upfront fee, and coming up with such a payment can be a challenge for some homeowners.
There are many ways to pay for home improvement projects, depending on the size of the project. One of the best and most common ways to pay for large projects around your home is a home equity loan. Over time, as you make payments on your mortgage, you build up equity in your home, the difference between how much you have remaining on your mortgage and the value of your home. With a home equity loan, you can borrow against that difference to secure a large amount of money to pay for a major home renovation project.
Taking out a home equity loan may seem like taking out a new mortgage, but it is really more like a loan you might get for a car or major purchase. A home equity loan will probably have a shorter term than your mortgage, and it is backed by the value of your home. If you are looking for a way to pay any upfront costs associated with working with a contractor who uses field service management software, and ultimately be able to pay for the overall home improvement project, a home equity loan is probably the best route to take.
About the Author
Megan Isola holds a Bachelor of Science in Hospitality and a minor in Business Marketing from Cal State University Chico. She enjoys going to concerts, trying new restaurants, and hanging out with friends.
