While home construction material prices are leveling off, builders continue to watch as inflation hovers around 3% and the price of lumber, concrete, steel and gypsum may be impacted by geopolitics.
Building materials remain about 40% precent higher than pre-pandemic levels and may move higher in the face of possible global tariffs in 2025. Labor prices also could go higher with the expected US policies on illegal immigration.
The key to managing uncertainty like this is having the right information at the right time. Construction management software is the proven way to make this happen.
Today’s top construction management software provides an instantaneous link to material catalogs, prices and labor estimates that are based on local market conditions. This frees the home builder from time consuming administrative tasks.
Construction management software in action
Builder and remodeler Jack Clough says he uses Buildxact construction management software to estimate material and labor costs and to quickly write customer bids using accurate data.
Buildxact has become his source of truth when it comes to estimating, he said.
“Buildxact has definitely made us win more work,” Clough said. “We get feedback from clients and architects saying our cost proposals are the best they’ve seen. It sets us apart.”
Integrated material dealer pricing also has helped TXN Remodeling N Construction guarantee they have the latest, most accurate pricing, giving them the confidence to know their quote is not only competitive but will also turn a fair profit.
With Buildxact, hunting down dealer price catalogs is a thing of the past because updated pricing can be setup from major dealers, like The Home Depot, within the estimating tool.
“It allows me to keep my numbers accurate,” Keith said. “It prevents me from quoting $4.99 for a 2×4 when the 2×4 went up to $6.99 overnight. It also allows me to refresh my estimates if I provided an estimate 30 days ago.”
How Buildxact Integrated Pricing works
Using Buildxact, custom home builders can connect to major material dealers like The Home Depot, when setting up an estimate. Once that connection is made via a simple sign up process, builders can add a material catalog containing all the items important to their estimate.
Pricing is based on the location of The Home Depot store chosen by the builder, ensuring that a builder’s estimate represents local market conditions.
Once those items are added and saved to an estimate, the price for the items can be updated at any point in the future at the click of a button.
Buildxact offers builders the flexibility of updating prices for individual items within an estimate at the flip of a toggle switch.
How builders use Buildxact to bid more jobs
As critical as it is to accurately price materials and labor, for many small business owners, pricing is only half the battle. For many builders working multiple projects, simply finding the time to write an estimate often cuts into nights and weekends. Here again, construction estimating software can help.
More experienced builders can write their own estimate from a blank estimate, create their own template from prior projects, or use one of the existing templates offered by Buildxact.
Many pre-existing templates now include live pricing from The Home Depot material catalog. The catalog also is available via Buildxact’s AI-enabled estimating tool.
Buildxact’s AI Estimator
Buildxact offers powerful AI tools and ready-made templates so builders can get up and running quickly. Builders using Buildxact often double their business in a year’s time as they bid and win more jobs.
With AI Estimator, it’s easy to create an item list that generates from a prompt written in the builder’s own words. In fact, the Buildxact AI tool even offers suggestions on how to prompt the AI to write requirements based on the builder’s measurements.
In this case, the AI tool integrates seamlessly with the The Home Depot material catalog so the latest offerings and prices are available for use in each estimate.
Pricing assistance tools
For more generalized assistance, builders who want to decide at a later date where they shop for materials can use Buildxact pricing tools that base material and labor costs on 1Build market data that is based on zip code.
With this tool, builders can see a wide variety of material and labor tasks, such as debris removal to bricklaying to plumbing, and even include markup to cover the indirect costs, like insurance and admin time.
These costs often eat into profits if not included in some way in the customer bid proposal. Builders also can add their own markup to their estimate.
Because construction management software like Buildxact makes markup calculation and record keeping easy, builders can be sure costs are covered even during inflationary periods when costs for materials and labor are rising.
Try Buildxact today
Why not save time, build your reputation, your business and your profit with us? Book a demo of our Buildxact estimating and project management software or start your 14-day free trial today. Winning your next project and client could be take less take and effort than you think.
