It struck me the other day...

BuildIT has been around for almost a decade - and I've been with BuildIT since the beginning.  Over the years, the questions I get asked by prospective customers (and new ones) are basically the same.

Here are the top 10 questions, in no particular order, with our carefully prepared responses.

1. Is my data safe and secure? And what happens to my information should you go out of business?

A: Absolutely, your data is safe – much safer with us than on your own laptop. Our servers are located in a large professional hosting facility in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Our customers' data is stored on servers with RAID (multiple redundant) hard drives, immediately backed up to other servers with RAID hard drives, and regularly copied offsite to increase redundancy of backup protection. For more information on the security of your data, click here.

We understand that anything is possible. We want to assure our customers that they own their data. So at any time, their data can be downloaded off our server, and copied over to their computer. We can also do a "data dump" of all customer data, burn that to a DVD, and send it to a customer.

2. What does "area" and "code" mean when you create a new scheduled task?

A: Area and Code fields are for customers that wish to further differentiate/sort their tasks.

Imagine you have 100 tasks, and you want to filter out just the 8 tasks that are related to "inspection". Type in "inspection" into the "Area" field. Now, this value "inspection" will be available in the picklist for future tasks.

When viewing your schedule, you can adjust the filters in the left margin. One of those filters is "Area" - you'll see the value "inspection" there. Select, and refresh your list, and the view of those tasks related to "inspection" will display.

Those fields are really user defined. "Area" could mean 1) area of the project, 2) geographic area (SW, NE, County), 3) area of responsibility (financial, preconstruction, warranty).

"Code" could mean 1) CSI master format division code, 2) accounting code, 3) PO number, etc.

3. What is the difference between a "to do", a "note" and a "task"?

A: "To do's" are like virtual Post-IT notes. They are related to a BuildIT user, and can be connected to a job. They allow you to deal with the slippery items that if not "written down", cost you time, money and aggravation in the end. One BuildIT user can create "to do's" for him/herself and for other users.

"Notes" are related to a BuildIT user, can be connected to a job, AND can be connected to ONE contact in your database. Use "Notes" to log conversations, verbal commitments, and any potential litigious situations. Remember that a short "digital" pencil is better than a long memory!

"Tasks" are the individual elements of a "schedule". Like "notes", "tasks" are related to a BuildIT user, can be connected to a job, AND can be connected to ONE OR MORE contacts in your database. Tasks can be displayed in LIST view, GANTT chart view, and CALENDAR view.

4. How many customers do you have?

A: For competitive reasons, we can't disclose any numbers. But we can tell you that we've been in business for many years, and have enjoyed building a customer base, and a valuable application that solves real problems for real construction professionals. Each of our customers has a contact database of their customers and business associates, and each of those has access to a free website from BuildIT that allows for collaboration between our customer, and our customer's contacts. And many of our customers have multiple users in their company that access the system. So when you add all those up, the number gets quite impressive!

Really, the question reflects the concern of the prospective customer - he doesn't want to be the first guy taking the plane up into the sky on it's maiden voyage. No worries there, we welcomed our first retail customer back in 2002 - I was there when they delivered the cheque... it was a great day at BuildIT!

When we hear this question, we realize the underlying question is "If I choose BuildIT, will I be in good company with other customers like me that are finding success with the program?".  The answer is a resounding YES.

5. Are you the only one who answers the phone?

A: Most of the calls get sent through to my line — I like to talk!  And it frees up the rest of the team to focus on development of the application, and other corporate stuff. But with a simple, easy to use application, online help system and online video tutorials, most folks get up and running with BuildIT wil very little input from our tech support line. Still, we encourage you to call !

6. How do you print out a schedule to send to a client/builder/subtrade?

A: You can print from your browser, or from the yellow "do this" control in the top right. If you want a PDF of the schedule, you'll need a PDF driver on your computer. If you don't know what that is, call, and we'll help you create a PDF at our end.

Alternatively, you can share the schedule in real time with anyone in your contact database. The big win here is that you're online schedule is "real time", whereas a printed schedule gets out of date quickly which can be a pain in the pocketbook when someone builds the wrong thing from the old printed schedule.

7. Do you have linked tasks / Critical Path?

A: Kind of. While our scheduling system is simple, and we haven't complicated the task editor with "linkages", we do have a simple way to create a Critical Path... so when you make a change to one task, that has a cascading effect on the rest of the schedule from that point forward, then yes, we have a way to do that. More on that at this link.

8. What happens when the Internet goes down (or I don't have access to the Internet)?

A: It's like asking what happens when you're car runs out of gas? We find another way to get to our desitination, or we don't go anywhere. The same could be said of BuildIT's "web-based" application. Being "web-based" means just that. Without access to the Internet, you can't access the application. However, the benefits of having 24-hour access – even while on vacation – easily make up for the other possible problems like being unable to get back to your office, fire, theft, broken computers, etc.

For most BuildIT customers, Internet access is ubiquitous - it's everywhere, available 99%+ of the time. So it's really a moot point for them - but they have asked the question too!

For you iPhone and Blackberry users, you can access your BuildIT email right from our server. And version 5.0, being worked on as I write this, will give you mobile access to optimized screens of the BuildIT application - expect this in early 2010. 

9. What is your pricing?

A. Low. Way less than most comparable construction software products – and reasonable.  With BuildIT you easily achieve a rapid return on investment, literally within weeks of getting up an running with the system. For current pricing, check out our pricing page. We'll help you determine the optimum number of user accounts to get started with, and the subscription plan that best suits your budget. 

10. How do I organize my contacts?

A: There are a number ways to organize contacts in BuildIT: by job, by contact group (client, contractor, subtrade, design professional, etc.), by user defined fields in the contact record, and alphabetically (by First Name, Last Name or Company Name). BuildIT's "contact picker" allows you to select contacts for assigning to jobs, tasks, notes - and for sending out email, web faxes and text messages. Each customer has unique contact organization needs - we'll help you with that as we configure your account to suit your unique business requirements.

Didn't get your question answered? Well, it may be in the Top 20 or Top 30 list. Or it may be an original. Give us a call. See if you can surpise us with a "never before asked" question, and put our customer service to the test!

Scott Hutchinson, Answer Guy
scott@builditsystems.com
1 866 585 5050 ext 1

"Does BuildIT have a Critical Path?" — we're often asked that question.  First, some background:

Critical Path (also known as Critical Path Method, or CPM) is a scheduling method for dealing with multiple activities (or "tasks" as we call them) required to complete a project. The duration of the project is the sum of sequential tasks, with each task having it's own duration.

The relationship between tasks is such that a change in a critical task will most likely change the overall construction timeline, either shrinking it, or extending it. I say "most likely" because in construction, scheduling tends to be more of an art than a science, and often there are negotiated activities that take place to ensure the project is kept "on track", like doubling up of trades, working on non-working days, and working longer hours in the day.

CPM is taught at the university level as part of construction project management. Tonnes of books are written on it. Thick ones, expensive ones. There is a Project Management Institute that teaches and certifies project managers. There is a science behind CPM, and some big words /phrases that come along for the ride:

• predecessors/successors
• resource levelling
• sequential dependencies / linked tasks
• float
• crashing / fast tracking

BuildIT made the decision years ago to provide a better solution to small to mid sized construction professionals, many of whom are artisans, business owners, and do too much without enough hours in the day. We saw the landscape of software available to this audience, and quite frankly, it was way too complicated and costly for the majority of the folks we had interviewed, and continue to speak to on a daily basis.

There is not a week that goes by that we don't hear from someone that "we tried software X for scheduling, and it was way more than what we needed". How can that be if it had all the bells, whistles, buzz words, fancy computer algorithms and a printed Gantt chart that would make any Ph.D. drool!?

There is enough complicated, complex, "enterprise level" software out there for those of you that need it. Call me and I'll make some recommendations if you feel you need more than what we offer.  One project manager quipped that "you could run a small country with [Microsoft Project]" – but that's not what our customers are up to!

The fact is, we wanted to offer a simpler scheduling solution that gets the job done without a bunch of overhead.

Consider a simple schedule with a dozen or more tasks. All tasks are displayed in chronological order based on start date. That's how most of you would view a schedule.

Now say that something happens which affects the schedule. There is a delay in a shipment, the crane broke down, someone forgot to show up on Monday, AND you forgot your wife's birthday – all throwing a wrench into the system.

You have some options:

1. Modify one task, independent of the rest of the schedule

2. Modify a selection of tasks, independent of the rest of the schedule

or what I refer to as our Critical Path option:

3. Select a task, extend or reduce its duration, and choose a function to change ALL SUBSEQUENT tasks by the same number of working days.

Presto, you essentially are saying that the entire schedule from that point forward is "critical", and all tasks are bumped (accounting for non working days such as weekends and stat holidays).

There are also other strategies for effectively managing critical paths within a BuildIT schedule.

For instance, say you had 100 tasks for a project, and 70 of them were critical (the other 30 were there, placed appropriately in the timeline, but were not tied to the critical path in any way). You can assigned those tasks a CRITICAL code, then just filter on that code to view the critical path, and adjust as necessary.

For more help with how to use BuildIT to accomplish your scheduling goals without the nightmare of task linkages, sequential dependencies and arrows all over the page, call BuildIT support.

Scott Hutchinson (putting the "simple" into scheduling)
scott@builditsystems.com
1 866 585 5050 ext 1

Send us any construction documents you use for transmittals, proposals, bidding, estimates, contracts, work orders, change orders, checklists, specifications, etc.

We'll program and load your documents into your account.

Then you'll have web based documents that:

• can be created and filled in fast (a major time saver).
• are saved with the right job every time (no more lost paperwork).
• can easily be searched for any information within any document (no more looking for information).
• can be faxed and emailed straight from the system (no printing, looking up/dialing fax numbers, or waiting for fax machines).

Depending on the number of documents you require, this may take several days. Either way, we'll load your documents promptly, so you can get down to business.

To make your documents web based - so they automatically fill in the right information in the right place, we have to do some programming.

There is a $100 minimum and special pricing is available for 10 or more documents done at one time.

Once we receive you documents we'll get back to you with exact pricing.

Here's how to send your documents:

• If you have paper documents fax them to: 1 866 585 5051
• If you have electronic document files: e-mail them to support@builditsystems.com

Choices to enhance your online business profile

Mini-Website Creator

Don't have a website? Have an outdated website that just sits there?

Having a website is critical if you want to attract more customers, and give prospective customers the information they need to assess your business. A recent post in Entrepreneur.com suggests you budget $5K - $10K for the construction of a website, and $100 - $400 a month for upgrades and maintenance. You can click here to read their article.

With BuildIT, you can get started on a web presence for much less - our Mini-Website is the perfect answer. It's an easy to use website creator that you, yes you, can easily upload photos, images, and descriptions of your jobs/business... in plain English (read: no HTML, programmer stuff, just fill in the blanks and follow a few instructions).

Think of it as an online portfolio to showcase the work you do.

• No special skills needed.
• Create your own Mini-Website in 30 minutes.
• Make changes and update it anywhere, anytime.
• Even use it as a portfolio to showcase your recent work and connect to it from your main website.

Or we can do it for you

Give us your company logo, address, pictures, some general descriptions, and any "must-haves".

We'll create a 4 page Mini-Website for you. And then you're free to update your site, whenever you wish (it's easy).

Only $250 including domain name and email forwarding (see below).

For more information or to sign up e-mail: support@builditsystems.com

Promote the name of your business in your email communication (not AOL's, Comcast's, Hotmail's, or Yahoo's)

Here's how: We register a domain name for your company, and point it to your Mini-Website.

Plus we'll create a new email address for you - so all outbound email from your BuildIT account will be marked as coming from your new domain name.

We'll also program your domain name so your inbound email goes right into your account. Now all your email will have your company name on it can can be managed from within your account.

If you have more than one BuildIT user, we'll create new email addresses for them too, so all company email is organized and accessible via the web.

Domain name registration, email forwarding, and complete setup only: $100

For more information or to sign up e-mail: support@builditsystems.com

Punch lists, work lists, check lists, and work schedules are all different kinds of work/schedule templates.

If you want help developing your work/schedule templates contact us at: support@builditsystems.com

As there are many different kinds of software and file formats, we can't give exact instructions to export your information.

However, if you already have work/schedule templates (punch lists, work lists, check lists, etc.) in electronic format then we can load them into your account for you.

If you have paper schedules fax them to: 1-604-648-8428 

If you have electronic templates email them to: support@builditsystems.com

• Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (preferred), or
• CSV (comma separated values) file, or
• any other common file format

Then we'll load your work/schedule templates into your account, usually within a few hours of receiving them (during normal work hours Pacific Standard Time).

Send us your electronic contacts and we'll load them into your account.

As there are many different kinds of software and file formats, it is not possible to give exact instructions to export every type of electronic contact list.

However, chances are, if you already have a contact list in electronic format, we can load it into your account for you.

Just send us your contact list:

• as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, or
• a CSV (comma separated values) file, or
• any other common file format

Send us an e-mail with the file attached to: support@builditsystems.com

If you send it using an email program outside of your BuildIT account PLEASE make sure your username is included in the email.

Note: Please include headings in the file (so we can tell the difference between phone numbers, fax numbers, cellular numbers, etc).

For example, in Microsoft Outlook, you can 'import and export' (under the 'file' menu) your contact list 'export to a file' as a 'comma separate values' (CSV) file.

Then we'll do the rest and load your contacts into your account, usually within a few hours of receiving them (during normal work hours Pacific Standard Time).

There is no charge for this. (When was the last time a software company actually offered to help you?)

If you already use Outlook?

Here's how to export your contact list:

Note: this may vary depending on the version you have

1. in Outlook, click on "File"
2. then click on "Import and Export"
3. then click on "Export to a File," then click "Next"
4. then click on "Microsoft Excel," then click "Next"
5. then click to choose the folder containing the contacts data you want to export, then click "Next"
6. type a name for the file, and browse to choose the destination folder, then click "Next"
7. click the "Finish" button to export the selected contacts to the specified file location