Assembling the Software

A company that makes a full-service software package is Maxwell Systems, which recently introduced ProContractorMX: Complete.

“This product is the first to the marketplace from the concept that estimating, takeoff, project management, analysis and accounting are all under one roof,” says Mike Gillum, director of product management for Maxwell Systems. “We call it a complete solution.”

One of the challenges for contractors has been that they’ve had to use multiple products to accomplish those tasks, Gillum notes.

“They’ve used an accounting package, a management package, a scheduling package, a take-off package and an estimating package, all from separate vendors,” he says. “All separate payments they have to make and all separate phone calls they have to make when something goes wrong or they need technical support.

“We’ve developed the ProContractorMX package, keeping in mind that we can be the one-stop shop for these contractors, from the small subcontractors that are doing the drywall for $1 million a year up to the billion-dollar general contractors putting together development packages and large jobs.”

The software can be tailored for each type of contractor.

“One of the benefits of the ProContractorMX package is there is one place to go for all of the data and the data is the most important part of any project,” says Gillum. “It all starts with the takeoff and the estimate. Once the job has been awarded, it needs to pull through to the project piece and onto accounting.”

Although ProContractorMX: Complete is a comprehensive software approach, there are those contractors who are either not ready to make the investment in it, whose team is not ready to use it or who are satisfied with a special purpose software they already operate.

For those contractors, Maxwell Systems offers a flexible way to get started with ProContractorMX to best meet immediate construction business needs, says Gillum. For example, contractors can begin with the solution’s Take-off & Estimating functionality and expand capabilities as needs demand by adding Accounting & Project Management capabilities in the future. When all features are used, contractors have the complete, bid-to-cash system, he adds.

As for ProContractorMX: Complete, once a bid is awarded, it allows for the estimate to be pulled into the project management piece, enabling real-time, work-in-progress field and office reports, Gillum says.

That’s accomplished through ProContractorMX Connect, which lists the pertinent project data, such as budgets, invoicing, and purchase orders, and ensures that materials are getting delivered on site on time.
It also helps manage subcontractors by tracking if they show up on time and schedules them to perform whatever job they were hired to do, Gillum says.

“All of that data gets entered into the ProContractorMX product, along with all of the attachments, which could be contracts, invoices, and attachments of the PDF files that you did takeoffs from with all of the annotations and quantities on them,” he says. “These get attached to what we call a job binder.”

The job binder is an automated form of the three-ring binder or folder that project managers or owners typically have carried around on job sites, containing all of the pertinent project data needed to build a job and make sure everything runs smoothly.

The job binder can be taken into the field through Mobile Connect using an iPad.

The information is not only easily accessible, but is current, Gillum points out.

“The key to a successful project is collaboration,” he says. “You’ve got so many players you’re dealing with: owners, clients, subcontractors, and material vendors. Keeping everybody up to date with the right information is one of the most important things to accomplish to have a successful project.”

The learning curve on the software depends on the number of users and what technologies they’ve used in the past, says Gillum.

“The takeoff and estimating piece is pretty simple,” he says. “Everything is driven by a database or what we call a catalog. The catalog is historical data: labor, equipment, subcontract costs, and average costs you’ve created from past jobs or you’re updating from vendors. The most tedious part of getting somebody up to speed is that catalog.”

Maxwell sells industry-specific catalogs, including an RSMeans catalog for contractors doing government work, such as road projects or work for municipalities or military bases.

“Right out of the box, you can be doing take-off, whether it’s digital take-off, doing it with mouse off of a monitor with PDF, bitmap, JPEG files or digitizers if you’re still getting blueprints, which some contractors still are,” says Gillum.

Gillum says one of the easiest ways to generate quantities is through CAD files. ProContractorMX has an Earthwork program, a mass excavation quantity program for cuts and fills into which CAD files can be imported directly from the engineer.

“That saves you a ton of time,” says Gillum. “There is no takeoff required whatsoever. You’re just manipulating that CAD data, entering it in special areas like parking lots and building pads and the program automatically generates cut and fill from the engineer’s CAD data.”

Maxwell Systems recommends that as the most accurate approach for contractors wanting to take the data to the field to a laser GPS or machine control.

Gillum acknowledges that job site technology can be daunting for some contractors, especially those who attend trade shows and see it all under one roof.

“Every vendor under the sun is there telling these contractors they need their hardware and their specific device to be successful in the field,” says Gillum. “It’s tough for these contractors, and when some of our customers have come by our booth to talk to us about what’s going with their business and what’s going on with technology, they look to Maxwell to provide answers. We work with these companies to recommend the best fit for Maxwell Systems ProContractorMX and for their business.”

Maxwell Systems has moved away from traditional software training to offer blended learning and to be consultants to customers, Gillum says.

“We’ve got expertise in project management and estimating and accounting, so we can consult with our customers: What are your business needs? What are you trying to accomplish by purchasing an automated estimating or accounting system? We’ll send in the right consultant to work with them to hone their estimating practices to build that catalog and create purchase orders directly from an estimate. We try to get the big picture from the owner, the estimator, the accountant, and the CFO to be able to provide them the kind of service they desire.”

Software updates can be executed with a DVD or CD for those who cannot get online; ProContractorMX operates on a flexible and scalable platform to quickly accommodate updates.

Customers also can connect with a consultant in a live chat through Maxwell System’s Customer Zone. The company also has a learning management system for real-time training.

“So if somebody wants to learn about one piece, they can do that,” says Gillum. “It’s intuitive where you have to answer questions throughout the training. There’s a quiz at the end to make sure you actually retained that information. That’s the best way to get a contractor up to speed on a specific issue.”

Maxwell Systems also offers regional trainings throughout the country where contractors can learn about the software in a classroom-style environment as part of a group.

Gillum sees Maxwell Systems’ ProContractorMX: Complete as fitting into the march that leads to the fully integrated digital job site.

“With ProContractorMX Connect and Mobile Connect, you don’t need to have a PC or laptop setup in a job trailer to have that connection back to your server in the office to get real-time data,” Gillum says. “The project information you need is on an iPad and it’s mobile, so as you’re out on the site up on a piece of equipment with one of your operators, or you’re in the job trailer, or you’re in the truck on your way to another project, you can synch up and have access to that real-time data as it’s entered into the system.

“If a vendor has supplied you or paid you, or you were waiting on a work in progress report on a different project and it gets entered into the system in the office, it’s automatically synched with that iPad and Mobile Connect so that real-time data is right there at your fingertips. You’re not digging through manila folders or papers that have copies spilling out.”

Down the road, Gillum sees Building Information Modeling (BIM) playing a greater role in the fully integrated digital job site.

“Rather than taking the model, printing it out on a blueprint or digital file and then the estimator or contractor having to re-enter that same exact data into the estimate, what’s happening is there’s more communication being started between some of the large general contractors and some of the engineers and architects,” he says.

“The more collaboration, the better—the better the data is going to be, the better the client’s going to be, and the better the project is going to be, because you’re not having to go back and forth five different times because the engineer redrew something or the owner wanted a change and the contractor never got notified. Then you’re talking about change-order requests and something had come up with more money involved and it wasn’t discussed.”

Not everyone is always kept in the loop on a construction project, Gillum points out.

“It’s almost impossible to do,” he says. “But with BIM and AutoCAD files and the ability for these contractors to work directly with the engineers and architects, we’re starting to see that turn a little bit.”
In the past, engineers did not like to release their data to contractors in part because of liability issues, Gillum says.

“In certain parts of the country, contractors cannot get a CAD file or a BIM file for whatever reason and they’re working through that,” he says. “We’re seeing in a lot of places around the country where contractors are either collaborating directly with certain architects and engineers or they’re bringing those functions in-house.”

That saves the client money, Gillum points out.

“More of that is happening with large general contractors, who can say, ‘We will design, develop, and build this for you all in one place.’ So their clients don’t have to deal with multiple people; it’s a one-stop shop.”
Gillum is starting to see more of that with large general contractors.

“They’re requiring their subcontractors who want to bid on a job to be able to work with BIM files or design files,” he says. “If they can’t, they’re not going to be able to win that work. I think it’s going to trickle down just like digital takeoff did five years ago when nobody knew what it was and now you can’t go to market without it.”