Features, Benefits, and Top Software Options

Editor’s note: Andrew discusses the features and benefits of CRM software for construction businesses and reviews popular CRMs for contractors. If you are looking for a custom CRM or need expert advice to choose the best OOTB option for you, reach out to ScienceSoft for comprehensive CRM consulting services.

A construction CRM is an industry-specific customer relationship management solution that provides a comprehensive overview of clients, sales, bids, contracts, and resources in one place. CRM software allows contractors to track and optimize sales activities, manage their relationships with prospective and current customers, partners, and subcontractors, gain insights based on CRM data analytics, and produce detailed reports.

What features to look for in a construction CRM?

• Contact management. All necessary lead, customer, partner, and subcontractor contact details and interaction history can be kept in one system to easily identify a person within a specific project.
• Bid management. A construction CRM allows to capture and track bids, prioritize and score bid opportunities based on numerous variables like customer history, workers or subcontractors available for the job, etc., and stay updated on the bid status.
• Quoting. Proposals can be drafted using customizable templates that can be quickly auto-filled and adjusted with relevant data to save time and eliminate human errors.
• Project management. With CRM software, contractors can efficiently plan and implement projects, allocate resources and assign jobs, define project timelines, track billing and spending, schedule follow-up tasks, and more.
• Automation. Construction CRM automates repetitive tasks such as data entry and updates, appointment scheduling, emailing reminders and bid notices to project teams, sending follow-up emails to clients, etc.
• Analytics and reporting tools provide in-depth insights into bid and sales teams’ performance to help reveal hidden sales opportunities and identify areas for improvement.
• Integrations with other business-critical software and third-party services (e.g., ERPs, accounting systems, business intelligence) ensure seamless data exchange, improve cooperation between teams, and increase operational efficiency.

What do you gain with a construction CRM?

• Visibility. CRM data centralization helps easily visualize the sales pipeline, monitor the sales agents’ KPIs, track project progress, and enables prompt and efficient response to business opportunities.
• Improved customer relationships. A CRM keeps records of every interaction (calls, emails, previous deals, etc.) for each particular customer to help you better understand your client base, personalize customer service, and enhance customer experience.
• Workflow optimization. With data management and automation capabilities of a robust CRM solution, you can focus on your sales and profits instead of routine workflows and involve fewer people in basic day-to-day tasks.
• Effective lead generation. From gathering cold leads to deal closing, a CRM for contractors provides means to monitor the lead generation process and understand customer expectations, adjust your sales and marketing strategy and improve the bottom line.
• Accurate forecasting. Having all your leads, bids, contracts, sales, and business opportunities presented in detailed analytical reports, you get full visibility into your operations. By using your CRM data for BI or ML-powered analytics, you can turn these highlights into accurate demand forecasts, revenue predictions, and precise project budgets.

Top 3 CRM Solutions for Contractors

Microsoft Dynamics 365

Best for: midsize and large construction businesses that need multifaceted enterprise management software.

Key features

• Project management with scheduling tools to plan construction projects, estimate project costs, predict resource requirements for approved projects, and monitor project progress.
• Contact management to arrange, store, and share info about clients and leads, contract details, etc. in an organized and easy-to-access way.
• Job planning to assign tasks with the description of expected costs, resources, and job budgets; to monitor job completion, available resources, workload, invoicing, and more.
• Asset management to efficiently track, keep records of, and maintain construction equipment, machinery, and assets across numerous projects and sites.
• Project accounting to identify and manage project earnings and expenditures, view all transactions throughout a project lifecycle, create project cost breakdowns by tasks, project stages, etc.; to track financial commitments, generate project profitability reports, etc.
• Subcontract management to create subcontracts, assign resources, time, and expenses, monitor subcontracted operations, and bill subcontractors.
• Quoting and pricing capabilities to automate the quoting process, promptly respond to customer bids, and create personalized pricing offers.

More about Microsoft Dynamics 365

Buildertrend

Best for: home builders and remodelers, specialty and commercial contractors.

Key features

• Sales process management (incl. email marketing, lead management, and proposal customization tools) to attract new clients, build effective customer communication, and close more deals.
• Project management with to-do lists, daily logs, time tracking, and change orders to effectively manage deadlines, personnel workload, and project resources.
• Financial tools cover billing, purchase order processing, budget management, invoicing, and online payments.
• Electronic warranty allows customers to log in and submit warranty claims; the contractors can handle claims and monitor warranty issues.
• Centralized communication with partners and clients via a single portal to share updates and manage issues.

More about Buildertrand

Pipedrive

Best for: small and midsize construction businesses that need an affordable customer relationship management solution.

Key features

• Sales pipeline management includes drag-and-drop visualization, customization to specific sales cycles, automated sales call scheduling and email marketing, communication tracking, sales performance analytics, etc.
• Contact management with a visual history of all activities, an email inbox, telephony integrations to make calls directly from the CRM, and Smart Docs to fill out and electronically sign sales documents.
• Customizable dashboard reports to monitor leads-to-deals conversion, sales metrics, team performance, and more.
• Sales forecasting with ongoing vs. closed deal comparisons to estimate expected revenue and make necessary adjustments to the sales and marketing strategy.

More about Pipedrive

Build lasting relationships with your clients

A specialized CRM is a to-go solution for construction companies that want to improve efficiency of their workflows, improve sales, and strengthen customer relationships. ScienceSoft’s CRM implementation team is ready to customize, integrate, or fully develop a tailored CRM solution that will fit your specific business processes. Just drop us a line, and we will get back to you with a detailed offer.