Custom Software for Home Builders
If your residential construction firm is struggling to find home builder software solutions for any of the issues below, it may be time to consider a custom application. DragonPoint designs custom construction software around how your team actually builds homes—not the other way around.
Common Home Builder Software Challenges
- When a master takeoff varies by neighborhood or city, you have to create a new master for each one or spend time manually updating the takeoff each time it’s built before you can estimate a project.
- You have to switch out the trades assigned to a project one at a time.
- It’s difficult to do “what if” cost analysis based on the trades assigned or location of the project.
- Your accounting department won’t change their software, and you don’t like the accounting software’s home building modules.
- Your sales team won’t switch to a client management system that’s part of the home building software packages you’ve considered.
- Releasing Purchase Orders to the trades is either a manual effort or doesn’t provide appropriate controls to prevent issuing POs in error (for example, when the trade’s prices have expired).
- Paying trades requires significant manual effort.
- Some of the new locations in which you’re building homes don’t have good cell coverage, so your team has to write down information while onsite and enter it into the web-based software solution once a signal is available.
- You’ve tried home building software packages, but they don’t match your process and/or have a lot of bells and whistles that get in the way because you don’t need them.
Custom Home Builder Software Solutions
With more than 20 years and 50,000 hours of experience designing and developing custom software for home builders, DragonPoint has written home builder solutions that address all of the issues above – and many more. Here are some examples of functionality included in DragonPoint home building software applications.
Trade Groups
. Creating trade groups allows you to quickly compare the cost to build a home across trade groups and to replace all trades for a project in one step.Integration with Existing Systems
. Using a custom software integration process, you can get the home building solution you need and other departments can keep their existing software solutions, too. Examples include:- Accounting: vendors (trades) and purchase orders created in the custom homebuilding application are shared with AX, where the vendors are paid.
- Sales systems: once a home is sold, the contract is transferred to the custom builder application, where the takeoff is automatically generated for the floor plan, options, and neighborhood.
- Warranty: completed homes are transferred to a warranty system for ongoing management.
Automated Purchase Orders
: creating stages of construction that are tracked by start and completion date allows automatic release of POs at appropriate intervals. If a trade’s part pricing is not current, the system notifies purchasing.Auto-Pay for Trades
: as the builder enters completion dates for stages of constructions, trades can be automatically paid for the PO’s associated with each stage.Progressive Web Application (PWA) for Field Teams
: perfect for updating the status of homes or completing punch down lists in areas without an internet connection, PWAs allow you to enter and save data to a browser-based app running on your mobile device and sync the data to the primary application when internet connectivity is available.
Proven With a $500M+ Home Builder
A national home builder came to DragonPoint after an off-the-shelf system increased administrative workload instead of reducing it. We redesigned the underlying processes first, then built software aligned to how the business actually operates.
Comprehensive Home Building Software Modules
DragonPoint has developed custom builder software modules for purchasing, neighborhoods, floor plans, elevations, options, vendors, parts, and everything else you need to effectively manage the cost and process of building homes.
In addition to creating complete home building solutions, DragonPoint has provided business intelligence and custom reporting modules that work with our custom applications or with off the shelf software packages.
Call us at 321-631-0657 to find out more about how we can use our home building experience to design a software solution that exactly fits your business.
Custom Home Builder Software FAQs
Is custom home builder software worth it compared to off-the-shelf packages?
For many builders, yes. Off-the-shelf packages often force your team to work their way and add features you don’t need. Custom software matches your real process—your takeoffs, trades, and stages of construction—removing manual effort instead of adding it. Our home builder case study shows a builder that avoided a 25% increase in administrative staff this way. For the specific warning signs that a builder has outgrown packaged tools, see our guide on when off-the-shelf home builder software isn’t enough.
Can custom construction software integrate with our accounting and sales systems?
Yes. We build custom integrations so your builder application shares data with the systems you already use: vendors and purchase orders flow to accounting (such as Microsoft Dynamics AX), sold contracts transfer from sales to generate takeoffs automatically, and completed homes move into warranty management. Other departments keep their existing software.
Will it work in the field where there’s no internet connection?
Yes. We deliver Progressive Web Applications (PWAs) for field teams. Crews update home status or complete punch lists offline on a mobile device, and the data syncs to the primary application once connectivity returns—ideal for new communities without reliable cell coverage.
Can the software handle purchase orders, trade payments, and reporting?
Yes. POs can release automatically as stages of construction begin, with controls that flag expired trade pricing before a PO goes out, and trades tied to each completed stage can be paid automatically. We also deliver custom reporting and business intelligence modules for management and accounting.
Get In Touch
Let’s start a conversation about how our custom software services can empower you and your business.