Project Management Software for Home Builders & Condo Developers

Introduction

H.O.M.E.S. is a Windows® based computer software system designed for home builders and condominium developers, to automate and organize the sale and construction of dwellings.  It helps builders construct homes faster with more control, fewer errors, higher profits and greater customer satisfaction.

The system is primarily geared toward builders who develop projects consisting of subdivisions or condominiums. Projects can consist of houses, townhouses, condominiums or combinations of dwellings.

The basic principle of the system is to raise efficiency by organizing and centralizing project information while adding better control, helping to eliminate errors and omissions, and greatly reducing the work-load in the administration of construction. In addition, the system also helps to convey an air of professionalism by effortlessly creating impressive purchasers' documents to aid in the sales process.

All information relevant to each lot or unit being purchased is maintained in a database and kept up-to-date between head office, sales offices and optionally construction offices, thereby minimizing the possibility for losses caused by missed details. H.O.M.E.S. can link your offices with or without full-time Internet access! The system has separate modules for use at the head office, sales office, and construction office so your staff access only what each individual requires. With the H.O.M.E.S. On-line Edition, the system may be operated at sales and construction site offices from any geographic location in real-time via the Internet to access and update data stored at the head office. This ensures that all of your departments are kept up-to-date regarding all of the details for every lot/unit, for every project!

With H.O.M.E.S. you can host your own data at your head office, so you don't have to expose your data to others and you are not completely dependant on Internet access or the reliability of several 3rd parties as is the case with other web-based ASP applications that host your data for you. With H.O.M.E.S. if you lose Internet access, your company does not grind to a halt, and with the on-line edition you don't have to install software anywhere except at your head office.

In addition to assisting with sales and internal administration of construction, there is an optional Purchase Order module to automate notification of contractors and vendors, as well as a comprehensive Customer Service Management module to organize after-sales service and warranty issues, and a Contact Management system to assist sales agents with tracking prospective customers etc.

H.O.M.E.S. manages a builder's projects from the sales process all the way through warranty service administration with a fully integrated system...no more double entry!

(Click on image to enlarge)

Key Benefits

• Build homes faster with more control, fewer errors, higher profits and greater customer satisfaction!

• Keeps the sales office, head office and construction office for each project up-to-date on the status and details of each lot or unit at all times, with or without full time Internet access.

• Helps to ensure no detail concerning any lot or unit is overlooked or misplaced.

• Can be used just to organize and automate your head office, sales office(s), or as a full administration system for your entire organization!

• Maximizes control over the sales process, as well as the administration of construction with user definable statuses for offers, amendments and extras, enforced revision deadlines etc.etc. 

• Support for condominium builders, as well as freehold home builders.

• Links remote offices with head office with or without Internet! Work in real-time via the Internet, or synchronize data on demand by phone (even via cellular) if full-time Internet access is not available.

• Allows you to host your own data at your head office so it isn't exposed to 3rd parties and your operation does not grind to a halt if Internet access is lost!

• Maintains customer profile, dwelling specifics including financial information, and upgrade/extras/colours details for conditional and firm offers, (or any other status you define.)

• Fast and easy project setup even for custom builders offering many options and colour choices!

• Prints your customized legal documents ready for signing:

  • Agreement of Purchase & Sale

  • Amendment to Purchase Agreement

  • Request for Extras

  • Colour Chart

  • Closing Date Delay Letter

  • Mutual Release

  • Offer Information Sheet   Click here to view sample documents.

• Fully integrated with MS-Word® (templates for all documents can be easily customized.)

• Tarion Compatible: HOMES is compatible with the new requirements for Ontario Canada based builders as dictated by Tarion. HOMES automatically prints the new Tarion warranty addendums with the purchase agreement without any need for double entry or connection to Tarion's website. The complete addendums are generated fully populated and ready for signing including the statement of critical dates which are also calculated automatically and may be viewed easily and instantly on-screen at the click of a button. (HOMES still simultaneously and transparently manages lots/units for which the new Tarion regulations do not apply.) Only applicable lots/units for projects based in Ontario and sold after July 1 2008 will have the additional features displayed.

• Preserves original Purchase & Sale Agreement information after a lot is sold while still accepting Amendments, Extras, and revised Closing Dates.  (Only head office may change a firm offer’s original information, unless done by amendment or the addition of an Extra.)

• Maintains distinct lists for each project for:

  • Lots/Units

  • Models

  • Sales Agents

  • Upgrade/Extra Options

  • Colour Selections

  • Trades

  • Contractors & Suppliers

  (Lists may be copied selectively to new projects.)

• Manages model component budgets and reports expected profits by lot/unit before it's too late!

• Automatically calculates prices and costs for options sold by room size, such as carpet, hardwood, tile etc, and reports take-off quantities by colour choice for one lot/unit, or the whole project instantly!

• Adds more control to Colour Chart management by providing drop-down selection lists for each choice a purchaser must make for colours, designs or styles to ensure less errors and better organization. (Colour Charts can be automatically tailored according to the model and options purchased for the lot/unit, or you can use generic templates that meet the needs of all lots/units...your choice!)

• Manages attached floor plans, photographs, supplemental documents or any additional files that can be viewed in a browser including Adobe Acrobat® PDF files, MS-Word® documents, JPGs etc.

• Tracks conditions for conditional offers and prints applicable documents to accompany the purchase agreement.

• Maintains a full history of closing date revisions by lot/unit, including method of revision (amendment or delay letter) and reason for revision. Also tracks available delay days for revised closings and helps to ensure closing date delay notifications are never missed. When applicable, customized closing date delay letters may be generated automatically! Even automatically calculates closing dates based on a number of days, and helps to avoid weekends and holidays.

• Tracks work status and prints completion certificates on site with optional purchase order and site office systems.

• Tracks customer deposits/payments by lot/unit, date received, date deposited etc and reports when any are late or missing.

• Cross-references all upgrades/extras and colour choices for each lot/unit with the trades required to complete each job, and provides take-off reporting for unit quantities of upgrades/extras/colour choices etc instantly with no extra effort.

• Classifies options by model so only the options applicable to the selected model may be sold.

• Support for specifying which models may or may not be sold on each lot/unit. (Ensures inappropriate models can’t be sold on a lot/unit.)

• Performs batch price/cost changes for groups of models, lots/units, options etc according to user specifications in one easy step.

• Performs batch trade/contractor assignments. Assign, Un-assign or Replace contractors to multiple models' components and/or Options in one easy step.

• User-definable offer, amendment and extras statuses to determine what the current state of each offer/amendment/extra is, and who has editing authorization. This provides a flexible method for controlling the approval process, as well as editing security on firm deals.

• Powerful reporting with programmable specifications. Reports include:

  • Closing Dates (Includes revision history, maximum potential delays & delay notification deadlines)

  • Colour Selections by Model

  • Colours Analysis - powerful reporting of purchasers' choices including take-off unit quantities.

  • Deposits and Settlements Report

  • Commission Report

  • Conditional Offers

  • Construction Report by Lot/Unit - displays all construction related specifications for each lot/unit. (May be filtered by Trade etc.)

  • Gross Margins by Lot/Unit

  • Extras' Gross Margins

  • Extras Sales by Lot/Unit

  • Expected Gross Margins on Models

  • Expected Gross Margins on Options

  • Late Payments

  • Lot/Unit Status

  • Models Available by Lot/Unit

  • Model Budgets

  • Sold-to-Date

  • System Security Log

  • Trades Cost Analysis by Lot/Unit

  • Trades/Contractors Assigned to Model Components

  • Trades/Contractors Assigned to Options

  • Upgrades/Extras by Lot/Unit (with optional costs by trade)

  • Upgrades/Extras by Trade (with optional costs by trade)

  • Upgrades and Extras List by Lot/Unit

  • User Permissions Report/Checklist

  • etc, etc, etc. Click here to view some sample reports.

• Support for mail merges to send personalized letters and emails to multiple purchasers automatically using MS-Word® document templates. (Can also be used to address envelopes, labels etc. Specifications include address, date sold, closing date etc etc. You can even specify that you want to send only to customers that have purchased a specific model, option or colour choice!)

• Tracks parking lot and storage locker inventories and occupancy dates for condo developers.

• Outstanding Security! Individual user accounts and user groups may be defined with permissions/denials specified by project, program module, and even by all appropriate individual program features. The Security Log can optionally record events by user, project and date/time to enhance security and accountability.

• Data files are compatible with MS-Access® for flexibility in customization, but without the heavy resource demands.

• Loads and displays multiple offers or lots, reports etc simultaneously.

• Manages an unlimited quantity of projects.

• Powerful enough to handle even large and complicated projects.

• Multi-user/network ready.

• Easy to use intuitive interface even for novice computer users.

• Built in pop-up context sensitive Help Manual for new users.

• Quickly pays for itself by reducing costs, raising efficiency, and eliminating errors.

• Priced affordably even for small builders!

Options

H.O.M.E.S. Purchase Order System

The Purchase Order module is designed to automate and organize requisition and purchasing from contractors. The system is fully integrated with the main H.O.M.E.S. system, and is useful for generating and tracking purchase orders, recording invoice payments, and ensuring no duplicate payments or over-payments are made. Purchase Orders may be generated automatically for standard model components, as well as upgrades & extras!

H.O.M.E.S. Customer Service System

This fully integrated module is strictly for use by your Customer Service department. It is a powerful tool for tracking after-sales service issues. It generates Work Orders, tracks their status and maintains a complete log of all service transactions by project.

H.O.M.E.S. Lot Information Viewer (for Site Office)

This is an abbreviated version of the main H.O.M.E.S. system for use at construction site offices. It displays/reports information pertinent to construction and records work completions to keep the head office up-to-date.

H.O.M.E.S. Contact Management System

This is a contact management/customer relationship tracking sales tool specifically designed for homebuilders and condominium developers. It is an optional component of the ‘H.O.M.E.S.’ homebuilders’ software system, designed to reduce the workload and maximize the efficiency of sales agents thereby helping to increase new home sales.

System Requirements

On-Line Edition:

(For real-time access via the Internet)

• Head Office Server: (only necessary for multiple simultaneous remote users)

  • Microsoft NT4 Server (SP4) or higher with Terminal Services enabled and sufficient client access licenses for remote offices.

  • 50Mb hard disk space (varies depending upon installation)

  • MS-Word® 2007, 2003, XP or 2000 installed on terminal server

  • High-speed Internet Connection with static IP or other constant Internet address

• Local Head Office Clients:

  • Microsoft Windows® Vista professional, XP professional, 2000 professional, NT 4.0 or 98

  • MS-Word® 2007, 2003, XP or 2000

  • Pentium II class processor (or better)

  • 64Mb RAM (or more)

  • 30Mb hard disk space (varies depending upon installation)

  • Colour monitor with minimum 800x600 resolution (1024x768 or higher preferred)

  • CD-ROM, keyboard, mouse and printer

  • MS-Access® 2007, XP or 2000 (only required on 1 station at head office)

• Remote Access Clients:

  • Microsoft Windows® Vista, XP, 2000, NT 4.0, 98 or any terminal services compatible client

  • Internet access

  • Colour monitor with minimum 800x600 resolution (1024x768 or higher preferred)

  • CD-ROM, keyboard, mouse and terminal services compliant printer

Standard (Off-Line) Edition:

(Uses data exchange/synchronization to link offices when Internet access is not available)

• Microsoft Windows® Vista, XP, 2000, NT 4.0, or 98

• MS-Word® 2007, 2003, XP or 2000 (all stations)

• Pentium II class processor (or better)

• 64Mb RAM (or more)

• 30Mb hard disk space (varies depending upon installation)

• Colour monitor with minimum 800x600 resolution (1024x768 or higher preferred)

• 28.8mbps or faster modem or CSD capable cellular phone (1 per office)

• CD-ROM, keyboard, mouse and printer

• MS-Access® 2007, XP or 2000 (1 station per office)

• Symantec pcANYWHERE32® v10.5 with Windows XP or earlier (1 station per office)

Conclusion

The H.O.M.E.S. system has been years in development and has been exhaustively tested in order to provide the user with a completely reliable and dependable system. Every effort has been made to ensure the system is powerful, reliable, convenient and easy to learn and use. If you are a home builder or condo developer and you wish to maximize efficiency, sales, and profits, this is the system for you!

More questions? Refer to the Frequently Asked Questions page for answers to questions commonly asked of our sales and technical support departments.

Have we left anything out? You bet! To receive more information or an evaluation copy of H.O.M.E.S. call Falcon Software at (705) 652-1999, or e-mail to: Sales/General Information

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