A Milwaukee, Wis.-based luxury homebuilder, Ruvin Bros. Artisans & Trades wanted to be able to give its customers detailed breakdowns of costs and deliver them fast.
Sage Timberline Office's ability to break out costs and materials at the room level is what sold Ruvin Bros. on Sage Timberline Office, says President Anthony Enea.
"Our clients wanted a better understanding of the costs, so we worked at improving our systems and efficiencies in order to give our clients more detailed information, more often. Putting Sage Timberline Office in place was the last piece of the puzzle," Enea says. "Plus, it was something we could do very quickly."
Accounting to enhance communication
Sage Timberline Office accounting software makes it easy for the custom builder to communicate to clients the cost of any aspect of building a house, Enea says.
"I can tell you on any job what the cost of any item is from a specific piece of hardware to something as large as the overall project cost, all at the push of a button," Enea says. "We give our clients reports with that level of detail every two weeks, and we're getting very positive feedback."
Sage Timberline Office also eliminated inefficient accounting practices at Ruvin Bros., Enea says. As an example, before using Sage Timberline Office, Ruvin Bros. manually inputted data into several different applications, then transferred that data into accounting software.
Added efficiencies reduces human error
"It took more time and had a greater potential for errors," Enea says. "Sage Timberline Office has enabled us to eliminate duplicate entries, which saves time and eliminates potential errors. The result is the ability to bill our clients bi-weekly instead of monthly. And what previously took two full-time people a full day now takes one person 45 minutes."
Enea says he most appreciates having so much information immediately available, something that's useful with subcontractors as well as clients.
"As an example, if a sub contractor calls questioning the status of an invoice, our accounts payable department can verify if the check has been sent, if so what date and if it has cleared the bank and if so when," Enea says.
And when a client calls with a question or concern about their project, any staff member can access Sage Timberline Office and provide real-time information to the client.
Enea says he has just one regret when it comes to Sage Timberline Office: "I wish we would have implemented Sage Timberline Office sooner."
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