On Top of the World Communities, www.ontopoftheworldcommunities.com, Ocala, Fla., has only two construction supervisors managing between 10 and 15 projects at any time. Many builders can relate to this scenario—doing a lot with little resources. But this active-adult development company has the technology resources that allow it to do more projects with less construction staff.

However, while there are just two construction supervisors, the total staff is near 400 people, due to the fact On Top of the World Communities also handles all of the maintenance for the communities it builds and relies heavily on an internal sales staff, rather than realtors.

The company has been using accounting and business management software for years, but has experienced a bit of difficultly when managing options in the sales process. The company offers 14 different models with as many as 4,000 options. To manage all this, On Top of the World Communities would write all the information down on paper and transfer the data to a spreadsheet. This process proved to be a bit too labor intensive for the builder.

The company selected sales software, which additionally allows it to manage options across hundreds of starts. After the sales process is completed, the client then enters the design center process and what the firm terms “color out”—how data flows through the various software systems in the option-selections process.

First, the options are managed and tracked in the sales software from Sales Simplicity, www.salessimplicity.com, Chandler, Ariz. The options can be logged into contract and closing documents, and from there, the information can be shared with process management software from BuilderMT, www.buildermt.com, Lakewood, Colo. Within this management software, a purchase order can be issued, and tied to a specific contract, lot, client, schedule, and subcontractor.

On Top of the World Communities works with approximately 20 trade contractors on its projects, which means having the ability to authorize work orders to subcontractors through technology makes the process a little bit easier. Additionally, both trades and the development firm are working with the same information, which improves project collaboration.

In addition to sharing information with trade partners through the technology, the customers can also see the option selections. When an option is chosen, the data is embedded in the client record for On Top of the World Communities, trade partners, and clients to view.

Finally, the same information can then be shared with the accounting software from Sage, www.sagecre.com, Beaverton, Ore.

These days, many residential firms have needed to minimize staff to save money in the down economy, and now the companies are finding they need to manage the same amount of projects with fewer internal assets. Technology can serve as the resource that will allow builders to do more work.

About Sales Simplicity
Sales Simplicity Software, Inc., based in Chandler, Arizona, is the creator and marketer of leading sales automation, CRM, marketing and eLead management tools for new single-family, semi-custom and custom homes; condo, multi-family and assisted living builders; developers and new-home realtors; and, apartment sales and rental agents.