Whilst he was a developer, he found he had little time to spend on site because much of his work was spent on planning, financing and drawing up documents. He struggled to find any comprehensive building software that effectively helped him with his projects, so he decided to create some, himself.
Since then, he’s released software programmes that help at every stage of development. Our Premium Project Toolkit is an all-inclusive package that gives you support from planning and estimating all the way through to selling and getting paid. It comprises five HBXL programmes that can be used alone or together as a package so you only have to enter the details once. Integration allows you to export the information on one software programme to all the others; saving you hours in the office and reducing the possibility of human error.
Here’s a run through of the five products and how they help at every stage of building development. You can also take our quickfire tour online here.
PlansXpress
Planning the structure and design of your buildings is complicated but outsourcing work to architects for drawn up plans can be expensive.
PlansXpress enables you to create these plans yourself – it includes a wealth of construction drawing tools that result in professional drawings that can be used for Building Regulation and planning applications.
PlansXpress Plug-ins
Increasingly, 3D images are required to gain planning permission so council can easily see the property in situ.
- PhotoVisualiser allows you to create a 3D rendering of your plan, to help with your planning application
- Site plans can be generated by tracing over boundary lines from Google Map aerial views – negating the need for expensive plans from Ordnance Survey
- The finished 3D rendering can also be merged into an existing picture, so you can see an accurate representation of what your finished produce will look like
- SketchXpress gives that attractive hand-drawn feel, helping you to secure investors
- The PlansXpress Scanpack lets you scan existing plans into the software and trace over them for future alterations or extension work.
Adrian says:
“The cost of going back and forth to architects to get designs amended with changes is expensive (although we don’t underestimate the advice they can offer). PlansXpress gives you control and flexibility – and saves you money on outsourcing.”
EstimatorXpress
Material costs are rising because of demand. Lending remains tight and if you’re one of the thousands of developers building under 15 units, you’ll also miss out on the Government’s £525m Builder’s Finance Fund. If this is the case, banks or private investors will still be your main source of funding so it’s important to show them that you’ve planned every aspect of your project.
EstimatorXpress not only produces estimates that are spot on in their accuracy, but it can generate also over 60 valuable documents to make sure you manage the project effectively.
The software makes sure your costing is spot on. It accesses thousands of live material prices so your estimates are accurate. It also factors in wear and tear of equipment and reminds you about those easily forgotten hidden expenses such as site surveys, stamp duty, site accommodation, security and inflation for longer projects.
The software generates cost summaries, breakdowns, profit forecasts and other various diagrams, straight from the estimate. As banks will want to see your costs planned out throughout the duration of whole project and know how and when the lending will be paid back, all of these documents stand you in good stead when detailing your case to investors, for funding.
Build programs help you to manage your jobs and make sure you don’t lose money on late deliveries, overstaffing or unused rental equipment. Ordering materials all at once from a comprehensive plan means you could get discounts for bulk buying and reduce your costs.
When everything is built and it comes to selling, knowing your costs puts you in a good position to negotiate and you’ll never make a loss.
Adrian says accuracy is key
“Cost per square metre rates can be misleading nowadays since every site is different, as are the architectural details. If you assume you can use cheaper materials or forget costly items, you could be delayed, or worse- jeopardise the whole project.”
ProjectXpert
ProjectXpert is software that gets you organised. It allows you to manage multiple projects, tasks and sub-tasks and merge important events into Microsoft Outlook or Google calendars to make sure no time is wasted.
You can also create documents for business analysis and Gantt charts to monitor your progress against a baseline.
Adrian says:
“It’s important to have the materials, plant and labourers in the right place at the right time, which is why ProjectXpert has proved such a valuable tool. Time really is money. The longer you take, the more it usually costs – especially if a lender is involved.”
Health & Safety Xpert
Of course, health and safety is integral when managing a building site. When you’ve got so much to manage, it can be difficult to be sure you’ve covered every risk effectively.
Health & Safety Xpert saves you hours that would ordinarily be spent wading through health and safety paperwork and makes sure you haven’t missed anything out.
Written and reviewed with leading experts in health and safety, it keeps you up-to-date with the latest regulations and allows you to amend current or previous risk assessments for similar jobs.
Adrian says:
“I don’t mind saying how stressful I found the ever-increasing health and safety red tape wrapping up my projects. Of all the products we’ve produced, I have to say Health & Safety Xpert is a particular god-send. You still have to be responsible for addressing the H&S requirements – but the software tells you what you need to do to comply, which is half the battle.”
ContractsXpert
ContractsXpert creates industry standard contracts that have been written by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB). They are all Crystal Mark approved and written in plain English so your subcontractors will know exactly where they stand and what is expected of them.
Adrian says:
“Getting a proper contract in place protects you and ensures that everyone gets paid.”
Remember that all of these products work seamlessly together so you can save even more time by
INTRODUCING OUR ULTIMATE PROJECT TOOLKIT - also available in our shop here - and it's on offer until 31.1.15 !
