PROBLEM
Home builders need reliable suppliers and fast acting contractors for their project, especially when building a home from the ground up. Also, companies need to be able to estimate costs and project timelines quickly to close contracts with buyers. National Lumber is a family of companies providing building materials and services for home building and wanted a way to make their estimation process more efficient.
According to a report from The Chili Piper, businesses are 21 times more likely to qualify leads with a fast response time than waiting 30+ minutes, and businesses who respond to leads in five minutes or less are 100x more likely to convert opportunities.
National Lumber’s previous project management system relied on digital spreadsheets that required manual updating and manual communication such as phone calls or emailing. The original program contained legacy, or no longer supported, code, which made it difficult to make isolated changes without system failures. When one bug was fixed, logic loops would often cause another problem to surface. AndPlus suggested a complete revamp of National Lumber’s software using ERP business management software.
SOLUTION
AndPlus fully overhauled National Lumber’s project software, implementing an Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to streamline estimation. The ERP system is a web-based software that provides real-time access to business processes and connects all involved parties throughout the sales process. It is designed to integrate varied organizational systems and facilitate error-free transactions and production, optimizing efficiency. By expediting information flow between all business functions and managing connections to outside stakeholders, businesses can increase conversion by reducing estimation times, as well as staying on schedule and within budget.
Functioning similarly to a project management pipeline, AndPlus’s ERP included role-specific dashboards for multiple back offices, and made the previously manually updated information instantly available across teams. Each designer, contractor, builder, and supplier has their own custom dashboards, while managers can view multiple dashboards and projects at once, as well as communicate to the client directly. This ERP’s extra level of automation sends estimates, product orders, invoices, and general communication with ease.
National Lumber’s sales team could now enter information about potential new projects, provide details to other teams, and more accurately assess project timelines. Information could be easily entered by selecting drop-down menus to select the project’s needs before submitting. Once a project was approved, project managers could upload plans, blueprints, and any other files to the dashboard to accompany the materials list. Manually, this process could take several days; a well-designed ERP system saves time in the most crucial window of negotiation.
OUTCOME
AndPlus’s ERP integration empowered National Lumber’s sales team with a software that minimizes turnaround time and increases closure by allowing all team members to access data automatically without having to send anything. With the confidence of error-free transactions and a system that took several days out of the estimation cycle, National Lumber were able to dramatically increase the number of projects handled at once, and therefore powerfully influence yearly revenue. AndPlus have plans to add business insights into National Lumber’s pipeline to further study lead closure and revenue statistics.
ABOUT THE COMPANY
National Lumber is a New England-based family of companies specializing in prefab and custom home builds. National Lumber’s group of companies have everything needed to complete full home builds, including insulators, prefab building components, kitchen and bath designers, home finishes, and more.
Technology used
