In 2005, Shawn Hanna of Oakville, Ontario decided that some changes needed to be made. After eight years in the remodeling and renovation business, his company had grown to starting 30 projects a year, well beyond his initial method of project management.

"Before I had ConstructionOffice, I only used a standard contract that was two pages long. It basically said, "we'll put tile on the floor and paint on the wall, but it didn't say whether we'd put screws in the floor and sub-floor or anything like that."

With a typical project in the $55,000 - $60,000 range, using only a single contract seemed to cause more problems than it solved. "I kept getting ripped off and got tired of it. There were so many arguments, fights, and litigation that cost me time and money."

With such costly disputes and legal battles, Shawn knew that he needed something to help with estimating and contracts, so he chose ConstructionOffice Remodeler for his project management needs.

"It only took me 10 minutes to get started with it, and what I have now is just so much more specific. It helped me organize my thoughts in terms of estimating and gave me documents that I could utilize to create contracts. The contracts and forms that I use now are detailed and include everything I am providing in terms of a service."

After implementing and using ConstructionOffice Remodeler as his company's new project management system, Shawn experienced some unexpected, but welcome changes. "I spend more time in the planning stage now than I used to, but it's that extra planning that ultimately saves me money and eliminates problems down the road."

Shawn now only spends about two to three hours using the software each week, but even that short amount of time enables him to produce all the materials he needs to take control of project management.

"First, I use estimating to go through the various stages of costing and then I turn that into a proposal that I launch directly from the estimate. I put together a proposal package by adding in some more documents like the estimate report."

"I use a combination of the Fixed Amount contract, Mold Disclosure, General Conditions, and Specifications to give to the customer, and then follow up with releases and final payment kind of stuff."

"ConstructionOffice has just been great. All I have to do is I go through and change the contracts to fit the Canadian environment, and then I'm ready to go. To prevent any disputes or litigation, all my contracts say that if it's not in the contract, there's no agreement. If it's not in there - it's not included, and there's no fighting after that. There just so much value in ConstructionOffice."

For Shawn, the importance of clear communication and pro-actively taking control over his company's project management was never more clear than after using ConstructionOffice for over a year.

"I love your software. It's great. I tell a lot of guys in the industry to try it. It eliminates any confusion for the customer and saves me thousands of dollars. It's amazing how much just clarifying the scope of the project and laying everything out can do. Last year alone, we did a million dollars in business, and ConstructionOffice saved me almost $30,000."

Quick Facts about Design 2 Build

Location: Oakville, Ontario - Canada
Website: www.design2build.ca
Industry: Remodeling and Renovation
Projects per year: 30
Years in the business: 9
Number of Employees: 7