Best Foundation Accounting Software
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PRODUCTS
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BUYER'S GUIDE
Buyer's Guide
By Riya Jamble, Technical Content Writer at SelectHub
As a foundation or concrete contractor or company owner, your responsibilities entail much more than just installing the foundation. You have to determine the correct resources, estimate job costs and compensate workers fairly. Foundation accounting software can help you perform these tasks quickly.
If you’ve outgrown your current construction accounting solution, or you’re scouting for a better way to manage your financial workflows, you’re at the right place!
In this buyer’s guide, we’ll cover the benefits and features of foundation accounting software to help you select the right solution.
Executive Summary
- Foundation accounting software helps concrete and foundation contractors, subs, and business owners automate their financial workflows and complete projects within budget.
- Key foundation accounting software features include payroll management, job costing, reporting and billing.
- Prepare a list of questions to ask vendors before making a buying decision.
What Is Foundation Accounting Software?
Foundation accounting software is a digital solution that helps concrete contractors, subs, project managers and estimators track job costs, generate accurate quotes, manage field operations and process payrolls.
They integrate with third-party accounting systems like QuickBooks for Construction, Procore and Buildertrend to assist you in maintaining data consistency.
They also integrate with platforms other than accounting, like:
- Construction bidding tools
- Construction scheduling products
- Construction ERP applications
- Construction estimating software
Reporting modules and dashboards enable you to evaluate your company’s financial and operational performance.
Now that you have an idea about what foundation accounting systems are, let’s see how these solutions can benefit your organization.
Primary Benefits
Foundation accounting solutions help you increase productivity, calculate precise project costs, remain compliant and gain real-time data visibility. We’ve elaborated on these benefits below.
Streamline Workflows
Relying on manual processes can cause errors and project delays. Automating your workflows can help you minimize data-entry mistakes and reduce labor costs. There are other benefits of business process automation. You can potentially:
- Increase accountability
- Ensure data security
- Save costs
- Boost efficiency
Foundation accounting solutions enable you to automate repetitive tasks, saving time and helping your employees focus on high-impact activities. They notify you when your projects are likely to go off budget, aiding you in preventing cost overruns.
They enable you to store unlimited files in a central hub, eliminating the need to scour through piles of physical documents to find the required information.
Determine Accurate Job Costs
Calculating project expenses using traditional methods is error-prone. Digital solutions provide job costing functionalities to help you determine the correct material, labor, equipment and overhead expenses.
You can access a historical database to analyze past data to predict future job costs. You can integrate with estimating applications to generate precise quotes.
Stay Compliant
Filing taxes incorrectly or committing tax fraud can have severe consequences. That’s why it’s important to pay attention when filing returns because even a small mistake could jeopardize your business.
In October 2022, a federal court charged a New Jersey construction company operator with tax evasion, false tax filing and bankruptcy fraud. The owner will face a maximum sentence of 3–5 years in prison and monetary and restitution penalties if convicted.
Some foundation accounting systems enable you to compute taxes correctly, helping you comply with federal tax guidelines. They enable your certified accountants to access financial records to help you keep your books balanced.
These solutions provide payroll processing functionalities to aid you in maintaining compliance with:
- The Davis-Bacon and Related Acts
- The Fair Labor Standards Act
- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Laws
Some applications help you issue and send W-2 forms to employees and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Make Informed Decisions
Online construction applications enable you to generate job cost, aging, general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, cash flow statement, and work-in-progress reports.
You can access an accounting dashboard to monitor your company’s financial activities. Such reports provide deeper insight into your financial standing in a concise, actionable format to help you make valuable business decisions.
Key Features & Functionality
Job Costing Tools | With job costing tools in foundation accounting solutions, you can compare actual expenses against estimated project costs to prevent budget overshoots. You can drill down into a job cost item to view its type and CSI division code. Project managers and your accounting team can leverage forecasting modules to uncover unanticipated expenses and request internal budget transfers. |
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Payroll Capabilities | Payroll modules provide you the tools to process employee compensation while automatically updating your ledgers with that data. Import timesheet data from your existing time and attendance apps to provide fair compensation to workers. Calculate fringe reductions based on hourly, regular or overtime rates. Automatically send payday emails to workers to help them access their payment details. |
CPA Tools | Some apps allow certified accountants to log G/L journal entries, while others enable them to maintain general ledgers. Certified accountants can create new G/L journals using CPA modules. They can produce and export financial reports in PDF, XLS or CSV formats with just a few clicks. |
Mobile Apps | Mobile app functionalities help you manage projects from remote locations using internet-enabled devices. They allow you to access daily logs, generate cost and quantity estimates, request and approve purchase orders, view dispatch details, and produce pay stubs within minutes. |
Accounts Payable | Accounts payable tools enable you to modify, approve and reject invoices in real time. They assist you in correcting data-entry errors with just a single click. Audit trail functionality allows you to store checks and statements to help you analyze payment trends. |
Accounts Receivable | Accounts receivable modules aid you in producing bills in AIA format. Auto-create recurring invoices to save time. They enable clients to make online payments via debit/credit cards or digital wallets. |
Reporting | These solutions enable you to access pre-built, customizable templates to help you save time and achieve consistency across all projects. You can create and save templates according to your reporting needs. You can drag and drop job cost data to reports. Furthermore, you can add drill-down links to sections to view detailed information. |
Billing | You can produce unit price, time and material, and cost-plus bills using foundation accounting systems. |
Software Comparison Strategy
Because there are several accounting solutions on the market providing similar capabilities, it becomes difficult to select the one that’s best for your company.
Start by listing your company requirements. Do you need a scalable system? How many user licenses will you need? Do you need the platform to integrate with your current apps?
If you already use a solution, you should determine where it falls short and how a new application will address those shortcomings.
There are a lot of accounting systems on the market. And you might choose a general bookkeeping tool instead of an accounting app that supports foundation/concrete businesses.
You should always ask vendors whether or not their solutions serve your specialty.
You should ask providers if they offer demos or trials. This helps you check how easy it is to navigate their platforms to avoid a long learning curve.
We can’t stress enough how important it is to research your shortlisted vendors thoroughly. You can refer to industry guides and check online reviews.
You can also contact construction professionals currently using the system to gather honest feedback.
Still confused about where to begin? Check out our Lean Selection process to choose your perfect software match.
Cost & Pricing Considerations
Revelio costs! Ah, spells don’t work in reality. Good news! We can help you uncover hidden software prices without magic.
To help you invest in a cost-effective solution, we’ve outlined a few pricing considerations below.
Deployment
Deployment is one of the most significant factors that can impact your budget. Generally, cloud products cost less compared to on-premise solutions. However, they can be expensive in the long run.
Most vendors providing cloud applications employ subscription-based (annual/monthly) or per-user pricing models.
Some providers also offer per-active user pricing where they charge you based on the number of active users — you can enroll as many users as you want, but vendors will only bill you for the ones actively using their solutions.
On the other hand, vendors providing on-premise solutions offer you a one-time payment facility. This lets you access the software indefinitely.
If you’re thinking of choosing an on-premise product, you might have to invest in external storage systems and other hardware and hire an IT team to maintain the platform, making it a costlier option.
But if you can handle the initial expenses, you might be able to save money, ultimately.
Customizations
Some vendors enable you to request extra features. But be careful, as these add-ons can come at an additional cost.
Training
Most providers offer on-site, online and hybrid training. Some let you access product guides and video tutorials. Others offer supplementary courses to help you implement their solutions in the best way possible.
You should ask vendors the cost associated with acquiring such training resources.
Support
Several vendors offer phone, email and live chat support. Some enable you to submit tickets via a support portal. Others provide a dedicated account manager to resolve your issues. But you might have to pay extra to access some of these support options.
The Most Popular Foundation Accounting Software
Now that you have an idea of what foundation accounting systems can offer, how do you select the right one? Check out some of the most popular estimating products curated by our analysts below.
Note: The solutions below may or may not fully cater to the accounting needs of concrete/foundation businesses. However, they do provide basic construction estimating and job costing capabilities.
HeavyBid
HeavyBid, developed by HCCS, provides estimating and bidding functionalities that help contractors, subs, workers, estimators and project managers build accurate estimates, generate professional proposals and monitor project progress.
It integrates with Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project to assist you in planning and managing jobs in real time. It also integrates with accounting tools and payroll processing applications to help you save time and reduce double-entry mistakes.
View estimate details with HeavyBid. Source
B2W Software
B2W Software provides unified construction management tools, estimating, bidding, scheduling and equipment management capabilities for heavy civil and specialty construction contractors.
It seamlessly integrates with enterprise accounting systems to help you remain compliant with local, federal and state tax regulations.
Reporting modules enable you to generate job costing reports to gain insights about your company’s expenses.
Produce costing reports with B2W Software. Source
The EDGE
The EDGE, by the Estimating Edge, provides takeoff tools and estimating modules to help specialty trades produce change orders, generate precise quotes, perform quick takeoffs and determine workforce requirements.
It enables you to conduct what-if analyses to compare different bid scenarios to aid you in submitting winning proposals to clients.
Conduct what-if analyses with The EDGE. Source
Questions To Ask
Before approaching vendors, it’s important to determine your company’s requirements. Use these guiding questions to better understand your needs:
- What problems will the solution help me solve?
- What’s our budget?
- What features do we require?
- Do we have the technical resources to implement the new system?
- Should we invest in an on-premise product or a cloud-based tool?
Once you’ve identified your needs, you can use these questions to learn more about the software and vendors:
- How many years of experience do you have in my industry?
- What’re the available support options?
- Does the solution provide integrative capabilities?
- Is the system user-friendly?
- How do you handle updates?
Next Steps
If you want to simplify job cost processes, boost revenue, remain compliant and make data-driven decisions, foundation accounting software is your best bet.
Ready to get started? Check out our comparison report to gain insight into top software leaders.
Need more help? Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us via email or phone mentioned on our website. May the best software win!
Product Comparisons
Additional Resources
Products found for Foundation Accounting Software
Procore
Designed for projects of all sizes, Procore aims to streamline communication, track finances and resources and handle projects from planning to delivery. Real-time data accessibility gives users actionable insights from a centralized dashboard. Users can leverage hundreds of integrations to boost efficiency. It allows construction firms, contractors, architects and engineers to share data in the field, edit designs and provide up-to-date reports of a project’s life cycle. Manage multiple construction projects efficiently. Businesses can create and manage construction project schedules and filter information according to summary tasks and resources. Its product portfolio supports project management, quality and safety measures, construction finances and field productivity.
Buildertrend
Buildertrend is a construction ERP that streamlines business practices and assists builders, contractors and clients. Leverage bid requests, email marketing and leads in one centralized pre-sales process module. Initiates budgets, invoices, lien waivers and time clocks. Maintain various activities in daily logs, to-do lists, schedules and messages. It’s also available as a mobile app for iOS and Android devices. Master project management, client relationship management, financial management, estimates and change orders are some notable features.
CoConstruct
CoConstruct is a management system focused on remodeling and custom home building. It streamlines complex management processes, including financial and project management. It puts communication at the forefront to keep clients happy and construction teams working smoothly. It simplifies sifting through changing construction schedules and missed deadlines while offering predictability to building routines.Construction or remodeling projects are kept on track while accounting practices are streamlined. It integrates with several third-party packages like QuickBooks to keep things simple and comfortable for project leaders. It supports small- to medium-sized operations.
Sage Intacct
Sage Intacct gives users control over more basic accounting aspects such as general ledger, accounts payable and accounts receivable. However, it also includes more advanced capabilities that allow customers to individualize the ERP product based on specific needs. The program enables the creation of configurable dashboards and customized reports. This software is available for deployment both on-premise and through the cloud, making it an effective ERP application for a variety of companies. It offers role-based functionality to protect the security of information and to ensure that employees only access information that is relevant to them and that they should be privy to.
SINC
SINC is a real-time labor management software that enables businesses to establish projects, schedule staff, assign tasks, track feedback and engage with on-site teams. Organizations can leverage their cost accounting capabilities to see gross payroll expenses, pay cycles, pricing codes and cost trends across multiple businesses. It includes a project notes attribute that allows all workforce members to contribute text notes or photographs to team projects or individual tasks. Administrators may design built-in templates for recurring activities like site cleanup, assign pre-shift tasks, monitor pending or completed tasks, and use customized maps to track staff. Additionally, employees get automated push notifications.
Acumatica
Acumatica software enables users to centralize transactions and to view a company’s financial status in real-time. It connects features such as the general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable and tax management to ensure that information is portrayed across all accounting aspects. It can be configured for needs ranging from distribution, manufacturing and point of sale to construction and retail-commerce. Available for deployment both on-premise and in the cloud, it’s especially beneficial for small and medium businesses.
FOUNDATION
Foundation Software is a platform focused on construction accounting that serves companies of all sizes. It contains a number of other helpful modules like project oversight, scheduling tools, executive dashboards, service dispatch and more. It is available with both on-premise and cloud-based deployment options. Service Dispatch and FOUNDATION Mobile apps help keep teams in the field or the office connected. Leverage hundreds of automatic job costing and customizable reports to set up workflows that complement your business. Cut down on errors and tackle all of your accounting challenges with its financial inclusions. Its contractor scheduling adjusts timelines, critical paths and non-working days while maintaining accurate timelines.
CMiC
CMiC is an end-to-end management platform built to handle the complexities of larger projects and the challenges of smaller ones. It focuses on bringing teams together with a suite that helps automate daily tasks while providing seamless integrations. Deployable both on-premise and as a cloud-based solution, it meets unique business requirements.It has comprehensive inclusions that tackle various aspects of the entire project lifecycle, such as budgeting, forecasting, change orders, bidding, procurement, document management, business intelligence and much more. It helps construction firms to create resource plans with dynamic timelines and interactive schedules. Updated and accurate information keeps construction projects on schedule and prevents budget overshoots.
Corecon
Corecon is a fully integrated cloud-based platform that focuses on organizing and streamlining tasks such as estimating, project oversight, job costing and more. Additional modules help users handle lead tracking, bid management and communication with the inclusion of the TeamLink Portal. It helps estimators track and manage opportunities through dashboards. Connect internal and external users with mobile flexibility and browser-based access.
Sage 300 Construction
Sage 300 is a construction and real estate focused software solution with project-wide organizational capabilities. Its cloud-based integration connects all points of a construction project to an easily accessible location. It helps project managers control and view the entirety of a project’s lifecycle. It streamlines and organizes accounting processes and is suited for operations of all sizes. Multiple accounting modules let project owners tackle financial tasks in a comfortable way, cutting down on process time. It pairs well with several industries ranging from general contracting to homebuilding and residential remodeling.
Sage 100 Contractor
Sage 100 Contractor, designed for contractors, provides visibility into all the aspects of business like estimating, accounting and service and project management. It helps contractors stay in contact with subcontractors and crews using focused task lists and automatic schedule notifications. It assists with tracking the status of purchase orders, change orders, invoices and balances, facilitating better decision-making. It helps identify and prevent issues before they impact profitability. It notifies users about overtime hours, unbilled change orders and unexpected material costs.
PASKR
Paskr is a cloud-based, all-in-one solution focused on simplifying, standardizing and automating projects. It is mobile, collaborative and supports the entire lifecycle of a project. Users can gain visibility and boost efficiency by tracking every step of a project and streamlining communication between office and field team members. It includes CRM support, bid management, estimating, change orders, billing support and more. It helps share access to critical project information with teams, stakeholders, engineers and more using version control options. It also manages overall construction project portfolios by maintaining stakeholder, supplier and departmental schedules while ensuring that deadlines are met.
Projectmates
Projectmates is a management software solution focused on capital construction operations. It helps save time on projects through the automation of resource-consuming processes. It brings communication to the forefront with modules that promote team collaboration. Generate and analyze reports to predict trends and resolve issues. Customize project workflows to save time and focus on important tasks. Take control of complex tasks like bidding, planning and maintenance with its available offerings. It offers capabilities like schedule management, field reports, cost tracking and punch lists for construction projects.
QuickBooks for Construction
QuickBooks for Construction by Intuit is a cloud-based accounting tool for small businesses and first-time contractors. It lets users handle and streamline their finances with the online or licensed versions while giving access to employee, vendor and customer information. Single user contractors can track and import transactions, accept and invoice payment and generate basic reports like cash flows and P Ls. Users can manage job costs, track expenses and time for every project and generate job cost reports. It automates accounting tasks and syncs data, reducing paperwork. It lets users manage contractors and subcontractors, organize expenses and income in categories and export and share documents for tax evaluations.
UDA ConstructionSuite
UDA ConstructionSuite is a combination of three platforms — ConstructionSuite, ConstructionOnline and OnSite Mobile Applications. It helps users combine estimating and project management modules along with CRM support.Users can track site operations and business KPIs using dashboards. QuickBooks integration helps users create accurate estimates. Managers can access project documents off-site using mobile devices.
Penta Construction
Penta Technologies is a construction accounting and operations tool that incorporates industry best practices by providing standardized processes. It is available for commercial and industrial contracting, field service and engineering firms. It brings accounting and project management together. It simplifies inter multi-company management and makes collecting field data easier. It also provides daily analytics to decision makers. It is also available on mobile for more efficient and flexible field data collection. It has cloud hosting capabilities, which gives teams the ability to access data on their devices. Users also benefit from 24/7 data security features.
Jonas Premier
Jonas Premier is a cloud-based software designed to meet the needs of general and specialty contractors, home builders and land developers to help streamline and optimize business processes. Contractors can generate reports to develop strategic plans. Monitor project statuses off-site using mobile devices.It allows subcontractors to sign documents electronically. Accounting modules helps reduce costly errors. Project managers can access dashboards to gain a detailed overview of projects’ progress.
Sage 100 Cloud
Sage 100cloud is a cloud manufacturing ERP that extends security and compliance to its users. It's scalable and is equipped with configurable settings that meet varying business requirements. Production management, tailored scripting, inventory requirements planning and analytics just a handful of Sage 100cloud's fundamental accessories.
JOBPOWER
JOBPOWER is an accounting and document management based platform that is suited for businesses of all sizes. This system contains features focused on a variety of construction industries as well as subcontractors, home builders and contractors. Users can leverage this application to stay on top of project costs while maintaining secure and organized documentation. This solution is available on all platforms and is deployable as an on-premise or cloud-based system and provides many helpful integrations with other accounting programs. Users can cut project costs and improve their bottom line with this accounting focused application.
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