If you get to know us, you’ll see that we are very forthright in our style of doing business. We believe this is the best relationship because the truth always comes out in the end, so we can all save time by just starting there. In that spirit, here is a candid discussion about our pricing…
Our progressive pricing structure is based on over 10 years experience in implementing SmartContractor in a wide range of sizes and types of construction businesses. We charge for each additional concurrent user license because that’s what it costs to implement and support the program in each size of company. Larger companies require more resources to implement the program because larger companies have more specialized needs.
If we sell the software for less than what it costs us to train, implement, and support it, then we go out of business. No matter how good a deal you get when you purchase the software, it’s not going to do any good if we’re not around to support it in the years to come.
If we discount the software, and then require the client company to pay for assistance with implementation, the client company will typically choose not to pay for that and try to “go it alone”. Unfortunately, this does not work, and the reason is because the construction business (no matter how small yours is) is highly data intensive and complicated. Any software sophisticated enough to do what you need it to do is not something you should expect to figure out on your own. Even if you manage to do that, how long would it take? How much of your resources would you invest in that, and would that be less expensive than paying us to help you? Would you end up with the best results? How would you know? Again, from years of experience doing this, we can tell you that you will not save any money (and certainly not time) by trying to implement a sophisticated construction business management system like SmartContractor on your own.
We have in the past bowed to pressure and offered volume discounts on the condition that the client pay for assistance with implementation in excess of what would be required for a smaller company (commensurate with the price paid). The result has been consistently negative. Rather than pay for additional assistance, clients seeking a “good deal” will spin their wheels, become frustrated, and end up loosing much more than the discounted price paid for the software.
You might think this is because SmartContractor is too complicated, or not user friendly. After all, software advertising tells us that all you need to do is make the right choice in your purchase decision, and all your troubles will be over. This might be true with general purpose software like a word processor, spreadsheet, or email program. But if you have experience implementing industry specific business management software, you’ll know that this is not true, and you’ll know that the best deal you can hope for from any software vendor is good support in exchange for a fair price. Everything has a cost and a value, and in the end, the best you can do is get good value for the price you pay.
We’ve worked with companies who have paid upwards of $30,000 to other software vendors and spent 6 months before they figure out the software could not even do what they need it to do. We will be glad to discuss your business needs and demonstrate how Smart Contractor can provide for them before you purchase. We can also show you how SmartContractor will pay for itself within 6 months (or less), so you will know that this is not a question of what you are “able” to spend. The reality is that you are already spending more than that every 6 months in so many ways; you can’t afford not to purchase it.
We’ve been doing this business for a long time, so we know what other software is available, what it does, and what it costs. Trust us on this: you will not find software that does what SmartContractor does for less.
If you disagree, please let us know…