The designers of SmartContractor construction software have worked in the construction industry for over 30 years. We’ve been through it all, so we know exactly what you’re dealing with.
And, we work with construction professionals who use SmartContractor every day, to constantly improve and enhance the program to meet your needs.
Smart Construction Software LLC is dedicated to providing the best software for small to mid-sized residential and light construction companies.
Smart Construction Software LLC is dedicated to providing the best support for our software.
Smart Construction Software LLC is dedicated to improving life for small construction business owners and managers.
Smart Construction Software LLC is dedicated to helping you remember why you’re doing construction: because you like it!
Now, a word from our founder and president, Dan Fellman…
Hello,
My name is Dan Fellman, and here’s my story.
My father built his first house when he was 17 years old. In those days, when you said someone “built a house” that meant they swung the hammer, and did most of the work themselves. By the time I started working with him, he used some subcontractors, but only for things that didn’t involve wood. Like rough plumbing, wiring, drywall and roofing. Everything else he (and I) did ourselves.
But that was in a time when you could make a living doing a lot of the work yourself, and when your credit was based on a longstanding relationship with your banker, who you went to highschool with. But things gradually changed.
Besides learning everything inside and out about residential construction, the other thing I got from my experience working in construction was a desire to go to college and get a job. So I studied computers and went to work for businesses, designing and developing business management and accounting software.
First I worked for a company that used the software I developed in-house. Then I worked for a number of companies who made software to sell to other businesses – specialized software designed for specific kinds of businesses.
In the mean time, I married, had some kids, and eventually bought a house that brought with it the opportunity for that age old major life stress: the remodel project.
Maybe things had changed since I was in construction, or maybe I just forgot what it was like, but things sure seemed more complicated in the 21st century than they used to be. If you’re in construction, you know what I mean.
But now I was seing this from a different perspective: as the customer, and as a business software developer. Two things stuck out: everyone who worked on my house asked for more than they had bid, and none of them had any documentation of what their bid was based on, or why they were asking for more.
So the routine became: negotiate the bid before the work, negotiate it again after the work, and then feel bad either way. If I paid less than what he said the work cost, then I felt like I was taking advantage; if I paid what he wanted, I felt like I was being taken advantage of.
All of this ran contrary what I knew as a computer programmer about how to organize, automate, and operate a business.
So, after the bloodletting was finished, and my family was settled in our new home, I researched software that was available for small residential construction companies. I found very little, so I approached my contractor and said, you know, it looks like you guys could use some help getting organized. I’m thinking of writing a program for that. He said, how soon can you have it done!
So he became my first customer. I worked with him to get the program to do what he needed. Then I took the program to another contractor. He used it, liked it, and requested a few more things to add. And so on. Every contractor I sold the program to had a few things they wanted added, so the program grew, and the business grew. One customer at at time.
Looking back, it seems like SmartContractor, and this business, was my destiny – the perfect storm of growing up in construction, studying computer programming, and then going through a remodel.
The result, I’d like to think, is software that is designed based on real life experience – as a builder, as a customer, and as a business analyst. I hope you’ll agree.
Please feel free to contact me personally (dfellman at SmartContractor.com) if you have any questions about SmartContractor, or how it can help you operate your construction business more efficiently, and more profitably.
Thanks for reading!
Dan Fellman