Cost Control Simplified! View in Full Screen

1. is4construction, LLC Construction Cost Control Simplified

2. Construction Cost Control Q: How long is a piece of string? A: As long as you want it to be. Q: How much does it cost to build the world’s tallest tower? A: As much as you want it to. That’s the theory. But in the construction business, converting theory into practice is not usually as simple or as easy as snipping a piece of string.

3. Counting the Cost Counting the Cost In principle, construction cost control is a straightforward process. The project design is agreed; the costs are calculated and budgets allocated; contracts are let for the different work-scopes; and payments are made when the work is completed. In practice, however, maintaining control over construction costs can be difficult – and the bigger the project, the more difficult it becomes. Even a small project can involve thousands of tasks and sub-tasks, while a large project generates a huge number of highly detailed contracts. Coordinating and managing those details is the key to holding the bottom line. Yet, while conventional cost control systems provide mechanisms for tracking project information, they don’t allow the project team actually to manage costs. A good cost control system will provide the means for recording and tracking the monetary value of commitments, work-in-progress and payments made. A better system will also have mechanisms for recording and monitoring field instructions from the time they are issued to the time the commitments are awarded. Without this facility, it is extremely difficult to maintain control over costs. Without this facility, cost savings and over-runs may not be identified until the project is completed – sometimes, not for years afterwards.

4. Sage Timberline Office ™ Few words about Sage Timberline Office™ “Sage Timberline Office offers mid-sized and larger construction and real estate businesses with a high-end, thoroughly comprehensive collection of accounting and management applications. With more than 50 available modules for everything from the basics of GL, AP, AR and payroll, to more industry-specific ones for job costing, project management, estimating, procurement, service management and real estate, the Sage Timberline Office suite is an exceptionally powerful solution that offers strong analytics and process controls, along with integration with many of Sage’s other business solutions. Pricing is dependent on the specific modules selected and number of users, but can range from $7,500 up to several times that.”

5. The Solution The Solution We customize Timberline Office such that at every stage – from budget preparation to hand over – the system provides a fully detailed, dynamic picture of the anticipated completion cost for comparison against the approved budget. This picture shows: Written as a complimentary tool to enhance Timberline Office™ utilizing SQL database and Excel spreadsheets, the solution (Customized Timberline Office or CTO) provides a central repository of all construction information relating to the bottom line. It sets a company-wide standard for cost control and reporting and because the solution is fully customizable, ‘business rules’ can be built in. Most importantly, the system allows the project team to enter and manage changes – from the issue of a Field Instruction to the payment of contractors or sub-contractors. CTO is developed by is4construction, LLC to provide a logical, easy-to-use and fully customizable construction cost management system. CTO is delivered as ‘add-on’ to Timberline Office implementation and it comes with a complete service package comprising customization, user manual, training and long-term support.

7. Kerzner International Development, Dubai, UAE

8. Baha Mar Development Co. Ltd., Nassau, The Bahamas

11. User identifications and roles, access and security rules

12. Budget information

13. Contracts on a line-item basis and compare the revised value against budget

14. Purchase Order Requests and Purchase Orders on a line-item basis

15. Field Instructions

16. Change Orders and compare the revised values against Commitments and Field Instructions already issued

17. Estimated Future Costs

18. Claims information

19. Work in progress

20. Retention moniesIn addition, CTO provides extensive reporting facilities, allowing team members to generate reports on any and all project cost parameters.

22. Customized Timberline Office that reflects your Business Rules.

23. .net utility to ‘shadow’ Timberline Office™ data into SQL warehouse database for faster reporting

24. .net utility to maintain Estimated Future Costs - also known as To Be Bought Items

25. Excel based Monthly Reporting and Publishing tool

26. Dynamic Crystal Reports that are run directly from Excel spreadsheet

27. Excel based Budget Upload tool

28. Excel based Commitment Upload tool

29. Excel based Site Progress Certificate and Application for Payment

30. Customization of all in-house documents (e.g. Purchase Order Requests, Purchase Orders, Field Instructions etc)

31. .net utility for e-approvals

33. Training Training Thanks to its logical and efficient design, your project team will need a minimum of training before they begin to use Customized Timberline Office to manage your construction costs. However we do not underestimate the importance of training, and at the beginning of each installation your Client Coordinator will work with you to determine the required levels of instruction. After an initial assessment we will formulate, administer and manage a training program and ensure that your key personnel are fully up to speed by the time the system is fully implemented. Thereafter we will formulate and deliver training on an as-required basis.

34. Support Support When you sign-off the implementation of your system, we change gear and enter the Problem Reporting / Change Management phase. We provide support from 7am to 7pm, your time, with a guaranteed two-hour response. Help desk calls can be logged by e-mail, fax or telephone.

35. Outsource Option Outsource Option System You may not have the resources to maintain Timberline Office on an ‘in-house’ network. We offer fully customized Timberline Office as a ‘thin client’ internet solution that provides instant, easy deployment, greatly simplified maintenance and reduced cost of ownership. Since the system is delivered via internet, all that your project team members need to use the system is an internet connection. No need to worry about hardware failures, backups etc. Operations You may not have the resources to operate Timberline Office for day-to-day data entry tasks. We offer outsourcing of Timberline Operations services. No need to hire any staff to do Timberline Data Entry tasks. We do it all. Forward your source documents (Budgets, Contracts, Invoices etc.) to our trained staff and you enjoy the advantages of an in-house cost accounting department without the high cost associated with a large staff. No staff turnover costs, no training curves, no interruption of services, no employment contracts. Just a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with us. And yes, you keep all your executive functions.

36. Contact Contact For more information about, please contact: is4construction, LLC 9608 Spanish Steps Lane Las Vegas, NV 89117 USA 1-702-985-4748 info@is4construction.com www.is4construction.com