Since 1983, CMM Custom Homes has been dedicated to the experience of custom home building for families in Monmouth and Ocean County, New Jersey. Led by Chris Amato, his team of 15 will help you find the right location, develop a design inspired by your vision and build the home of your dreams using the best products and craftsmen the market has to offer.
In 2008, Chris began using CoConstruct to manage everything from client communications, specs & selections, estimating, bidding and scheduling.
Source of Truth
A second generation builder, Chris has been involved in the business for over 20 years. Over the past 6-8 years, he has taken over running the day-to-day operations. With 8 to 10 active projects at a time (along with 35-40 smaller service projects), documentation issues became a bit too much to handle.
“We’re great at talking to people about what we’re gonna do, but we were not good at documenting anything” said Amato of the days before CoConstruct. “I actually had a file cabinet in my truck...and was forever losing paper.”
Using tools like Dropbox and Excel was working to some extent, however a major gap still existed - there was little to no collaboration with clients, subs and others on his team. Already a proponent of adopting new technology, he began the search for a platform to become CMM’s source of truth. A short time later, he came across CoConstruct on a construction forum, and immediately saw the collaborative value.
“Before fully implementing, it was already helping with sales. Once I saw the value, I was easily able to communicate that to clients - a centralized place to share info, be transparent and have it accessible at all times via any device,” stated Amato.
With a new source of truth, what used to take hours to track down with countless phone calls, emails and text messages can now be done in a matter of minutes. Everything from estimates and bids to client communications and schedules are now accessible from an easy-to-use dashboard.
“When I first started, I wanted to be everywhere and do everything - all the time” explained Amato. “It’s not possible anymore, but clients still expect that. I’ve been in Vermont and Florida the past 2 weekends, but I’ve been able to stay on top of everything in CoConstruct without having to spend hours on the phone.”
Take it in Bites
While Chris and his team were able to see the value right away, the learning curve for clients wasn’t always so easy. Not only do they have to educate them on the building process and the practical items pertaining to their project, they also have to teach them on how to best utilize CoConstruct, starting on day 1 when their engagement begins.
“Don’t try to swallow everything at once. Take it in bites” stated Amato. “Specs and selections is the core of the software. Start there and you will see how you sell, where you can save and how your clients engage. You get your money from your clients - seeing that engagement will make the value of CoConstruct readily apparent.”
We’ve enjoyed working with CMM over the past decade, and look forward to the next 10 years. They’ve put in a tremendous amount of effort to incorporate every aspect of CoConstruct into their business with one purpose in mind - to better the client experience. After seeing some of the homes they’ve built, it’s safe to say their emphasis on creating the best building experience possible is paying off.
