Custom Homebuilders' Solutions - aka CHS

Tom and Pauline Jones Custom Crafted Homes, Inc. June, 2009	The CHS Program for builders is the quality helper every builder requires for analyzing the costs for each new home in process and keeping up to date with costs every step of the way. Note: Tom won the Edmond Builders Award for the best houses and the least re-inspections than any other builder for the third year in a row.
Eric Dickerson Dickerson Construction, Inc. June, 2009	I have been using CHS for over a year now and I can say it is the best program that I have ever used. I have used Quickbooks Pro for Contractors, UDT and MasterBuilder previously and CHS is much more streamlined and provides better reports that can be drilled down – it makes my jobs easy to track the budgets on as well as keep track of the profit. Also, every time I call with a question I get Carol and who better to walk you through any problems than the person who actually developed the program. I would say anyone who builds custom homes should seriously consider this program. They will be pleasantly surprised with it’s ease of use as well as how much time they will save keeping track of the budget on their projects.
Heather E. Walter, CPA, Russell Eppright Homes	"I have been very impressed with this software. It’s easy to learn, user-friendly, and has nearly every feature I need."
John Siemering, Builder Sheryl Steen, Office Mgr Siemering Homes	Sheryl: "We are a new CHS customer and I have to tell you how happy John is with CHS. He'll be in his office working on a proposal in CHS and I keep hearing him say, "I love this!". Today when I entered a bill from one of our subs and CHS instantly alerted me that we were about to overpay, I realized I probably wouldn't have known this in Quick Books unless I spent time looking through reports later."
Allan Edwards, Builder	"CHS is 100% geared toward contractors. One thing I like is that it has so many different reports that can be generated. The "logic" behind how it is written is parallel with "best practices" of running a successful home building or remodeling company. It’s written to help you make money! CHS is very strong in accounting. The job cost features and reports are great. It does the basics, like lien waivers or flag you when a sub’s insurance has expired, or you are about to go over budget on a particular cost. Change Orders and PO’s are a big part of CHS. You can do Variance PO’s too. There is a particular view called "Estimated Costs at Completion" that in one screen shot tells you an immense amount of information about a job. You see the budget, PO’s, variances, and actual costs for all line items, and can drill down to analyze them."
George Morio Morio Builders	"I switched to CHS a year ago. This is one of the best moves I made in the 18 years that I’ve been in business. I can really say it’s actually made me a better businessman."
Bill Furness Furness Builders	"AND CHS WINS BY A MILE: Without a doubt you would have to look very hard to come close to what CHS is offering at this price. I have been looking at construction specific accounting software on and off for about 4 years. (Procrastinating and still using Quickbooks). I finally make a decision. The reports are much better than a lot of other programs out there. The video tutorials are loaded with detailed examples navigating you through to the finish line. The tutorials are probably worth the cost of the software alone. You can use WIP or Cost of goods. Percentage of completion Method, and CHS does all the work for you. If you are thinking of a software change in your business you should take a real good look at this. Carols knowledge of job cost accounting is quite evident as you learn the program. Check out how well the video tutorials are structured, and you will notice very quickly that this is a well thought out piece of software."
Jason Peavy Peavy Homes	"Been using CHS for about the last year and its head and shoulders better than QB will ever be!"
Dan Colomb The Home Group	"We wouldn't be where we are today without the CHS program! I tell other builders about what it's done for us all the time. When we purchased CHS a few years ago, I hadn't used a computer very much and CHS was so easy to set up and use that we realized we should have been using it long before we bought it.!"
Jerry May May Custom Homes	"I really like the CHS program. My CPA accesses my books online and is very impressed with CHS. I would recommend it to anyone. Please use my name as a reference."
Builder in NC	"Kudos to you, Carol. I have been dealing with a complicated popular construction program, and CHS is much more intuitive. I am very impressed with it and enjoy using it. It's a product that has the features we will need as our company grows."
David Zawadski ParkWest Homes	"CHS has made home building fun again!"
Gery Wilde Wilde Custom Homes	"CHS has made a big difference to our business operations during the past year. We have really enjoyed using it."
Gabrielle Meunier The Retrovest Companies	"I just wanted to let you know that it is a pleasure to work with your software, CHS, and doing business with you. Your software is very nicely designed and user-friendly. Further, every time I call, you are readily available and always friendly. Thanks for making a great software, supporting it so nicely, and I look forward to working with CHS's newest product."
John Anderson, Treasurer Round River Builders, Inc.	"Thanks, in part, to your outstanding software our new company is doing well.... Thanks again for the excellent program."
Kevin Dixon Dixon Homes	"I don't know why every custom home builder doesn't have CHS. It has been a great program for us. Our bookkeeper, Dawn, raves about it! I would be happy to recommend CHS to anyone."
John Moore Old Stonecreek Homes	"Voluntarily, I'd like to compliment Carol on a good job done with CHS. I do everything by myself, and I've been able to figure out almost everything on my own. I've only had to call once or twice to ask questions since I purchased the program."
Bookkeeper in Houston, TX	"Carol, I wanted to let you know that I think that CHS is a more user friendly, productive, and information tool compared to other programs that I used."
Pauline Jones Custom Crafted Homes, Inc.	"There are 3 banks in Edmond that love CHS. They are very impressed with our "instant accounting ability on any job, any time"! We were frustrated with the QBPro and Master Builder programs. We now have CHS and our problems are solved. The one time entry for both accounting and job costing is simple and accurate. The program is flexible, easy to use and the support is first class. "
Barbara Allen Magnolia Homes	"We are so pleased with CHS. It works like it's supposed to. The customer support has always been very helpful, and cheerful. It's wonderful to instantly produce reports that compare and average costs between similar past jobs. This is a big help as we set up the budgets for the 30 new homes we are getting ready to build."
Tom Miller Baxter Meadows Development, LP	"I'm really enjoying CHS. You don't have to know a lot about accounting to produce accurate accounting reports. The fact that we can instantly get Payables reports by job has REALLY made a huge difference for us!"
Harry Deter Key Homes, Inc.	"We are really proud of having the CHS program. Sue says for the first time in 2 years, her checkbooks balance every month and the job costs are correct. And she is thrilled that the 1099's are correct to her satisfaction with little or no correction. Happy Sue is here again! Sure makes my life easier!"
Jim Neidner Neidner Construction / Remodeling, Inc.	CHS has completely filled our needs. We have found the support to be exceptional, second to none! One of our first needs was to prepare our General Liability audit. Before we knew it, we had our costs entered for the audit year, and produced the reports needed by the auditor. We have been so pleased with CHS that we have recommended it to others who have purchased the CHS program."
Alain Johnson Laurentian Development	"I think CHS is GREAT piece of software. I tell everybody I can about it!"
Jack Healy Healy Homes	I bought CHS as a result of going to the national trade show in 2001. Because CHS was new, I hesitated but bought it anyway and have not been sorry. Conversion was no problem, and we were using it within a week. Carol is very responsive to our questions and requests, and often includes requests in a new upgrade to us within a couple of weeks. It has been so easy to use. I talk to other builders who are struggling with more complicated programs like BuildSoft and Master Builder. I think how much better off they'd be if they were using a program that addresses the back office needs as easily as CHS."
Joyce Whitten Showcase NC, Inc.	When we decided to make a software change for our company, we reviewed many Builders software packages and CHS was by far the best choice. Most of the other software packages out there are very complex and you can get lost in the complicated details. CHS is user friendly, easy to install and they provide timely support and that’s very important when you have deadlines to meet. The price is right too! CHS constantly strives to provide updated enhancements that make the accounting process a little easier. We are very happy with the program.
Chris Travis Round Top Companies	"We are extremely happy with our decision to purchase CHS software. We are a high-end custom builder that does a lot of specialized projects. We needed software that was flexible, would operate on our small network, and would provide the reports we need to effectively run our business. We got that with CHS, and more! We thoroughly researched the market before we purchased, and were amazed to find construction-specific software that had everything we wanted...for a fraction of the cost of other packages with the same functionality. Even better, Carol King has proven very responsive and capable. Any construction professional who has spent time waiting on hold for marginal technical support from some geek who doesn't know a 2 x 4 from a concrete pour, will understand how great it is to be able to talk to a software developer who actually understands accounting and the construction business. We suggested some small improvements to her software that would help our business. Try that with one of the big software companies and see how far you get! Ms. King responded immediately, and made the changes within 30 days. Buying CHS was the best decision we ever made!"
Matt and Paul Oliver Oliver Custom Homes	"Easy to Learn, User Friendly. We really enjoy that we don't have to be an accountant in order to use the program and get the reports I need. Builders don’t know what they are missing if they aren’t using the CHS program. We didn’t have any idea how much we needed this software. It has saved us an incredible amount of time, and has lowered the stress level in our office enormously. Our level of professionalism has gone way up."
Jim Rutherford J. W. Rutherford, Builder, Inc.	"We were up and running on the CHS software in no time. Having little experience with computerized record keeping systems, we were thrilled that this software was so easy to use. The reports we began using right away are so helpful to us. We are a very small volume builder. Even so, this software has provided us with everything we hoped for. Since we don’t have much experience working with computers, it has been wonderful that the CHS software was so easy to learn and use."
Builder in Austin, TX	"I have loaded 2 years of data and it was so simple! I didn't even have to call with questions once! Now I'm really getting the information I need!"
Bob Pant Master Builders, Inc.	"Having made a decision to change from a DOS based NAHB approved software to a WINDOWS based software, we reviewed most programs recommended by NAHB. We found each of them to be lacking in one or another of the standards that our accounting department demanded. Custom Homebuilders' Solutions software is builder friendly. It tracks and reports everything that a builder, customer and banker needs, or might dream up. Because it is MS-ACCESS based, it is compatible with other Microsoft Office products such as Word, Excel, and Outlook, which provides many additional benefits to us."
D. O. Nilson, President Cullom Bookkeeping Service, Inc.	"The support is immediate, careful, and helpful. We are really enjoying this software. I recommend it to my clients."
Roger L. Singleton, Ph.D., Retired Senior Vice President For Finance and Administration, The University of Houston, Houston, Tx. , currently Financial Services Consultant, New Austin Homes, Austin, Tx.	"Beginning with the Demo of the CHS program, it was readily apparent that the designer of this software was an individual who had become frustrated with the various limitations inherent in all commercial software available to custom home builders and was convinced that a job-cost based program could be successfully designed to meet the unique needs of the custom homebuilding industry. In implementing CHS for a custom homebuilder client of mine, New Austin Homes, I continue to be amazed as to the capabilities of the software. Not only does this program overcome the limitations of other software programs that I had investigated for my client, but it also provides many processes, procedures, and reports that I had never expected to find in a commercial custom homebuilding program. Being a relatively new user of CHS, my client is already singing the praises of CHS in evaluating the costs and the benefits of this program."
Regina Polston New Austin Homes	"The Custom Homebuilders' Solutions software is fantastic! There are so many wonderful features (i.e. navigation keys, reports, multi-invoice checks, etc.) that have made our conversion run very smoothly. It is also a major plus to have the personal customer service and support. I am new to using software for home builders. I couldn't have survived without the CHS software. We love working with the CHS software. It gives us so much of the information we need and is easy to use. Things are running so smoothly that we find we aren’t even having to call for technical support any more. Thanks for the hard work and knowledge that the CHS software shares with us construction folks!"
Tim Hill Tim Hill, Builder, Inc. Past President of local Builders Association	“The CHS software has reduced our record keeping time by 75%. Everything is caught up and we have the answers we need to make decisions and work with our customers. CHS has helped me get sales. By taking samples of the reporting that we have done on previous jobs, I present a more credible and professional appearance to my prospects. CHS also has given me great peace of mind, because I know EVERY DAY where a job is at, and whether I can make promises OR NOT to my customers.”
Joel Katz Katz Builders, Inc.	“The conversion has been smooth. The data entry is so easy and does not require repetition. It keeps track of the jobs separately, and gives us so much information easily and quickly. The reports are very accurate. We spend far less time gathering information now.”
Judy Garrett R. J. Wachsman Homes	Working with this software has been a piece of cake. I love it!”
Barbara Donahoo Homes By Donahoo, Inc.	“We started 15 homes last year and now have over 40,000 records in the CHS Software. We rely on it every day and are very pleased with the results.”
Michelle Eppright, CPA Russell Eppright Homes	We have converted from BuildSoft to the CHS Program within a month. I am amazed every day at the reports that CHS produces for us. Our preparation time for meetings has been cut down tremendously!"
Glenn George George Custom Homes	We used BuildSoft for over 7 years and have been very pleased with the change to the CHS software. I am so excited about the reports that it produces for me that I plan to let all my fellow Builder 20 members know about this."
Susan Huerta Round Top Companies	"CHS has been so easy to use. There are so many ways to tie everything together and make sure things are posted correctly. I really enjoy that I can see the Job Budget the builder set up on the same screen that I enter Purchase Orders. It helps me know that I am putting them in the right place."
John Post Post Homes	"CHS is really quick to move around in. Even though it does so much, I can easily find what I'm looking for."

Telephone: 512-693-4103
FAX: 512-693-4105
800 W. Gibson St., Austin, TX 78704
Email: CHSSoftware@Prodigy.net