Hard Dollar, which is now part of InEight, is a construction estimating and project management software that helps professionals effectively estimate prices, manage budgets, and control project spending. It offers a comprehensive set of tools for cost estimation, bid management, project controls, and performance analysis, allowing construction organizations to increase project profitability and efficiency.

Key Features:

Cost Estimation:

• Detailed Cost Breakdowns: Hard Dollar customers can generate extensive cost breakdowns for construction projects, including labor, materials, equipment, subcontractors, overhead, and contingencies.

• Unit Price Catalogs: By combining unit pricing catalogs and historical cost data, users can more reliably and efficiently estimate prices for similar projects or activities.

• Parametric Estimating: Hard Dollar supports parametric estimating methods, allowing users to quickly generate cost estimates based on project parameters, such as size, scope, and location.

Bid Management:

• Bid Preparation: Hard Dollar assists construction organizations in developing bids and proposals for construction projects, such as cost estimates, bid paperwork, and subcontractor quotes.

• Bid Analysis: Users can examine bids from subcontractors and suppliers, compare pricing, and choose the most cost-effective options to optimize project budgets and timelines.

• Bid Tracking: Hard Dollar monitors bid submissions, answers, and changes to provide insight into the bidding process and ensure timely follow-up with subcontractors and vendors.

Project Controls:

• Budget Management: With Hard Dollar, construction companies can generate and manage project budgets, track expenditures against them, and monitor budget deviations in real time.

• Cost Tracking: Allows users to monitor project costs, expenses, and obligations throughout the project's lifecycle, enabling accurate financial reporting and forecasts.

• Change Order Management: Hard Dollar assists with change orders by tracking changes to project scope, costs, and schedules, ensuring that modifications are correctly documented, approved, and incorporated into project budgets.

Performance Analysis:

• Cost Performance Analysis: Hard Dollar offers tools for analyzing project costs, comparing actual and anticipated prices, and discovering cost overruns or savings potential.

• Schedule Performance Analysis: Users can examine project schedules, monitor progress against milestones, and detect schedule delays or bottlenecks that could affect project costs and completion dates.

• Earned Value Management (EVM): Hard Dollar adheres to EVM principles for monitoring project performance using earned value, allowing users to evaluate project progress and estimate future performance.

Integration and Collaboration:

• Integration with ERP Systems: Hard Dollar works with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems like SAP and Oracle to improve data exchange and maintain consistency between financial and project controls.

• Collaboration Tools: Hard Dollar offers collaboration capabilities like as document sharing, task management, and communication services to help project stakeholders work together and share information more effectively.

• Mobile Access: Users can access Hard Dollar's features and data via mobile devices, allowing field teams to submit data, track costs, and manage project information from anywhere and at any time.

Benefits:

• Accurate Cost Estimation: Hard Dollar assists construction organizations in developing accurate cost estimates based on historical data, unit prices, and project details, lowering the risk of cost overruns and disputes.

• Improved Bid Management: By expediting the bid preparation process and reviewing bids from subcontractors and suppliers, Hard Dollar allows construction companies to submit competitive bids and win more jobs.

• Effective Project Controls: Hard Dollar offers budget management, cost monitoring, and change order management solutions that help construction organizations monitor project performance, control costs, and eliminate risks.

• Enhanced Performance Analysis: With capabilities for cost performance analysis, schedule performance analysis, and earned value management, Hard Dollar assists construction businesses in assessing project performance, identifying trends, and making data-driven decisions to improve project outcomes.

• Streamlined Integration and Collaboration: Hard Dollar connects with ERP systems and provides collaboration capabilities to simplify data sharing and teamwork among project stakeholders, hence boosting communication, coordination, and efficiency.

Use Cases:

• Estimating Departments: Estimating departments inside construction organizations use Hard Dollar for accurate cost estimates to bid on construction projects, analyze bid opportunities, and prepare competitive bids.

• Project Controls Teams: Hard Dollar is used by project controls teams to manage project budgets, track expenditures, monitor project performance, and evaluate project trends, ensuring that projects are completed on schedule and under budget.

• Cost Engineers and Analysts: Use Hard Dollar's cost monitoring, change order management, and performance analysis tools to determine project profitability, find cost-saving options, and reduce risks.

• Field Teams: Field teams use Hard Dollar's mobile access and collaboration tools to enter field data, track costs, manage project papers, and communicate with project stakeholders, giving them real-time visibility into project status and expenses.

Conclusion

Hard Dollar is a comprehensive construction estimating and project management software solution that gives construction organizations the tools they need to effectively estimate costs, manage budgets, control project spending, and analyze project performance. Hard Dollar's cost estimation, bid management, project controls, and performance analysis tools help construction organizations optimize project outcomes, increase profitability, and deliver successful projects on schedule and within budget.