I’ve been asked often if I know of a great “Cloud”  (online) project management software to help with things like, scheduling, job staging, reminders, billing, and budgeting. Basecamp, from 37 Signals has a lot of strengths for many project management features, but Smartsheet (affiliate link) hits the nail on the head for being one of the best cloud-based programs that does it all. If you own a remodeling company, run a painting or similar trade business, you need to check out and consider using Smartsheet. In a nutshell, Smartsheet basically takes two key programs many of you use (or have used): Microsoft Project and Excel and created a “Smartsheet” that links to things like Google Calendar, Google Docs (now Drive), Google Apps Email and more. The bottom line, if you know how to use the basic Excel features, you can use Smartsheet with little training. In this short post, I will not explain all the key features you can do with Smartsheet as it is very powerful. For that, just check out their website and watch their videos. I’ll focus on how contractors are using it currently.

How Contractors are using Smartsheet

The contractors I know who are using Smartsheet right now do three things: 1. Manage a marketing budget and calendar, 2. Have a communication and job schedule (painting) and 3) A full fledged managing of all aspects of a remodeling project (billing, check numbers, reminders for when things need to be done, who is responsible, next steps, when a bill is received, receipts attached to a task and much more). Smartsheet acts like a spreadsheet in Excel. The benefit is if you want to create a schedule for your crew leaders or project managers, you can type in the times of a job (Sept 1 through Nov 5th) and have it automatically upload to Google Calendar. You can even make changes within Google Calendar and/or from an iPad. You can invite employees and even customers to view your Smartsheet project as well and make comments on task and events.

Here are a few screenshots of a marketing budget and a simple employee schedule.

The marketing schedule and budget above shows only a few rows of information. It also can help with market-tracking by lead source (won, lost and pending). So technically, most of your marketing reports can be viewed from one spreadsheet. This also links up nicely with Google calendar so we can see what is going on when we are not logged into Smartsheet.

This sample scheduling spreadsheet here also has a built in calendar view and/or can be synced with Google. If I wanted to attach a Work Order form, I can do that from within Smartsheet and send an email to the Foreman alerting him of his next job and paperwork.

Pricing of Smartsheet

The cost of Smartsheet is pretty reasonable for what you get. I signed up for their annual plan to save about 10%. There are different levels of cost. My current plan runs a little less than $15 a month for 10 Smartsheets. They consider a “Smartsheet” to be a project. So if you’ve got 15 remodeling projects going on at one time, you’d need TEAM version, which is around $50 a month. If you are only using it for scheduling and a marketing budget, you’d get by with the basic version for less than $16 a month. I don’t think you can beat the price for the features you get. I just mentioned a few key features in this article. There is a plethora of things you can do when you have the time to dig deeper into this power Smartsheet!

I’ve been using Basecamp from 37 Signals for over 7 years now. Basecamp is a cloud-based project management program. The classic version of Basecamp had a simple interface that consisted of Messages, To Dos, Milestones & Files. It offered time tracking of task, to-do templates, adding comments related to a message, to do or file, adding file attachements to projects and more. The bottom line, Basecamp Classic made it much easier to work on projects and keep things organized. The main component Basecamp Classic was missing was a good follow up and reminder system. I had to be religious to review my daily email agenda and projects in order not to forget a next step. This was getting to be a very frustrating experience, and I began to hunt around for a better project management program. Then, out of the blue, 37 Signals released what they called “The New Basecamp.”

The New Basecamp

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I jumped to the New Basecamp one last time thinking I’d be disappointed and still be on the hunt for a better program. To my amazement, I was hooked! Why? The New Basecamp actually has a more simple user interface. It renamed a few of their core items and provided the best thing of all: reminder emails! I can now create an event on a marketing calendar and get a reminder 30 minutes before that event starts and the day before so I can do any last minute preparations for that event. I can also assign an event to someone else on the team or who has access to my project, and they will get the reminders. The to do items are also added to the project calendar. The new Basecamp is so simple, anyone can get the hang of it in no time at all.

What The New Basecamp Does Not Do

It is not a full scale project management program like Microsoft Project. In other words, you cannot track time or produce gantt charts. If that is what you are looking for, definitely check out Smartsheets. You will not be disappointed (I’ll do another blog post on Smartsheets soon). You will not be able to edit spreadsheets or have a two way sync with MS or Google products. It is a stand alone web based program. Currently, the New Basecamp is also lacking mobile access for certain smartphones. Yes you can access it from an iPad, but it is not user friendly. If you have an Android there is an App for that, but while writing this blog, no iPhone app is available. 37 Signals told me they are working on it.

Why Should You Consider Basecamp

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If you are a contractor, I think Smartsheets is definitely something you should consider. Everyone else who needs to manage multiple projects in one place, or need feedback from a number of different people (in and out of your company) Basecamp is the way to go. It will definitely keep you organized and on track. For example, my church is doing a tenant improvement (TI) in Frederick MD this year. I have been in charge of a number of aspects of this project, which involved communicating with 15-20 church members who were also involved in this project. We were using email to go back and forth on color ideas, engineering, sound, floor types and much much more. When I took over as the project manager for the building project, I decided to use Basecamp because I knew it would be easy to train others how to use it. I was able to create a number of projects such as “Finishing Committee” “Design Committee” “Sound Committee” and “Building Central.” I also invited our interior designer and contractor into Basecamp when they were needed. I was able to create a task list of items I wanted in the final proposal and had the contractor check them all off when he put them into the bid. I assigned task to the designer for things like, “Help choose a tile and color for Foyer (May 25th). She would then receive a notification about the task and was able to correspond with me until the task was completed. All in all, it has allowed for great communication and a clean paper trail.

The new Basecamp is a simple and easy to use project management program that is worth the price. $20 a month gets you 10 projects and unlimited users. They have all sorts of plans and great technical support. You can sign up for a free 45 day trial. If you do, let me know how you like it.