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MarkSystems Senior Consultants are not only experts on the software, they also bring their experience in the residential home construction industry to each implementation. In this blog, we feature Ron Olson, Senior Consultant with MarkSystems. We sat down with Ron to learn more about his experience in the home building industry, what makes an implementation successful, and get his advice on what builders need to look for in a new system.
I graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with a BS degree in Economics and continued in a Masters of Accounting program. I obtained my CPA certification and worked in public accounting for five years.
Overall, I have worked in the construction industry for over 35 years, with more than 20 years in residential. I first worked as a Controller for a commercial builder and later moved into residential construction as a Controller/CFO/VP Finance.
I grew up in Connecticut, moved to California in the 90’s, and moved up to Washington State in 2009 where I continue to reside.
As an industry, residential home building changes very little. The economic up swings and downturns are what most people are familiar with. Since 2009, the industry has been in an up swing enabling very good success for most builders. Costs of land, labor, materials, and entitlement fees have made housing barely affordable. There have been fewer new builders in the market with a number of consolidations or acquisitions by major builders.
I’ve worked with MarkSystems home builder software for over four years and in that time, I have helped more than 100 builders, some directly with implementation as well as assisting them with business, accounting, and MarkSystems best practices after implementation.
In prior implementations I have done, a big reason for their success was because the client placed education and learning as top priorities. Since MarkSystems impacts every department, having support like that from the builder makes implementations go more smoothly.
Ongoing learning is important even after Implementation. With one client, I worked to help them build their business to its current level of success. They too have continued to learn and have recognized that the business of home building is more than just building a house.
Get a system that grows with you. A system that allows all departments to work together as a unified group, and that captures all the data needed to enable quick decisions for profitability. While looking for a new system is never easy, keeping these three items in mind when searching for a solution will help guide you in making the right choice.
I like the system as a whole, but what has always been very popular is the Internet Toolkit (ITK).
Durable.