A HomeBuilder Upgrade | The Story of Fernbrook Homes
Upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central with HomeBuilder
Albert Chen—the CFO of Fernbrook Homes, one of Canada’s foremost builders, is known for their impressive collection of distinguished communities. Matthew Welford, HomeBuilder Product Manager at Suite Engine, recently interviewed Chen to talk about Fernbrook Homes’ journey with their HomeBuilder upgrade and the experience they’ve had between the Suite Engine implementation and development team and the Fernbrook finance team.
The Right Fit for Fernbrook Homes
HomeBuilder understands the unique models and lots tailored to the home building industry, provides regular updates, and is a cost-effective cloud-based solution.
So, how did Fernbrook Homes start using HomeBuilder? They switched from their old system to the consistently updating (cloud-based) Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central platform. After a demo by Welford’s team, they fine-tuned the core functionalities to make it just right for their needs. After about six months of ironing out the details, they were sold on HomeBuilder. Now, they are comfortable using the software for their projects and plan to move even more projects into the system soon.
The most important thing is that HomeBuilder has the models and lots really simplified, built into the system, so we can set up a company in 15 minutes. The implementation is quite fast for us to get a company up and running, and from a financial perspective, we’re quite happy overall.
Albert Chen, CFO | Fernbrook Homes
Interview Highlights
- One of the things Chen loves about HomeBuilder is the ease of setting up a new company utilizing a master template. It takes them just 15 minutes to get a new company up and running. In contrast, their previous accounting system, QuickBooks, was user-friendly but lacked the enterprise-level reporting capabilities they needed. With HomeBuilder, they see a significant improvement in their financial reports.
- Chen also highlights the excellent collaboration between Suite Engine and Fernbrook Homes. The HomeBuilder team listens to their requirements and makes periodic updates, which makes a drastic difference. They particularly appreciate how the software simplifies managing lots and models, making their work more efficient.
- A game changer for Fernbrook is that they now use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to read their purchase invoices. The (Continia) system automatically attaches a copy of the vendor’s purchase invoice to the invoice in HomeBuilder and automatically reads the vendor, line items, prices, taxes, etc., and enters them into the system. This saves time, reduces manual errors, and allows the staff to focus on more valuable tasks.
What’s Next for Fernbrook Homes?
Looking ahead, Chen is confident that HomeBuilder will continue updating the software with new functionalities to improve efficiency further. They also plan to integrate PowerBI for better reporting and data utilization.
So, if you’re intrigued by Albert’s success story with HomeBuilder, watch the full interview, and don’t forget to schedule a demo with us to see HomeBuilder in action. It’s time to take your finance department to the next level with a tailor-made solution for the homebuilding industry.
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