Crafting a Construction Technology Package for a Good Cause

Habitat for Humanity Okanagan is an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity Canada, a national, non-profit organization working towards a world where everyone has a safe and decent place to live. Habitat for Humanity’s model empowers families to invest in home ownership. Through donated labour, efficient management and tax-deductible donations of money and materials, Habitat for Humanity builds simple and decent houses.

When Andrea Manifold joined Habitat for Humanity Okanagan as its new CEO in July of 2019, she quickly realized the organization was struggling to get data out of its system of record — an older version of Quickbooks. The organization had to rely on spreadsheets in order to compare and contract data from its construction projects.

When a large-scale project to build 12 homes was approved — and many other projects expected in the pipeline as the organization grows — Manifold knew Habitat for Humanity would need a better way to track costs and manage construction workflows.

“What we had was a platform that wasn’t prepared to handle our growth,” Manifold said. “We needed a system that was designed for construction and could address our data needs in real time.”

Manifold had previously worked with a British Columbia contractor that used Viewpoint’s Spectrum Construction Software for all of its business and project management needs. A full-suite ERP part of the connected, cloud-based ViewpointOne suite of construction management solutions, Spectrum allows contractors to work in real time, no matter where work takes them — with easy-to-use tools for job costing, project management workflows and much more.

Tavis Craik, owner of Key Business Solutions Ltd. (KBS), one of Viewpoint’s Business Development Partners, had previously worked with Manifold in her former position and they kept in touch when Manifold moved to her role with Habitat for Humanity. When Manifold reached out to Craik to see what could be done, Craik jumped into action.

Craik brought the opportunity to Viewpoint’s leadership team, which worked out a solution to provide Habitat for Humanity Okanagan with a ViewpointOne package of Spectrum and the collaborative document and project management solution Viewpoint Team — at a special non-profit price point. In addition, Craik agreed to provide complimentary implementation services through KBS. This allowed Habitat for Humanity to acquire the modern construction software and data capabilities it needed without breaking its own charitable bank.

“It was a great way for Viewpoint and KBS to come together to get the folks at Habitat what they needed to continue to grow their mission,” Craik said. “KBS is very proud to have the opportunity to donate our time to help Habitat for Humanity through the implementation and training process of setting up ViewpointOne. They say every little bit helps. Our hope is the little bit we brought to the table will help a family realize their dream of living in a home they can call their own.”

With the ViewpointOne package of Spectrum and Team, Habitat for Humanity Okanagan can better manage its gift and service in kind data and seamlessly correlate it with its project workflows and progress data.

Manifold said Spectrum has been particularly helpful in helping the organization navigate the nuances of federal taxes for the charity. Habitat for Humanity Okanagan has also been able to bring its payroll back in house and manage it more efficiently in connection with its construction projects. “We’ve been able to save around $3,000 a year in fees for payroll services alone,” Manifold said.

“Having ViewpointOne has been a big help for us,” Manifold said. “We feel like we have a clearer idea of how our projects are performing and where we can be more productive and efficient, thanks to the real-time data we now have at our fingertips. And Viewpoint went out of its way to work with us at every step. That means a lot to us and to our cause of helping others.”