One of the big guns in consumer software is targeting small and medium-sized construction firms for what it hopes will be its first lucrative vertical market.
Intuit Inc., maker of QuickBooks, realized more than 350,000 contractors use its small business accounting software, many in ways far beyond the scope for which it was intended. So Intuit queried more than 50 contracting firms about building an add-on to QuickBooks for contractors with revenue of up to $50 million. But this spring, Dan Smith, founder of Santa Rosa, Calif.-based OMware Inc., convinced Intuit to buy his company and product line that includes Master Builder accounting and business management software for contractors, instead. Smith now is vice president of construction business solutions for Intuit. The question now is whether those targeted contractors will move to Master Builder or stay with QuickBooks. Master Builder, with its accounting, cost management, estimating and scheduling modules, costs $3,500 plus. QuickBooks Pro costs $280 for a single user.