Software for Home Builders and Condo Builders

Recent Changes/Additions/Activities:

08/22/24 H.O.M.E.S. Customer Service v8.0.3 released to accommodate revised Tarion Builderlink integration services address due to connectivity issues experienced on the original address provided by Tarion. (Users experiencing problems downloading deficiencies from Builderlink should obtain this update.)

03/14/24 H.O.M.E.S. Customer Service v8.0.2 released to improve upon Tarion Builderlink deficiency importing after an unannounced change to the deficiency description format from Tarion.

03/14/24 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 8.0 released with the following new features & enhancements:

All Modules:

• User adjustable on-screen scaling (zoom) has been added to increase the size of on-screen fonts/text and dialogs for easier readability especially on high resolution displays.
• On-screen date editing has been greatly improved to be easier and more intuitive regardless of Windows settings. The month is now indicated using three letters, rather than numerals and the year uses 4 digits instead of two so no assumptions are necessary. To make it easier to enter dates, you can double-click on any date field to select a date from a pop-up calendar.
• On-screen selection list column widths are now automatically adjusted according to the width of the resizable dialog.
• Sample projects have been updated and improved.
• All known issues have been corrected.
• The built-in Help manual has been updated and further enhanced.
• Several more less notable but desirable enhancements plus all features included in prior releases 7.1.0 and earlier.

Head Office & Sales Office Main Module:

• Deposit tracking has been dramatically improved with a new Deposit Account/Escrow Account tracking system to record and report all deposit transactions and transfers by lot/unit including returned cheques etc. Define as many deposit or escrow accounts as desired, and track transactions using customized transaction types.
• A Reference/Notes field was added to the Offer Deposit Information dialog to record brief reference notes such as cheque numbers which will be included on the Deposits and Settlements report and the Offer Information Sheet, similar to Extras settlements.
• Pre-set Offer Deposits may now be discontinued for easier transitions when the default deposit schedule is being revised for projects for which sales have already commenced.
• E-Signing has been made even more flexible by adding more service provider options. Each individual user can now choose their preferred e-signing provider (Zoho Sign®, Adobe Sign® or Box Sign® subscription required) on the Setup menu and signature tags will still be inserted into documents automatically and dynamically based on the number of purchasers. (Plans are in place to also add Canadian e-signing service Signority® as another compatible provider in the near future. At the time of release, Zoho Sign and Adobe Sign (Classic Experience only) are the most compatible and convenient services to use with H.O.M.E.S.)
• New project-specific contact phone number and email fields have been added on the Project Setup dialog to make it even easier to design generic document templates that may be used for all projects.
• Archive/Unarchive projects – You can now archive non-current projects and un-archive if desired.
• Default closing dates may now (optionally) be pre-defined.
• The Offer Information Sheet may now optionally include a list of amendments.
• The Lot/Unit Model Assignment dialog has been enhanced to include a “Copy From Another Lot/Unit” button to enable copying model assignments from another Lot/Unit.
• Validations of attachment files and document templates were revised to allow for assignment of files using mapped drives when HOMES was not originally installed using a mapped drive.
• Custom Query reports can now have subtotals provided in specified column(s) automatically when the value in a designated column changes. (eg: You can get subtotals on extras sales for each lot/unit.)
• A security setting has been added to enable authorized users to edit the quantity of upgrades & extras sold by sqft when editing has been disallowed. (This eliminates the need to temporarily enable quantity editing for the option code.)
• The Colours Analysis report may now be filtered by colour chart field, to assist with resolving project setup issues.
• The Lot/Unit List report may now be filtered by text (such as a keyword) found in the Lot/Unit’s notes.
• A new “Closing Adjustments by Lot/Unit“ custom query report was added for new installations.
• A new “Contractor Email Distribution Setup“ custom query report was added for new installations. This reports makes it easy to check to ensure contractors are set up correctly for email distribution of work orders, purchase orders etc.
• Added new Parking Space and Locker Descriptions mail merge fields to more easily list assigned parking spaces and lockers on additional purchaser documents or in custom reports.
• The lot/unit number and project name are automatically added to the filename when saving a mutual release as a pdf for e-signing
• Price change and Premium change events for Models, Lots/Units and Options can now be tracked in the security log.

Purchase Order System:

• A Cancel/Reinstate Selected Purchase Orders feature was added to more easily cancel or reinstate multiple purchase orders as a batch process. This will make it faster and easier if you have to cancel all purchase orders for a specific lot/unit, or all purchase orders for a specific contractor.

Customer Service (Integrated and Stand-Alone):

• For Ontario, Canada users: Updated to include compatibility with Tarion’s new deficiency categories: “Initial List” and “Mid-Year”, in addition to any other category you wish to manage. (The new categories are necessary for units with possession dates on or after May 1 2024.)
• Tarion Builderlink Integration For Ontario, Canada users! You can now import deficiencies submitted to Tarion Builderlink by purchasers for 30 Day, Initial, Mid-Year, 1 Year and 2 Years categories.
• A new “E-Sign” button was added on main Lot/Unit dialog to make sending documents for e-signatures even easier. The e-signing provider’s web page is automatically loaded and purchaser and builder signatures are copied to the Windows Clipboard for easy pasting into the Request Signatures web page. (Zoho Sign®, Adobe Sign® or Box Sign® subscription required) on the Setup menu and signature tags will still be inserted into documents automatically and dynamically based on the number of purchasers. (Plans are in place to also add Canadian e-signing service Signority® as another compatible provider in the near future. At the time of release, Zoho Sign and Adobe Sign (Classic Experience only) are the most compatible and convenient services to use with H.O.M.E.S.)
• The maximum deficiency description field length has been increased. (Brief descriptions are still recommended for easy identification on all reports.)
• Archive/Unarchive projects – You can now archive non-current projects and un-archive if desired. (Stand-Alone Edition - Head Office)
• Service Status Summary by Contractor Report: Added Completion Date filter to enable analysing contractor/project status from any prior date or range of dates.

Construction Site System:

• Contractors’ production schedules may now be automatically distributed via email to contractors using a customizable MS-Word document template. (The emails may also be fully customized.)
• Production schedules may now be printed or previewed on-screen using a customizable MS-Word document template.

05/18/22 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 7.1 released with the following new features & enhancements:

Head Office & Sales Office Main Module:

• A new “E-Sign” button was added on main Offer dialog to make sending documents for signatures even easier.
• A pre-defined custom “Pages to Print” range can be defined for the main APS document template, to assist when using pre-printed/photocopied aps packages for in-person signing in combination with e-signing for which the entire aps template must be available.
• The Individual Identification Information Record (Fintrac) can now be generated with the first page fully populated automatically for Canadian users. This feature can also be used to populate other purchaser-specific document templates.
• Users can now double-click to automatically insert today’s date in the Deposit Notes dialog for dated entries.
• Management of Options available to purchasers of each model has been made easier with the addition of the Model Option Assignment dialog. Options may be more easily selected or deselected for availability to purchasers of a specific model.
• The Colours Analysis report is now optionally available in Sales Office Mode.
• A new option was added to hide parking spaces and storage lockers in the list of upgrades and extras on the colour chart.
• A new project option was added to avoid warnings if a packaged option is not available for the model the purchaser has chosen.
• Condo Fees and related information is now recorded in the database for easier inclusion on custom query reports.
• Extras List report can now be filtered by Lot/Unit Number Prefix (to filter for specific floors or blocks) and also by upgrade extra description including filtering to exclude entries by keyword.
• Extras Sales by Lot/Unit Report can now be filtered by Lot/Unit Number Prefix (to filter for specific floors or blocks) and also by upgrade extra description keyword to exclude.
• For condo projects, reports were adjusted to display “TBA” if the closing date is not yet defined and therefore is prior to the occupancy date.

Purchase Order System:

• New Upgraded Emailing System! The entire emailing system for automatic distribution of purchaser orders and work orders has been upgraded to include modern TLS 1.2 encryption and compatibility with the new Oauth 2.0 user authorization required for use of Gmail (as of May 30 2022) and Microsoft 365 (as of October 1 2022) hosted email addresses. (Oauth 2.0 requires users to log in before emailing, and is compatible with two factor authentication.)  This will make email setup easier with greater compatibility with most if not all modern email servers.

Customer Service (Integrated and Stand-Alone):

• New Upgraded Emailing System! The entire emailing system for automatic distribution of service work orders has been upgraded to include modern TLS 1.2 encryption and compatibility with the new Oauth 2.0 user authorization required for use of Gmail (as of May 30 2022) and Microsoft 365 (as of October 1 2022) hosted email addresses. (Oauth 2.0 requires users to log in before emailing, and is compatible with 2 factor authentication.)  This will make email setup easier with greater compatibility with most if not all modern email servers.
• The Data Synchronization system (for off-line inspections) has been upgraded to be more wifi and vpn friendly. Both are now supported although not necessarily recommended for best performance. (Since v7.0.1)
• For stand-alone installations, refer to “All Modules” below for more new features.  

Construction Site System:

• A new “Construction by Trade” report has been added to automatically list all construction-related information by Trade category.
• The View Change dialog now displays the option image if one is assigned to the option code.

All Modules:

• Windows 11 is officially supported (since v7.0.4)
• Server 2022 is officially supported
• Microsoft Edge has replaced the deprecated Internet Explorer as the default browser for viewing files on-screen etc.
• Projects and Contacts Databases for which users are not authorized are now hidden from selection dialogs.
• All known issues have been corrected.

12/09/21 H.O.M.E.S. and H.O.M.E.S. Lite v7.0.4 update released to resolve errors loading documents such as Colour Charts, Offer Info Sheets, Delay Letters, Mail Merges etc caused by Microsoft Office 365, 2019/Microsoft 365 automatic update version 2111. Windows 11 now supported.

01/27/21 H.O.M.E.S. and H.O.M.E.S. Lite v7.0.2 update released for builders in Ontario, Canada to accommodate the Tarion/Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) changes mandatory as of February 1^st 2021, including new APS addendums and Warranty Information sheets as well as revised enrollment fee calculations etc.

09/14/20 H.O.M.E.S. Customer Service v7.0.1 update released adding improved automatic data synchronization for off-line inspection tablets that is more VPN and Wifi friendly, and includes optional data compression.

08/04/20 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 7.0 released with the following new features & enhancements:

Head Office & Sales Office Main Module:

• Many great new additions to support social distancing for sales and décor appointments:

  • Images of options and colour choices are now managed for convenient on-screen visualization of customization options during décor appointments done on-line via Zoom® or similar service. Quickly displays all the colour choices available to the purchaser at one or all upgrade levels. (Easily print or email too.)
  • Images may optionally be included right on colour charts and extras sheets. Generic colour chart templates with images may be used for much easier colour chart setup…no more placing fields on the colour chart template. It may be used for any project with no revision necessary.
  • A fully customizable Décor Catalogue with images of options and colour choices can be presented on-screen or printed and can be easily filtered to include only the options/colours of interest.
  • E-Signatures for Documents! HOMES is now compatible with Adobe Sign® for requesting electronic signatures to assist with social distancing. Signature tags can be selected from the list of available merge fields to be inserted into the same document templates already in use, to have purchaser e-signature requests automatically generated using Adobe Sign. H.O.M.E.S. even automatically adjusts the signature tags when the number of purchasers varies! (Requires a subscription to Adobe Sign®) (All Modules)
• The Extras Information dialog has been made resizable for better visibility of Extras sheets with many items and/or long notes/instructions.
• A warning if settlements are not entered completely is now only provided when closing the Extras Maintenance dialog if settlements are incomplete for firm extras during a décor appointment.
• Offer Information sheet has been greatly improved. It is now fully customizable using a MS-Word document template, and it now doubles as a financial summary for a lot/unit, including décor extras if applicable and adjusted closing balances.
• The Commission report may now be filtered to report only the type of sales you want reported: Lots/Units, Décor Extras, or both.
• Added support for default Outlook email signatures when creating new emails via Outlook (HTML or Plain Text)
• Lot/Unit financial totals are now stored for easy insertion into custom financial reports and for exporting to Excel.
• New additional “Email” field added to mail merges to more conveniently automatically assign the correct recipient email address to use for all email blasts.
• Document Distribution Tracking support for mail merges was added including built-in reporting of documents sent or not yet sent, and manual recording/editing of the distribution. Report by document, date distributed, recipient, sender etc.
• The Mail Merge and the Batch Closing/Occupancy Date Utility have both been enhanced to permit more granular selection of Lots/Units by enabling further refinement of the specified batch via individual selection of lots/units making it much easier to send emails/letters to only specific purchasers, and to define staggered occupancy and closing dates.
• HOMES now also tracks and reports the date upon which closing dates or occupancy dates were revised
• Improved unavoidable delay handling. Unavoidable delay start and end dates are tracked and reported, and the revised statement of critical dates is automatically offered after unavoidable delay entries. (Ontario)
• Improved automatic handling of rebate adjustments when the purchaser is not eligible for rebate(s). Federal and Provincial Rebate closing adjustments when the purchaser does not qualify for the rebate(s) may be fully automated to increase the closing balance when both the “Debit Purchaser” and “Credit Purchaser” pre-set closing adjustments are correctly assigned.
• The Statement of Adjustments template may now be selected on-the-fly for more conveniently printing/previewing other templates such as the Interim Occupancy Statement of Adjustments.
• Profit and costing reports now use purchase order costs (if issued) for greater accuracy when option prices have been changed since the purchase orders were issued.
• All Upgrades/Extras reports now offer the option to exclude a specific Trade category’s entries from the report
• Authorized personnel may now edit purchaser contact information without having to unlock editing on firm offers
• Structural Appointments are now tracked and managed similar to Décor appointments. (The Décor Appointments report has been enhanced to report Structural Appointments, Décor Appointments or both.)
• There is now an Indicator on main Offer dialog of the current colour chart status.
• The Colours Analysis Report now provides a filter to exclude closed Lots/Units
• It is now possible to automatically assign an Irrevocable Date based on a customizable number of days from the offer date.
• A mortgage approval date is now tracked on the Lender Information dialog, and the Offer List Report may now be filtered based on mortgage approval status.
• More flexible user-definable text descriptions to replace offer deposit due dates on the purchase agreement when the due date is expected to change because it is based on a date such as the Closing Date, Interim Occupancy Date, Occupancy Date, etc.
• Directly view files shared with contractors. A button is now available to view files being shared with contractors via a web-based file sharing service (eg Dropbox or Google Drive) if available.
• Support has been added for disallowing editing of amendments created using a pre-set amendment. (May be defined by individual pre-set amendment.)
• Deposits and Settlements Report and the Late Payments Report are now available in Sales Office mode, if the user is authorized.
• A ‘Miscellaneous Information’ field has been added to the Lot/Unit Information dialog which may be useful for categorizing Lots/Units especially for special mail merge purposes.
• The Lot/Unit Status report now includes the construction start date when excluding sales figures.

Purchase Order System:

• Single Purchase Orders per Lot/Unit! Now when choosing not to print/distribute standard model component purchase orders to contractors, HOMES will automatically insert all purchasers’ colour choices in the upgrades/extras purchase order ensuring all applicable standard and upgraded colour choices are distributed to contractors on one purchase order. (Model component purchase orders should still be generated, but need not be distributed.)
• The Auto-Generate Purchase Orders feature has been made more convenient adding the option to pre-define which contractor to use for each lot/unit when more than one contractor is associated with the trade category. No more repetitive questions about which contractor to use!
• General purchase order instructions may now be customized by individual contractor to personalize purchase orders.
• Support added for project-specific CC and BCC email addresses to send email copies to specific project managers when distributing purchase orders.
• New security authorizations added to allow/deny changing PO completion status back to pending when work is completed, and to allow/deny editing of P.O. notes or editing of P.O. notes after work is completed
• New dedicated Purchase Order Distribution Contact Name field was added to the Contractor/Vendor Information dialog for more accurate addressing of email distribution.
• Images of Options may now optionally be included on work orders/change orders.
• Notes may now be assigned/saved when recording invoice payments to purchase orders.

Customer Service (Integrated and Stand-Alone):

• Automatic email reminders to trades with incomplete work order deficiencies whose due dates are nearing. Fully customizable deficiency reminder letters are automatically generated and attached to customizable emails as a batch process, fully automated based on your preferences. (May also be printed as a batch process, and used to print/email other mail merge documents to contractors as a batch process.)
• New dedicated Service Work Order Distribution Contact Name field was added to the Contractor/Vendor Information dialog for more accurate addressing of email distribution.
• Trade Contractors may now be pre-assigned to Lots/Units eliminating having to repeatedly select a contractor when more than one is available for the Trade category. Pre-assignment is used for automatic generation of purchase orders, service work orders, and for automatic task scheduling when applicable. Pre-assignment may also be done on-the-fly during automatic generation.
• For stand-alone installations, refer to “All Modules” below for more new features.  

Construction Site System:

• Automatic Production Scheduling! The construction schedule can be automatically generated using customizable templates containing user-definable tasks for which the duration can be revised for each lot/unit. Scheduling takes into consideration the contractor hours per day available, (with hours exception handling for holidays etc,) the availability of necessary resources, prerequisite dependency tasks, lot/unit priority, number of workers/teams available etc. Rescheduling may be done automatically. Scheduled tasks may be reported filtered by contractor, task dates etc. even on Gantt charts!

• The Construction by Lot/Unit report has been enhanced to optionally include purchase order numbers and contractors if purchase orders have been issued for model components and upgrades/extras
• Added security options to hide purchase order item notes, purchaser contact information and/or offer notes
• Directly view files shared with contractors. A button is now available to view files being shared with contractors via a web-based file sharing service (eg Dropbox or Google Drive) if available.

All Modules:

• Windows 10 up to version 2004 is now supported.
• HOMES now optionally forces Microsoft Word to remember and use your preferred Window position and size when documents are displayed by HOMES.
• E-signatures are now an option for documents. (See H.O.M.E.S Main Module above re: requirements.)
• Selection of document templates has been made easier by automatically filtering the list of available templates based on the expected type of template required.
• All known issues have been corrected.
• New features have been integrated into the security model to control user authorization and define logging of important events.
• The built-in Help manual has been updated and further enhanced.
• Many more less notable but desirable enhancements plus all features included in prior releases 6.5.0 and earlier.

10/22/18 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite Interim Update version 6.5.3 released with support for Microsoft Office 365, 2019, Windows Server 2019 and Windows 10 version 1809.

01/03/18 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite Interim Update version 6.5.2 released for Ontario, Canada based HOMES users: Support for new Tarion warranty enrollment fee calculations as closing adjustments has been added for builders of Freehold or Condo Conversion units registered with Tarion after January 1 2018.

01/27/17 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 6.5 released with the following new features & enhancements:

Head Office & Sales Office Main Module:

• Décor Importing support has been added to generate the Colour Chart and Request for Extras after importing purchasers’ selections defined using a 3^rd party 3D or 2D décor rendering/selection system. (eg Neezo Décor Configurator from Neezo Studios)
• H.O.M.E.S. now manages a “shared files address” by lot/unit for sharing floor plans etc with subcontractors. With this field you can assign an existing Internet hyperlink address (eg Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive) where files such as floor plans etc are stored for sharing with subcontractors. This address may then be inserted automatically into purchase orders/work orders so subcontractors with Internet access can just click on the link to access the shared floor plan files etc, thereby eliminating the need to distribute them or worry about version control.
• Standard trade/contractor-specific instructions for purchase orders may now be assigned to option codes in addition to the general notes/instructions for all Trades.
• Standard Trade/Contractor Instructions for options may now be assigned selectively as a batch using the Batch Description Changes utility.
• Contractor Instructions for model components may also now be assigned selectively as a batch using the Batch Description Changes utility.
• Trade/Contractor-specific instructions can now be assigned to miscellaneous options to be combined with the general instructions for all Trades/Contractors on Purchase Orders.
• Editing and deletion of upgrades already built for model homes and inventory units may now be denied individually or as a group by authorized personnel.
• The “Copy Model Components/Rooms” dialog has added support for optionally also copying colour selection assignments to models for easier project setup.
• Miscellaneous options created for specific purposes may now have default trades pre-assigned. (Caution: When trades are pre-assigned, the upgrades/extras will be excluded from the “Absent Trade Assignments” report.)
• Options may now be categorized (individually or as a batch) according to how/when they may be sold: as an Upgrade (on the A.P.S), as an Extra (at décor appointments) or Both.
• The list of upgrades/extras on the colour chart may now be filtered. (Colour chart templates may now optionally exclude from the upgrades/extras list entries representing credits, those with no associated cost or those with no associated cost that are part of an option package.)
• Users are now warned if attempting to add amendments or extras for abandoned offers.
• All H.O.M.E.S. document templates may now use standard Microsoft (.DOCX or .DOC) document templates, eliminating the requirement for .DOT or .DOTX templates for some document types and simplifying template editing.
• Improved handling of unavoidable closing/occupancy date delays for Ontario-based companies
• New “Date Identification Confirmed” date added to purchaser identification for FINTRAC compliance.
• The option to reset closing/occupancy dates without resetting the entire offer has been added.
• The Changes by Lot/Unit and Changes by Trade reports optionally include P.O. numbers and Contractors (v6.4.2)
• The Trades/Contractors Assigned to Model Components report can now optionally include contractor instructions.
• The Upgrades/Extras Reports may now also be filtered by notes/instructions.
• Project logos may now be used as the HOMES screen background for branding purposes at sales offices.
• New Security/Policy Options have been added for users or user groups including:
  • Allow or deny editing or deleting of any/all upgrades for model homes/inventory lots/units
  • Allow or deny permission to change the editing status of upgrades for model homes/inventory lots/units
• More new merge fields have been added for purchase agreements, amendments and requests for extras flexibility including total dollar values for parking spaces and storage lockers, total Upgrades/Extras excluding Parking & Lockers, and Total Extras and Offer Price plus total Extras for more flexibility in  price change amendments.

Purchase Order System:

• Purchase Orders on the “Email Selected Purchase Orders” dialog may now be sorted by Lot/Unit or P.O. Number and filtered by status.
• The new more flexible standard instructions for options and trade-specific instructions for miscellaneous options have been incorporated into the Auto-Generate Purchase Orders feature.
• Support for combined purchase order/work order templates was added. (eg Print purchase order with costs and work order without costs using one template. Useful especially when distributing by email. )

Customer Service (Integrated and Stand-Alone):

• Purchasers can now sign the PDI form electronically on a tablet and the signed PDI form can be emailed to the purchaser in PDF format with a pre-defined email message.
• Capturing and assigning photographs of deficiencies during inspections has been made easier and more convenient since the preferred camera app can be launched from the HOMES system, and photographs can be automatically resized to conform to the preferred maximum file size.
• Repair warranty durations are now managed.
• Repair Completion Letters can now be emailed or printed as a batch process to inform purchasers which repairs have been completed, and when their repair warranties expire. The letter templates may be customized in MS-Word and the email messages may also be fully customized.
• A new alert “Customer Service Repair Notifications Due to be Sent” is now included.
• Work orders on the Email Selected Work Orders dialog may now be sorted by Lot/Unit or Work Order number and filtered by work order status.
• The Appointments by Contractor report can now optionally include entries without appointments.

Construction Site System:

• The Changes by Lot/Unit and Changes by Trade reports optionally include P.O. numbers and Contractors.
• The Upgrades/Extras Reports may now be filtered by notes/instructions.

All Modules:

• Windows Server 2016 is now supported.
• Windows 10 version 1607 is now supported.
• All known issues have been corrected.
• New features have been integrated into the security model to control user authorization and define logging of important events.
• The built-in Help manual has been updated and further enhanced.
• Many more less notable but desirable enhancements plus all features included in prior releases 6.4.0 and earlier.

10/26/15 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 6.4.3 released with the following new features & enhancements:

Head Office & Sales Office Main Module:

• Several reports have been enhanced.

  Customer Service (Integrated and Stand-Alone):

• Photographs of deficiencies may now also be printed on PDI/Inspection Forms similar to work orders.
• Photographs of deficiencies may now be included in custom query reports.
• Maximum image attachment file size editing policy may be defined in the security system.

Purchase Order System:

• The automatic purchase order generation feature has been enhanced to permit more flexible filtering of trade categories for simultaneous generation of purchase orders to multiple selected trades. In addition, it is now more convenient to select for which lots/units purchase orders should be generated, and whether or not to order based on the colour chart status...all from the Auto-Generate Purchase Orders dialog.

All Modules:

• MS-Office 2016 is now supported.
• All known issues have been corrected.
• New features have been integrated into the security model to control user authorization and define logging of important events.
• The built-in Help manual has been updated and further enhanced.

08/28/15 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 6.4 released with the following new features & enhancements:

Head Office & Sales Office Main Module:

• Selectively Copy Setup Data from Another Project Any Time – Now you can copy Trades, Contractors, Models, Options, Colour Selections, etc. including relationships from any other project even if your project is already in progress.
• Colour Selection descriptions may now be edited as a batch using the Batch Description Changes feature.
• Colour Choice descriptions may now be edited as a batch using the Batch Description Changes feature.
• Colour chart entries may now be changed as a batch process with automatic revision/redistribution of applicable purchase orders for builders who reserve the right of colour/design/style substitution. (P.O. Template revision recommended)
• Lot/Unit civic address/legal address may now be edited as a batch using the Batch Description Changes feature.
• Improved automated taxation support for taxable closing adjustments.
• Calculation of common condo fees now more conveniently includes the area of parking spaces and storage lockers.
• Extras Maintenance dialog improved with more visible totals, settlements totals and unpaid/unsettled balances, plus text filtering for more convenient searches.
• Amendments Maintenance dialog improved with text filtering for more convenient searches.
• Gross Margins by Lot/Unit & Extras Gross Margins by Lot/Unit reports: Option to include or exclude commissions in cost/gross margin calculations.
• Easier selection of Microsoft .DOCX, .HTM etc document files for mail merges etc.
• Purchaser documents previewed in MS-Word may now be saved as PDF files (MS-Word 2007 or later required)
• You may now choose to calculate margins/profits as percentage of cost (markups) or as a percentage of net sales for gross margin reports.
• New Security/Policy Options have been added for users or user groups:
  • Allow or deny creation of an offer when a conditional offer already exists for the lot/unit.
  • Allow or deny editing of critical dates on an offer.
  • Allow or deny the creation of multiple conditional offers.
  • Allow or deny changing the closed status of an offer, with or without unlocking editing and deny closing if the closing date has not yet arrived.
  • Enable or disable warning about mortgage amount not matching closing balance during editing of offers.
• Option to print only specified pages of warranty addendums by default.
• Optional automatic calculation of mortgage amount by percentage of closing balance during entry of offers.
• Settlement type descriptions may now be longer to accommodate phrases such as “To be Paid on Closing”.
• The “Select an Offer” dialog may now be optionally left on-screen after opening an offer.
• Improved stability when HOMES task/session is ended unexpectedly without saving data and/or closing HOMES first.
• Many reports have been enhanced. Examples:
  • Extras Sales by Lot/Unit report now optionally includes detailed notes/instructions.
  • Construction by lot/unit report: Option to exclude purchaser names, closing/occupancy dates & colour chart status.

  Customer Service (Integrated and Stand-Alone):

• Photographs may now be conveniently attached directly to deficiencies during inspections. (Filenames are automatically descriptively renamed.)
• Work orders may now optionally include a photograph of deficiencies on the work order. (Simple work order template revision required.)
• The User Logins Report is now also available in the integrated version of the Customer Service System.
• New alert added for tracking overdue contractor acknowledgement of receipt of work orders.
• Filtering by keyword of an individual lot/unit’s service log is now also available.
• The filename of work order pdf files distributed to contractors now includes the lot/unit number in the filename so contractors may sort their emails by lot/unit number in MS-Outlook etc.
• Email setup has been enhanced to permit an optional “Reply To” email address for more flexibility.
• The "Work Orders by Lot/Unit" and "Work Orders by Trade" reports may now be filtered by completion date and also may optionally exclude a specific origin category (eg. Pre-PDI) of work orders.
• Work Order Appointment Times may now be entered non-specifically as just “AM” or “PM”

Purchase Order System:

• Optional automatic purchase order revision & redistribution for simple stand-alone colour chart revisions – When a simple change of colour/design/style is made to a colour chart that does not require a change of options sold, HOMES can now automatically revise and redistribute any affected purchase order(s).
• Easier email distribution of purchase order cancellation notices with option to distribute automatically.
• The filename of purchase order pdf files distributed to contractors now includes the lot/unit number in the filename so contractors may sort their emails by lot/unit number in MS-Outlook.
• New alert added for tracking overdue contractor acknowledgement of receipt of purchase orders.
• New Report: “Completions by Contractor”
• Email setup has been enhanced to permit an optional “Reply To” email address for more flexibility.
• Enhanced to be easier to go paperless. (No P.O.s printed if 0 copies selected on P.O. setup dialog.)
• Invoice Activity by Contractor Report may now be filtered by invoice number.

Construction Site System:

• The Custom Query Reports/Alerts/Excel Exports feature is now available at the Construction Site office so users may now receive alerts there as well.
• New Report: Completions by Contractor

All Modules:

• Windows 10 is now supported.
• Support for Windows Themes provides a more modern appearance but without changing the interface to which users are accustomed.
• Automatic User Log-off: Automatically log off users who have neglected to log off manually based on a period of inactivity or at a specific time of day…whichever comes first. (Computer must not be “sleeping”)
• All known issues have been corrected.
• New features have been integrated into the security model to control user authorization and define logging of important events.
• The built-in Help manual has been updated and further enhanced.
• Many more less notable but desirable enhancements plus all features included in prior releases 6.3.0 and earlier.

10/29/13 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 6.3.5 released with the following new features & enhancements:

Head Office & Sales Office Main Module:

• Support for automatically preparing a customized Interim Occupancy Statement using a customizable MS-Word template for Condo projects.
• Support for quick fully automated purchase price revision amendments when using a pre set amendment.
• New features have been integrated into the security model to control user authorization and policies.
• The built-in Help manual has been updated and further enhanced.

• All Modules:

• Microsoft Windows 8.1 is now supported
• Microsoft Server 2012 R2 is now supported
• All known issues have been corrected.

07/09/13 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 6.3 released with the following new features & enhancements:

Head Office & Sales Office Main Module:

• The main offer dialog has been redesigned to improve handling of multiple purchasers for each lot/unit, including more comprehensive independent contact information for each purchaser but without having to re-enter information when several purchasers reside at the same address.
• Option selection lists may now also be filtered by keyword located anywhere in the description to make finding the desired option(s) even easier.
• Mail Merge has been improved for better handling of mail merges to multiple purchasers for the same lot/unit, and many additional financial fields are available providing template customization functionality similar to the purchase agreement.
• All colour chart entries are now tracked by date individually, to enable reporting of only entries changed within a desired date range.
• Telephone number field lengths have been increased.
• Telephone, Fax and Email fields are now tracked for Sales Agents and Brokers
• Pre-set Amendments may now be defined in advance to make entry of new amendments faster and easier, including assignment of a pre-defined document template.
• Broker Co-op Agreements may now be generated via Mail Merge including necessary financial fields and commission calculation options.
• New broker fee related fields are available for insertion into the purchase agreement.
• Pre-set Deposits due dates may now be defined by Interim Occupancy Date and Roof Completion Date in addition to prior options.
• Décor Appointment Date/Time Tracking has been added with scheduling report and décor appointment letters/emails may be generated via mail merge. (A sample template is provided.)
• Batch Closing Date/Occupancy Date Delays have been added to make revising closing dates or occupancy dates for multiple lots/units much easier, including automatic generation of delay letters by batch.
• Deposit Due Dates defined by closing date, occupancy date, interim occupancy date, construction start date or roof completion date are optionally updated automatically when any of these dates are set or revised in a batch.
• Default quantities for options not sold by room size may now also be defined in advance.
• Option prices may now be calculated by markup percentage on the Option Information setup dialog.
• Option assignments for a model may now be copied from any other model in the same project.
• Purchasers’ Lender contact information is now tracked and letters/emails to lenders may be generated via mail merge. (A sample template is provided.)
• New purchaser list custom query reports have been added that may be easily customized
• Custom query creation now supports display of additional field descriptions when available.

• Customer Service (Integrated and Stand-Alone):

• After upgrades, off-line inspection tablets/notebook PCs can now be upgraded automatically during data synchronization.
• New purchaser list custom query reports have been added that may be easily customized
• The default number of work order copies may now be set to zero to disable the offer to print all unprinted work orders after they are auto-generated, for users who prefer to operate paperless.
• Work Orders by Lot/Unit and Work Orders by Trade reports may now be filtered by appointment date

  All Modules:

• Office® 2013 is now supported
• Main window size and position is now remembered for users who do not wish to always open it maximized.
• All known issues have been corrected.
• New features have been integrated into the security model to control user authorization and define logging of important events.
• The built-in Help manual has been updated and further enhanced.
• Many more less notable but desirable enhancements plus all features included in prior releases 6.2 and earlier.

12/14/12 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 6.2 released with the following new features & enhancements:

Head Office & Sales Office Main Module:

• New enhanced option packages support has been added to enable creation of option packages whereby when a specific package option is sold, additional packaged options are included automatically.
• Handling of standard floor plans has been improved to enable automatic printing of the standard floor plan for the applicable model as a schedule with the purchase agreement. (MS-Word format)
• The maximum length of model descriptions has been increased
• Many new security options have been added including more flexible control over premium editing and an override for authorized personnel for editing option prices for which editing is normally disallowed.
• New reports have been added to compliment the new features from version 6.1:

• Closing Balances Report to list adjusted balances due on closing by lot/unit.
• Purchaser Identification Report to list purchasers and their identification information. (Convenient Fintrac compliance)
• Option Packages Report to list available option packages and assist with setup.
• A preset default outside occupancy date may now be defined so all critical dates may be pre-defined. (Ontario, Canada)

• Customer Service (Integrated and Stand-Alone):

• Attachments may now be added and edited even during off-line inspections and later synchronized with head office automatically. (eg add photos of deficiencies or edit floor plans showing location of deficiencies even without Internet.)
• The maximum deficiency description length for checklists and work orders has been increased.
• Off-line inspection data synchronizations are now recorded in the security log.

• All Modules:

• Windows 8 and Server 2012 are supported
• All known issues have been corrected.
• New features have been integrated into the security model to control user authorization and define logging of important events.
• The Built-in Help manual has been updated and further enhanced.
• Many more less notable but desirable enhancements plus all features included in prior releases 6.1 and earlier.

09/27/12 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 6.1 released with the following new features & enhancements:

Head Office & Sales Office Main Module:

• Automatic Population of the new Tarion 2012 Warranty Addendums (Mandatory in Ontario Canada on October 1 2012)
• Automated handling of closing adjustments including automatic assignment and calculations. Closing adjustments of the following types can be automatically calculated and assigned and  to new offers:

• Canadian Federal New Home Tax Rebates
• Canadian Provincial New Home Tax Rebates
• Tarion Warranty Program Enrollment Fee (Ontario, Canada)
• Set Dollar Amount
•  Set Dollar Amount for purchasers whose net purchase price falls within specified ranges
• Percentage of net purchase price
• Percentage of gross purchase price
• Percentage of net purchase price for purchasers whose net purchase price falls within specified ranges
• Percentage of gross purchase price for purchasers whose net purchase price falls within specified ranges
• Closing Adjustments assigned from presets may be automatically recalculated when the total purchase price changes.
• Closing Adjustments may also be assigned completely manually or from a pre-defined list with automatic calculation.
• The  Closing Statement of Adjustments is now automatically generated from a customizable MS-Word template
• Amendment and Mutual Release template filenames may now be selected on-the-fly if authorized, and Amendment template filenames are remembered and locked in when an amendment becomes firm to help avoid selecting the wrong template when reprinting or previewing on-screen.
• Enhanced secure tracking of each purchaser's identification documentation (especially to assist Canadian users to comply with FINTRAC requirements.)
• Security dialogs improved to make management easier with “Select All” and De-Select All” buttons.
• Custom Reports/Queries: added support for custom column data formatting
• Deposit Due dates may now be calculated by number of months in addition to number of days. (To keep consistent day of month)
• Brokers may now be more quickly added on-the-fly without needing to use the setup menu, and the company name is now available as a separate field.
• Colour Choices may now be copied from another project.
• A new less restrictive “Marketing Project Name” field is now available to all documents.
• Specific authorization for editing of premiums may now be assigned
• A standard floor plan attachment may now be assigned by model.
• A 3^rd digit of decimal accuracy has been added to cost price editing fields
• Reports have been further enhanced.

  Customer Service (Integrated and Stand-Alone):

• Inspection checklists may now be optionally locked when completed to avoid changes without proper authorization.
• New Reports: “Service Status Summary by Lot/Unit” and “Service Status Summary by Contractor”
• Attachments may now be edited even during off-line inspections and later synchronized with head office automatically.
• Off-line inspection workstation Data synchronization with head office is now faster.
• Reports have been further enhanced.
• Improved Print Selected Work Orders and Email Selected Work Orders features to permit multi-select.
• Added “Select All” & “Deselect All” buttons for recording work completions & work order receipt confirmations.

         Purchase Order System:

• Improved Print Selected Purchase Orders and Email Selected Purchase Orders features to permit multi-select.
• Added “Select All” & “Deselect All” buttons for recording purchase order receipt confirmations.

         Contact management:

• Double-clicking on the contact’s notes field automatically inserts today’s date ready for a dated entry.

         All Modules:

• All known issues have been corrected.
• New features have been integrated into the security model to control user authorization and define logging of important events.
• The Built-in Help manual has been updated and further enhanced.
• Many more less notable but desirable enhancements plus all features included in prior releases 6.0 and earlier.

11/30/10 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 6.0 released with the following new features & enhancements:

Head Office & Sales Office Main Module:

• Deposit Schedules can now be pre-defined to automatically insert the offer deposit schedule for new offers with calculated deposit amounts and due dates to help speed up the sales process and eliminate errors.
• Enhanced Broker/Outside Sales Agent commission/fee tracking support as percentage or fixed amount and optional automatic assignment. The Commissions report is enhanced to optionally include broker fees/commissions with subtotals.
• Pop-up sales agent reminders can now be defined for option codes independent of the contractors’ notes/instructions.
• Selection by sales agents of inventory lots/units for model homes may now be disallowed for lots/units that already have an offer with a status whose description contains “inventory” or “model”, to force the use of the pre-existing offer.
• New “Custom Queries” feature for Custom Alerts, Reports & Data Exports:
  • Create Custom User Alerts to warn specific users when particular conditions arise according to your preferences. Pre-defined examples include:

• Customer Service Deficiencies Due in 7 Days or Less (by Contractor)

• Customer Service Work Orders Within 2 Weeks of Warranty Program Deadlines (by Contractor)

• Insurance Certificates Expiring within the next 2 weeks

• Purchaser Offers Awaiting Approval

• Safety Certificates Expiring within the next 2 weeks

• Create Custom Reports automatically formatted in Excel and ready for printing. (Requires MS-Excel®)

• Export to Excel customized project information for external manipulation or saving in many data formats. (Requires MS-Excel®)

• Improved handling of lengthy Vendor Conditions and Preset Vendor Conditions on APS documents including Warranty Addendum and Appendix if necessary
• Entry of a construction start date on the project setup dialog will now optionally copy the date to all existing offers in addition to unsold lots/units. (condo projects)
• The Option List now permits exclusion of options sold by sqft if room size is not defined for a specified model.
• Batch Price/Cost Change Utility: Option credits are now excluded by default when adjusting for Options, but they may be included.
• Colour Chart editing is now even faster and easier with the new “Auto-Select” button to automatically fill in choices for any colour selection for which only one choice is available to the purchaser.
• Notification to trades of purchasers’ upgraded colour choices is now more flexible to make it easier to excluding trades associated with the option that do not need colour choice information.
• Contractor Safety Certificate (WSIB) number & date tracking, with optional alert when certificates will soon expire.
• More merge field information is now available for even more flexible APS document template customization, and colour charts may now include the name of the user who most recently edited the colour chart.
• Project Setup has been made even faster and easier:
  • When defining colour choices for a colour selection, you can copy colour choices from another selection.
  • During colour selection model assignment, you can now copy models from another colour selection.
  • The Batch Description Changes utility is enhanced to also include assigning sales agent reminders to groups of option codes with one command.
• Many reports have been enhanced and now include filtering by partial lot/unit numbers, to enable reporting for just a specific floor or block, including the Colours Analysis and Construction reports. The Lot List: now includes an option to exclude prices and premiums.

Customer Service (Integrated and Stand-Alone):

• Inspection Checklists/Deficiency Lists are now available by lot/unit not only for pre-delivery inspections, but for any work order origin category! Now you can perform post-construction inspections (or any other custom inspection) electronically just like the PDI, or enter your 30 day deficiency lists etc, and have work orders automatically generated.
• Carry Forward Work Order Deficiencies: (This feature is especially useful for Ontario-based users who must comply with Tarion rules.) Optionally carries forward outstanding work order deficiencies from the PDI list to the 30 day deficiency deficiency list, (or from any deficiency checklist to any other checklist.) This provides a convenient way to manage a 30 day or 1 year deficiency list etc without necessarily generating new work orders, (but you can if you prefer,) and new warranty program deadline dates can be assigned for the selected outstanding work order deficiencies automatically.

• Track warranty program (Tarion) deadline dates in addition to contractor due dates. Deadline dates can optionally be automatically calculated using a pre-defined number of days from the closing/occupancy date etc. similar the contractor due date. Work order reports may now be filtered by deadline dates in addition to previous filtering.
• Automatic Email Distribution of Work Orders: One-step automatic emailing of email service work orders to contractors who accept them by email. Work orders are automatically converted to PDF format and attached to a single email with a customizable message and optional urgency flag, read receipt request etc. Use with any email client program. Requires Word 2007 or later, or 3^rd party PDF printer driver like Bullzip PDF (free download).
• Emailing selected work orders: Just choose a contractor and click on the work order(s) you want to send or resend, and they are automatically attached to a single email as PDF attachments.
• Convenient button to email a single work order from any lot/unit’s work orders dialog. (Uses your default email client program.)
• Work Order Distribution tracking: The sent/unsent status of each work order is tracked and updated automatically when work orders are emailed. Work order reports can now be filtered by distribution status.

• New “Custom Queries” feature for Custom Alerts, Reports & Data Exports:
  • Create Custom User Alerts to warn specific users when particular conditions arise according to your preferences. This helps to ensure you never let another deficiency sneak past the due date or especially the warranty program deadline date!Pre-defined examples include:

• Customer Service Deficiencies Due in 7 Days or Less (by Contractor)

• Customer Service Work Orders Within 2 Weeks of Warranty Program Deadlines (by Contractor)

• Insurance Certificates Expiring within the next 2 weeks

• Safety Certificates Expiring within the next 2 weeks

• Create Custom Reports automatically formatted in Excel and ready for printing. (Requires MS-Excel®)

• Export to Excel customized project information for external manipulation or saving in many data formats. (Requires MS-Excel®)

• The maximum length of deficiency descriptions has been increased.
• Reports have been enhanced to include filtering by lot/unit number prefix (to report by floor or block), by deadline date(s) and where applicable there is now an option to start a new page for each contractor or lot/unit.
• The name of the customer service representative who created the work order is now available as a merge field to be displayed on printed work orders.

   

  Purchase Order System:

   

• Auto-Generate Purchase orders by offer status: You can now custom define which Offer statuses purchase orders will be auto-generated for. (e.g.: Create another offer status like “Inventory” or “Model Home” for which purchase orders may be generated. without a firm offer.)
• Auto-Generate Purchase Orders feature has been enhanced to permit generation of additional standard component purchase orders when missing standard components are added later, or when costs are applied to standard components that previously had unknown costs and ordering of items with unknown costs was disabled.
• Automatic Email Distribution of Purchase Orders: One-step automatic emailing of email purchase orders to contractors who accept them by email. Purchase orders are automatically converted to PDF format and attached to a single email with a customizable message and optional urgency flag, read receipt request etc. Use with any email client program. Requires Word 2007 or later, or 3^rd party PDF printer driver like Bullzip PDF (free download).
• Emailing selected purchase orders: Just choose a contractor and click on the purchase orders you want to send or resend, and they are automatically attached to a single email as PDF attachments.
• Convenient button to email a single purchase order from any contractor’s purchase orders dialog. (Uses default email client program.)
• Enhanced Purchase Order Distribution tracking: The sent/unsent status of each purchase order tracked and updated automatically when purchase orders are emailed. Purchase order reports can now also be filtered by distribution status.
• Track the contractor receipt acknowledgement status of purchase orders similar to customer service work orders. Easily update in batches which purchase orders for which you have received an acknowledgement of receipt from contractors. Purchase order reports now also filter by receipt status.

   

  Contact Management:

• (See All Modules)

All Modules:

• Save reports as PDF files natively without the need of a PDF print driver.
• Email reports: All built-in reports can now be emailed as PDF files with one click. (Requires MS-Outlookl®)
• Office 2010 is now supported.
• All known issues have been corrected.
• New features have been integrated into the security model to control user authorization and define logging of important events.
• The Built-in Help manual has been updated and further enhanced.
• Many more less notable but desirable enhancements plus all features included in prior releases 5.0.5 and earlier.

07/09/10 HOMES & HOMES Stand-Alone Customer Service interim update v5.0.2 released with a few minor corrections and enhancements including the ability to selectively copy PDI setup data between projects, have a "Deficiencies Under Investigation" category on PDI forms, and optionally also have Floor Plans, Images and Attachments automatically distributed to off-line PDI workstations during data synchronizations in the HOMES Customer Service System. Also improved mail merge and reporting in HOMES main module.

11/17/09 H.O.M.E.S. Stand-alone Customer Service System released for builders that already have systems in place and just need reliable and powerful customer service and pre-delivery inspection software.

10/14/09 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 5.0 released with the following new features & enhancements added since version 4.3:

Head Office & Sales Office Main Module:

• Head Office users may now open/edit any Offer, Amendment or Extras Sheet regardless of status even if the status dictates that editing rights belong to the on-line edition sales office. Previously offers whose status dictated the editing rights belonged to the sales office had to be opened in sales office mode.

• A new “Reset Offer/Return to Inventory” feature has been added for convenience when a deal is cancelled, and a lot/unit must be returned to inventory as a model home, ready for a new purchaser. After making permanent electronic or hard copies of the original deal, you can use this feature to reset the Offer, remove the original purchaser info and automatically convert firm Extras to Upgrades that are part of the purchase agreement. This readies the Lot/Unit for a new purchaser without having to cancel purchase orders or work orders.

• The new replacement TARION warranty addendum templates (July 2009 re: economic conditions) are included for projects in Ontario, Canada.

• The Batch Price Change utility has been enhanced to permit batches of  option price changes by exact mark-up percentage.

• Deposits and Settlements report may now be filtered by offer deposit description and by amount (e.g. to report all cash deposits & settlements > $10,000 to assist with FINTRAC Canadian Government requirements.)

• Solicitors' List report template added (for use with mail merge.)

• The Lot/Unit Status Report now has new options to double as an “Unsold Inventory Revenue” report when including unsold lot/units including full breakdown of premiums and using an average selling price for applicable models when applicable.

• Lots/Units may now be temporarily excluded from the selection list at sales offices. This enables entry of lots/units in advance of permitting sales.

• Enhanced data copying options when creating a new project. (Colour Selections may be copied with or without colour choices etc.)

• New separate fields for “Building”, "Level"  and “Unit” have been added in the lot/unit list especially for for condo builders to provide more flexibility when customizing purchase agreements.

• Construction Start dates may now be optionally pre-defined individually by lot/unit prior to entering an offer, in addition to by project.

• The Batch Description Changes utility can now change option notes for convenience when many options’ notes need be edited.

• A User Login Report was added to help track currently logged in users and available user licenses.

• Support was added for printing a separate appendix to the TARION warranty for projects in Ontario Canada when the number of vendor conditions exceeds the maximum of two already accommodated on the warranty addendum templates.

Customer Service:

• The customer service system has been greatly enhanced. Work orders may now have an unlimited number of deficiencies each with its own user definable completion status and due date. All reports, service log etc have been updated to include deficiency item reference numbers.

• Entire work orders may be cancelled or reinstated without having to cancel each deficiency item individually, but you can also cancel (or delete if not yet printed) and reinstate individual items on a work order with proper authorization.

• You can now click a single button to flag all deficiencies on a work order as completed without having to load each deficiency individually to change the status.

• You can now automatically make a duplicate copy of any work order’s deficiencies detail, with a new work order number. This is convenient when a work order needs reassignment to a different contractor etc.

• New Electronic PDI Checklist system:

  • Perform pre-delivery inspections electronically with or without Internet access. If Internet access is available and reliable, you can do inspections in real-time, or when used off-line, a quick and easy data synchronization is done after the inspection by connecting from anywhere with Internet access securely using the same method your sales office(s) use with no extra setup required. Of course, you can also synchronize by connecting to the head office network locally.

  • Your inspection representative has complete access to all construction related information normally found in the Customer Service module, (Purchaser info, upgrades/extras, colour chart etc,) even when inspections are done off-line!

  • Perform inspections without having to type text using a portable tablet or notebook/netbook device. Deficiency descriptions can be entered quickly and easily by clicking on commonly used words with a tablet stylus or mouse pointer. (We recommend use of a touch screen tablet PC or Netbook which have recently become considerably less expensive and they are much more convenient to use than a pocket PC which fits very little information on the screen. You can use an on-screen keyboard or handwriting recognition to enter less commonly used words/phrases, or to add to the list of common words on-the-fly without trying to type while standing.) Checklist items may be associated with a specific room to refine the list of common words for quick selection.

  • Use your familiar customized PDI checklist as simple or detailed as you like with a quick and easy setup.

  • Optionally pre-define by checklist item which trade(s) should receive a work order by default, and easily edit the list during or after the inspection. (A new “PDI Deficiencies by Lot/Unit” report is provided to easily emphasize what trades are assigned, and which deficiencies are missing trade assignments.)

  • Print your customized PDI Form/Report on-site ready for signing using a portable printer. (As usual, the report template may be customized using Microsoft Word®.)

  • Possession Date and CCP# are now tracked separately, and the inspection start and completion times can be recorded just by clicking to automatically track the duration of the inspection.

  • Automatically generate work orders for PDI deficiencies from completed inspections, grouping deficiencies for the same contractor and lot/unit on one work order to reduce paperwork and clutter while still allowing individual deficiency status/completion and due date tracking!

  • Run multiple simultaneous pre-delivery inspections for the same project with or without Internet access.

  • New “PDI Deficiencies by Lot/Unit” and “PDI Checklist Item” reports to help with PDI deficiency trades assignment and checklist setup.

• It is no longer necessary to temporarily assign a firm status to offer records for model homes or inventory lots/units in order to create service work orders prior to selling a home. If the offer’s status or “Purchaser 1 Name” field contains the word “Inventory”, the offer may be loaded in the customer service system.

• You can now define and assign custom warranty statuses.

• You can now easily track and analyse work order receipt confirmation from contractors to ensure work orders aren’t missed during distribution.

Purchase Order System:

• The Auto-generate Purchase Orders feature has been enhanced to include an option to generate for models only, upgrades/extras only, or both.

Contact Management:

• The Detailed Contact Analysis, Traffic Analysis Summary, Mail merge & Data Export now include added filters for the "First Contacted" date.

• Added new ”Price Range” and “Miscellaneous” user definable category tracking with full filtering analyses in addition to the other categories already tracked such as “Model/Home Type”, “Home Size” etc. The new miscellaneous category’s name is programmable, so you can call it anything you like. e.g. “Ethnicity” etc.

• The Traffic Analysis Summary has been greatly enhanced to provide a summary analysis with percentages of contacts/prospects for all categories tracked including Traffic Source, City/Town, Model/Home Type, Home Size, Price Range, Age Group, Gender, Contact Category, Sales Agent any Miscellaneous Category of your choice.

All Modules:

• Windows 7 is now supported.

• All known issues have been corrected.

• Many reports have been enhanced with even more powerful filtering capability, and the on-screen report viewer now remembers the user's preferences for window position and size.

• Improved mouse scroll-wheel support for on-screen lists.

• New features have been integrated into the HOMES security model to control user authorization and define logging of important events.

• The Built-in Help manual has been updated and further enhanced.

• Many more less notable but desirable enhancements plus all features included in prior releases 4.3.8 and earlier.

07/29/09 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite interim release version 4.3.8 update released to include new replacement Tarion warranty addendums for builders of Ontario, Canada based projects.

02/13/09 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite interim release version 4.3.4 update released to address the immediate needs of Canadian HOMES users regarding the new FINTRAC government requirements effective as of February 20, 2009.

08/22/08 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 4.3 released with the following new features & enhancements added since version 4.1

• Compatibility with new Tarion requirements effective as of July 1, 2008 for Ontario-based projects. HOMES has been updated to remain compatible with the new requirements for Ontario Canada based builders as dictated by Tarion, the new home warranty regulators. HOMES automatically prints the new warranty addendums with the purchase agreement without any need for double entry or connection to Tarion's website. The complete addendums are generated fully populated and ready for signing including the statement of critical dates which are also calculated automatically and may be viewed easily and instantly on-screen at the click of a button. (HOMES still simultaneously and transparently manages lots/units for which the new Tarion regulations do not apply.) Only applicable lots/units for projects based in Ontario and sold after July 1, 2008 will have the additional features displayed.

• Prints the new compulsory Tarion warranty addendums fully populated and ready for signing for both freehold and condo projects, whether using tentative or firm closing/occupancy date schemes. Critical dates are calculated automatically and may be viewed on-screen.

• Prints revised Statement of Critical Dates fully populated to accompany purchase agreement amendments affecting closing dates.

• Closing Date (and now occupancy date) tracking is updated to be aware of new Tarion requirements and calculate available delay dates according to the new regulations. (Tracking for lots/units sold prior to July 1 2008 is still in place.) Labels to identify the “Closing Date Type” may be assigned to revised closing dates to identify the revision type and help to calculate available subsequent closing/occupancy delays and notification deadlines. Examples: Firm, Tentative, Unavoidable Delay etc.

• New sample amendment templates specifically for closing and occupancy date revisions are provided, and the amendment template may now be changed on-the-fly when printing amendments.

• New sample delay letter templates are provided for the various types of closing/occupancy delays, (Firm Closing/Occupancy date, 2nd Tentative Closing Date, Unavoidable Delay etc,) and the delay letter template may now be changed on-the-fly when printing delay letters.

• Sample mail merge templates are provided to generate required purchaser notifications (by mail or email) for events such as notifications of: Construction Commencement, Ready for Occupancy, Satisfaction/Non-satisfaction of early termination conditions, Unavoidable Delays etc.

• Project warranty registration numbers are now tracked on the project setup screen.

• You may define a default closing/occupancy date scheme for new offers: Firm or Tentative.
  (Of course the scheme may be edited individually by lot/unit on the main offer dialog.)

• Enhanced Comprehensive occupancy date tracking and reporting by unit has been added for condominium projects, similar in functionality to the features for tracking closing dates including printing delay letters, amendments and Statements of Critical Dates when necessary.

• Vendor conditions tracking is added to easily attach purchase agreement conditions imposed by you, the seller and to report by status to ensure the necessary notifications are not missed. You may also predefine commonly applied vendor conditions to make data entry of offers quick and easy. (Vendor conditions are also automatically populated into warranty addendums.)

• New and Enhanced Reports:

  • New Purchaser Notifications Report to help eliminate missed important purchaser notifications. This report automatically lists closing delay notification deadlines, occupancy delay notification deadlines, construction starts and vendor condition satisfaction due dates that fall within your preferred date range. (eg: lists notification deadlines that fall within the next 2 weeks…or whatever date intervals each user prefers.) You can save the length of the date range you prefer, and you can have the report run once daily upon opening each project as an automatic reminder. You can even filter the report by existing (or absent) offer notes, so if you prefer you can use the offer notes to track whether or not notifications have been already been sent.

  • New Occupancy Dates Report: providing full revision history by unit and including available delay information including notification deadlines similar to the Closing Dates Report.

  • New Vendor Conditions Report: to track conditions to the purchase agreement imposed by you the seller, including appropriate filtering capabilities.

  • A new customizable Purchaser List has been added as a mail merge template to report purchaser contact information: name, address, phone, lot/unit etc. (You can make multiple customized templates for custom reporting for different purposes, and use the mail merge feature’s many powerful filtering capabilities with your templates.)

  • Many reports have been enhanced to include additional information and filtering.

• New enhanced tracking of construction start dates, plan of subdivision, zoning and water/sewage information as well as improved building permit management is added and used to populate warranty addendums.

• Basement walkout premiums may now be predefined by lot for freehold projects.

• Offer deposits may now have event descriptions attached to describe the event that will trigger the deposit due date, such as: “60 days from offer date”, “90 days from offer date” or “upon date of occupancy” etc for printing on the purchase agreement. These deposit event descriptions may also be predefined for quick data entry.

• For condominium projects, a separate “Level” field is now available to distinctly identify each unit’s floor number on purchase agreements etc.

• Even more flexible lot/unit status tracking, making it easier to track occupancy statuses etc.

• Many more fields are available for merging data into purchaser documents.

• Holiday tracking has been improved to help avoid selecting holidays for important dates such as closings, and to help accurately calculate critical dates and notification deadlines.

• A sample condominium project and applicable document templates are now provided.

• Several more less notable but desirable enhancements plus all features included in prior releases 4.1.6 and earlier.

• All known issues have been corrected.

06/30/08 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite interim release version 4.2.0 update released to address the most urgent needs of Ontario based HOMES users regarding the new Tarion requirements effective as of July 1, 2008.

10/04/07 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 4.1 released with the following new features & enhancements added since since version 4.0:

• Even Faster and Easier Project Setup: A number of features have been added to make project setup and management significantly faster and easier than ever before.

• Improved Automatic Price and Cost calculations for Options Sold by Room Size: H.O.M.E.S. uses the size of applicable rooms to determine the quantity of square feet (or square meters) necessary. New option codes priced by unit of area (sqft) then automatically extended (and convert to the desired units if necessary) so prices, costs and margins are determined automatically. This feature eliminates the need for most model specific options because one option works for all models. This vastly reduces the number of option codes that need to be created and makes project setup much faster and easier. Also, when you start a new project, the options don’t need to be changed even if all the models are different! You just define the room sizes for the new models, and that is also fast because you can copy rooms from one model to another. What used to be the biggest job in setting up a new project is now one of the smallest and easiest tasks.

• Colour Selections More Powerful: Colour Selections are now also “room size aware” so unit quantities are tracked automatically for take-off reporting. (eg: How many sqft of  “Dynasty 1162 Champagne” carpet do we need for a lot/unit or the entire project?) Pre-defined colour choice notes/instructions are now supported and may be forwarded to the colour chart.

• Enhanced Revisions Deadline Date management by lot/unit. If a deadline date is defined, no revisions affecting construction will be accepted after the date passes unless the deadline is removed by someone authorized to to so.

• Batch Contractor Assignment to Model Components Utility (To make multiple changes of trade/contractor assignments to model components much easier, ie Assign, Un-assign or Replace contractors to multiple models' components in one step.) If you change a contractor mid-project, it takes just seconds to replace the contractor by model component for any models you specify!

• Batch Contractor Assignment to Options Utility (To make multiple changes of trade/contractor assignments to options much easier, ie Assign, Un-assign or Replace contractors to/from multiple options in one step.) If you change a contractor mid-project, it takes just seconds to replace the contractor for any options you specify!

• The Batch Price/Cost Adjustment feature now also adjusts model component costs by trade/contractor for fast cost adjustments similar to those available for Options etc.

• New and Enhanced Reports:

  • The Colours Analysis report is enhanced to include reporting sorted by colour choice, and is enhanced for better unit quantity/take-off reporting. Unit quantity subtotals are provided where applicable, so colour choice take-offs are available automatically in seconds for an individual lot/unit or for the whole project.

  • New Report: "Trades/Contractors Assigned to Options" to more easily analyze costs and trade/contractor assignments for Options.

  • New Report: "Trades/Contractors Assigned to Model Components" to more easily analyze costs and trade/contractor assignments for standard model components.

  • The Deposits and Settlements Report may now be filtered by the closing status (closed/not closed) for each lot/unit.

  • The Model List now has options to include applicable rooms and  exclude notes and discontinued models.

  • The Option list (when filtered by a specific model) automatically extends pricing for options priced by room size. You may also now exclude option notes if desired.

  • Applicable reports now have the option to include non-firm upgrades/extras.

  • Many existing reports have been further enhanced including additional filtering capabilities.

• Microsoft Windows Vista Support

• Microsoft Office 2007and/or Microsoft Word 2007 Support

• All known issues are corrected.

07/16/07 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 4.0.10 update released with the following new features & enhancements:

• Batch Contractor Assignment to Model Components Utility (To make multiple changes of trade/contractor assignments to model components much easier, ie Assign, Un-assign or Replace contractors to multiple models' components in one step.)

• Batch Contractor Assignment to Options Utility (To make multiple changes of trade/contractor assignments to options much easier, ie Assign, Un-assign or Replace contractors to/from multiple options in one step.)

• Several report enhancements (option to include non-firm offers on sold-to-date report, filter Trades/Contractors Assigned to Model Components report by model component, etc.)

• All known issues are corrected.

06/04/07 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 4.0.8 update released with the following new features & enhancements:

• Microsoft Windows Vista Support

• Microsoft Office 2007and/or Microsoft Word 2007 Support

• Enhanced support for pre-defined colour choice notes/instructions

• Several minor report enhancements.

• All known issues are corrected.

02/22/07 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 4.0.4 update released with the following new features & enhancements:

• New Report: "Trades/Contractors Assigned to Options" to more easily analyze costs and trade/contractor assignments for Options.

• New Report: "Trades/Contractors Assigned to Model Components" to more easily analyze costs and trade/contractor assignments for standard model components.

• Several more minor enhancements including additional merge fields for document templates.

• All known issues are corrected.

12/14/06 H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite version 4.0 released with the following new features & enhancements:

• Improved more flexible settlement options for Extras, including user defined settlement types. (An unlimited number of mixed payment methods for Extras are now possible including post-dated cheques, credit cards etc.)

• Floor-plans, Images and Attachments: You can now attach an unlimited number of additional external files (not necessarily created using H.O.M.E.S.) such as floor plans, images, photographs, MS-Word documents, PDF files, HTML pages etc. Any file that can be viewed in Microsoft Internet Explorer may be associated with a lot/unit and displayed or printed. (Available using on-line edition at remote site offices.)

• The H.O.M.E.S. Contact Management System is now integrated with the HOMES main module.

• Easier project setup: Features have been added to make the setup of your first project (and maintenance of additional projects) much faster and easier, such as the ability to copy settings from the previous Option during Option setup. Also, a Batch Description Change utility has been added to quickly change portions of descriptions for models, options, etc. in a similar fashion to the batch price/cost change utility. This will make it very easy to change large groups of options with one command when for example model names change for new projects.

• For condo developers, HOMES now tracks occupancy dates and keeps an inventory of parking lots and storage lockers which can be sold and assigned using option codes. Pricing may be defined by individually by space/locker, and also pricing may be adjusted as a batch process for spaces/lockers matching specific criteria.

• Tracking of costs for standard model components and options has been enhanced to better manage cost tracking when multiple contractors are used in a project for the same trade category.

• New and Enhanced Reports including:

  • Construction Report by Lot/Unit - All construction specifications for each lot/unit on a single report, including standard model components (optional), Upgrades/Extras and Colours. (May be filtered by Trade)

  • Extras Sales by Lot/Unit - enhanced filtering by sales agent, option, or groups of options

  • Commission Report - lists sales and basic commission calculations for models and commissionable extras by sales agent.

  • Deposits and Settlements Report - Lists offer deposits and extras settlements separately or combined with filters by applicable dates, deposit status, settlement method etc. (Replaces Deposits Received Report)

  • Late Payments Report - Lists late offer deposit and extras settlement payments. (Replaces Late Cheques Report)

  • Aged Work Orders Report – lists pending work orders by age similar to an accounting system’s aged receivables report with up to 7 different ageing categories. This makes it effortless to stay on top of timely work order completion without letting anything slip through the cracks. Includes extremely powerful filtering by practically any combination of pertinent information including applicable dates, statuses, origins, and even portions of text in descriptions, contractor instructions and work order notes.

  • Appointments by Contractor – list existing work order appointments by Contractor including date, time lot, work description etc to assist in scheduling. Also includes extremely powerful filtering by practically any combination of pertinent information.

  • Contractors’ Efficiency Report – Analyses and categorized completed work orders for contractors by age also similar to an accounting system’s aged receivables report with up to 7 different ageing categories. Provides a summary for each contractor including the percentage of work orders in each ageing category, and a summary total for the report. Also includes extremely powerful filtering by practically any combination of pertinent information.

  • Most existing reports have been further enhanced including additional filtering capabilities, more subtotals and totals for unit quantities etc.

• Closing status may now be flagged manually for all lots/units, (Closed or Not Closed)

• Additional information now tracked: Purchasers’ fax numbers, Construction Permit Numbers and date issued, Warranty enrolment numbers, Contractors’ Insurance Certificate number and expiration dates.

• Taxes rates may now be manually adjusted more easily for Offers and Extras, and additional features have been added to ease tax management during tax rate transition periods.

• It may now be defined by individual colour selection whether or not manual text entry (typing, rather than selecting from a drop-down) is permitted during colour chart data entry.

• The mail merge feature has been enhanced to permit filtering by offer status so you can now generate letters to non-firm purchasers. Also, you can now filter by offer notes and by email address status so you can mail merge to email for purchasers for which an email address is recorded, and to the printer for purchasers without email.

• New security features to more easily manage project access for all users from one dialog, by project or by user.

• Pop-up tooltip help may now be shut off as a user preference setting.

• Purchase order auto-generation may now be manually enabled or disabled by lot/unit using a grid style to turn ordering on or off manually. This makes it possible to manually control when ordering takes place independent of the colour chart status, however the colour chart status may still be used to over-ride ordering.

• It is now possible to un-cancel a purchase order, useful if a purchase order was cancelled in error or you wish to change the replacement status for the auto-generate feature.

• Purchase Orders may now be print-previewed on-screen.

• Purchase order reports have been enhanced to include subtotals and totals on unit quantities to assist with obtaining actual unit quantity counts for options. Filtering has also been enhanced to permit text specifications on detail items, and you can report just model components, upgrades/extras, or both.

• Purchase order numbers may now be sequenced by project, rather than by organization if desired.

• Customer Service System now tracks additional information on service work orders including: Original Deficiency Date, Work Order Due Date (may be calculated automatically based on origin,) Work Appointment Date and Time.

• Work Orders may now be print-previewed on-screen

• It is now possible to make a service log entry while a work order is being edited on-screen.

• Service Work Order statuses are now also user definable...define your own unlimited list.

• Work order numbers may now be sequenced by project, rather than by organization if desired, and unique work order number prefixes may be used to denote the project. (On-line edition)

• All known issues have been corrected.

• Many more less notable but valuable faetures and enhancements.

06/27/06: H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite interim release version 3.1.21 released with enhanced support for tax rate change transitions, plus all new features and corrections included in releases 3.1.0 through 3.1.20.

06/16/05: H.O.M.E.S. Contact Management System version 1.1 released as a stand-alone or integrated component of the H.O.M.E.S. family of products. This is a contact management/customer relationship management system option for real estate sales agents to track/manage potential customers, maintain appointments and analyze advertising efficiency etc.

04/08/04: H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite release version 3.1 released with the following new features & enhancements:

• Support added for running the complete H.O.M.E.S. family of products in real-time via the Internet via Microsoft Terminal Services. This enables operation of H.O.M.E.S. from any physical location with Internet access without the need for data exchanges, which guarantees all offices are kept up-to-date to the second! In addition, using the Terminal Server Edition eliminates the need to install and maintain the system at each remote sales office or site office, thereby vastly reducing system administration. (The system need only be installed at the head office.) With the new Terminal Server Edition, you are no longer limited to one sales office and one construction site office per project as you are with the Standard Edition which is still available for builders concerned about loss of Internet access.

• Purchaser documents (Purchase Agreement, Requests for Extras, Colour Chart, etc,) may now be previewed on-screen without printing.

• Colours Analysis report has been enhanced to permit filtering by Colour Choice, eg: Display all lots/units that have selected a specific tile design etc.

• The purchaser Mail Merge has been enhanced to also permit filtering by Colour Choice. This enables automatically generating letters and envelopes for purchasers that have selected a specific tile etc. (This is valuable for automatically notifying purchasers that their choice has been discontinued, and therefore they should reselect another.)

• Lot/unit revision date tracking has been enhanced. (The date of the most recent construction specification revision is tracked automatically by lot/unit. This assists in ensuring no revisions are missed without checking more information than necessary.)

• Discontinuation flags have been added for Models, Options and Colour Choices to enable removal of discontinued items from sales availability lists without having to delete the item.

• "Accounting Reference" fields have been added to identify matching accounts and trade costing categories in 3rd party accounting systems to assist in exporting data. This is to assist builders who wish to integrate with their accounting systems.

• Many reports have been further enhanced for additional filtering according to the user's specifications.

• Taxes may now be defined by project for builders operating multiple geographic areas or tax zones.

• Database security has been further enhanced to ensure unauthorized access is denied.

11/24/03: H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite release version 3.0 released with the following new features & enhancements:

• Full enhanced support for managing model component budgets with multiple trades and their associated costs per component. Model components and/or component costs may be copied from one model to another, and may be listed in alphabetical, or chronological order.

• Purchase Order system now includes full support for automated ordering of models in addition to upgrades & extras, including optional standard model component detail and colour selections applicable to the trade on the printed purchase order, as well as enhanced work completions tracking and customized completion certificate printing by purchase order (integrated with site office for enhancing control to ensure work status is confirmed before contractor invoices are paid.)

• New much faster colour chart editing system (still backwards-compatible) with more powerful and comprehensive colour selection distribution, and easier colour chart template setup. (Includes support for Upgrade-only colour selections that have no matching standard colour selection.) Standard colour selections may now be associated with the applicable models and trades for analyses and purchasing purposes. The colour chart can now consist of only the applicable colour selections for the lot/unit as specified by the model and options purchased by the customer. (All Modules)

• New colours analysis reporting capability which can be used for materials lists etc. Colours can be reported by lot/unit, or by colour selection with lot/unit detail, and may be filtered by individual trade. (Reports all lots/units that have selected specific colour choices, eg: Which lots/units have selected specific tile for the main bath?)

• Multi lot/unit mail merge support to send personalized letters to multiple purchasers automatically. (Can also be used to address envelopes, labels etc. Specifications include address, date sold, closing date etc etc. You can even specify that you want to send only to customers that have purchased a specific model, or even a specific option.)

• Support for specifying which models may or may not be sold on each lot/unit. (Ensures inappropriate models can’t be sold on a lot/unit.) If only one model applies, it is filled in automatically.

• New enhanced security with user logins for all modules. Individual user accounts and user groups may be defined with permissions/denials specified by project, program module, and even by all appropriate individual program features. (One password entered at login is needed and the system knows what features each user may access.) User permissions defined at head office are automatically distributed to sales and site offices.

• New System Security Log to optionally record and report specified user events by module and project. (Tracks when users are performing specific functions and/or attempting to access program features.) Logging may be enabled/disabled by specific project or for all projects, and log management may be performed manually or automatically.

• Support for emailing directly from within HOMES by double-clicking on email addresses. (All modules)

• New Reports including:

  • Gross Margins by Lot/Unit

  • Expected Gross Margins on Models

  • Model Budgets

  • Colours Analysis (By lot/unit, or by colour selection, and available at site offices too!)

  • Colour Selections by Model (ie which selections apply to each model)

  • Models Available by Lot/Unit

  • System Security Log

  • User Permissions Report/Checklist

• Site Office system (Lot Information Viewer) now includes enhanced work completions tracking and customized completion certificate printing by purchase order with support for partial completions and automatic updates to head office so accounts payable knows when purchase orders may be paid, or partially paid, even if a completion certificate was not submitted with the contractor’s invoice.)

• All list/maintenance dialogs are now resizable and remember your preferred screen position even after closing the program (All modules)

• Many many more less notable but desirable enhancements, as well as all features listed in earlier interim releases 2.23, 2.24 and 2.25

06/10/03: H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite interim release version 2.25 released, with improved unlimited offer deposit handling, automatic date calculations, support for additional fields on the offer (birthdates, SINs, mobile phone#s solicitors fax etc,) a new batch price/premium/cost adjustment system to automatically adjust prices, costs etc for models, lots, options etc according to criteria specified by the user, and many more further enhancements to reports etc.

03/17/03: H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite interim release version 2.24 released, with support for condo builders including option to price by unit rather than by model, and automatic calculation of fees. Also support for remote site office entry/editing of work orders in Customer Service System, as well as many less notable features such as reporting work orders by origin category, and finding lots/units by customer name and civic address as well as lot/unit number.

01/14/03: H.O.M.E.S. & H.O.M.E.S. Lite interim release version 2.23 released, including support for drop-down colour selection lists on the colour chart to ease entry of purchaser's choices and add more control. The purchaser's colour/style/design choices may now be included directly on purchase orders to contractors. (The system is still backward compatible for users who prefer to keep using the old style free-text colour chart.)

08/14/02: H.O.M.E.S. 'Lite' version 2.2 released, including all features of the standard H.O.M.E.S. system and optional modules, but with a maximum of 50 lots per project and a substantially lower price.

08/07/02: New Version 2.2 of all H.O.M.E.S. modules released with the following new features & enhancements:

• Support for fixed Offer pricing has been added for builders who do not accept Offers, but rather work with a fixed price list.

• Support for pricing which is not tax-inclusive has been added for builders who prefer to break out taxes on Offers and Requests for Extras.

• All documents are now created using MS-Word documents/templates to enhance flexibility of customization.

• Dates may now be entered in the manner preferred by the user as specified in the Regional Settings dialog of the Windows Control Panel.

• Reports have been further improved for speed.

• Support for flagging Options/Upgrades/Extras as having temporarily unknown Trade costs to assist when the cost is not yet known, but purchasing is necessary 'As Per Contract'. Associated reports have been enhanced to display unknown costs and warn of the potential for inaccuracy due to the missing cost(s).

• Many reports have been further enhanced to permit additional filtering specifications when requesting a report and only specific information is required. Example: Upgrade/Extra reports have been enhanced to report also by Option code, Trade etc.

• Options may now be flagged for exclusion from option lists/menus intended for customers so that only the desired Options will be on an Option list intended for a purchaser's consumption.

• A 'Deposit Notes' button is now available on the main Offer dialog to permit entry/editing of comments pertinent to the collection of deposit cheques. The notes are then displayed on the 'Late Cheques' report.

• A new ‘Area/Size’ field has been added to the Models list to record square footage or square meters if desired, rather than using the Model notes.

• A new ‘Model Type’ field has been added to the Lot/Unit list to record the required/intended model or model type of a lot/unit when necessary to ensure the correct Model or Model Type is selected for the lot/unit.

• An ‘Unlock Editing’ button has been added to the toolbar of main HOMES window.

• Users now receive a notification/reminder when selecting a new status for Offers, Amendments & Extras that will transfer editing rights to the other office.

• The on-line help documentation has been enhanced, as well as improved more detailed assistance with the customization of documents.

• Support for Tax Exempt Options has been added.

• Support for After-Tax Credit Options has been added. These are credits that are not printed in the body of a Request for Extras, but rather are displayed in the totals, after the grand total including tax.

• Several more less notable enhancements and and a few corrections to all known minor issues have are also included for all modules.

08/07/02: New enhancements for H.O.M.E.S. Purchase Order System option version 2.2:

• Support (optional) for automatically or manually creating purchase orders with unknown costs. (Purchase Order templates with columns to display the cost will display ‘As Per Contract’ in the cost column and total.) All applicable reports have been enhanced to flag where costs are unknown, and consequently totals may be inaccurate. In addition, applicable reports  (Purchase Orders by Lot, Purchase Orders by Trade) now have an option to report only Purchase Orders that have missing costs, to assist in determining where costs need be updated.

• Added new dates & Option code specifications to Purchase Order by Lot & Purchase Orders by Trade reports.

• Added support for multiple authorization levels for creating/editing POs, invoice application/payment, & both.

• Added support for multiple (3) document templates when printing POs. Now when printing purchase orders, you can optionally  print for example a ‘Purchase Order’ (with costs) a ‘Work Order’ (without costs) and pre-print a ‘Completion Certificate’. Documents inclusion and number of copies may be selected on-the-fly for all printing procedures, and defaults may be set on the ‘Project Setup’ dialog.

• Purchase order templates may now be assigned by project. (You may use a different layout/logo etc for different projects to avoid confusion)

05/03/02: Watch for our ad in Ontario Homebuilder magazine and membership directory/buyers' guide.

02/01/02: Version 2.1 of all H.O.M.E.S. modules released with the following new features & enhancements:

• New options to deny entry of Extras, Amendments and Colour Charts at sales offices.

• Option to send all offers, amendments & extras to head office, or just approval submissions.

• Improved handling of option quantities. (Main H.O.M.E.S. system and all optional modules)

• Improved discount handling with user definable maximum applicable discounts by option.

• Improved tax handling with option to add tax on standard prices for extras.

• Upgrade/extras options now classified by model to ensure only options applicable to the selected model may be sold. This also enables option lists/menus customized by model.

• Improvements to existing reports (more programmable specifications & more informative layouts,) and new reports added including: Amendments List report, Extras Gross Margins by Lot, Expected Gross Margins on Options, Trades Cost Analysis on Changes, etc

• Improved handling of closing date delay notification deadlines & better help with selecting new closing dates.

• Unlimited user-definable offer statuses to track the state of offers, and determine which office has editing rights, and whether authorization is required for editing. (Helps with offer approvals)

• Unlimited user-definable amendment statuses similar to offer statuses.

• Unlimited user-definable extras statuses similar to offer statuses.

• New updated data exchange procedures for remote offices.

• Even faster processing of all reports.

• Company logo's for Offer Information Sheets may now be assigned by project.

• Improved handling of multiple item purchase orders in Purchase Order system. Auto-generate feature now generates purchase orders grouped by Lot/Unit for each contractor.

• Windows XP now supported.

(Earlier entries archived.)