Project Management software for a rehab newbie?

[rookie08]

Hi everyone,

I use my Festools for projects for my home but recently bought a property to renovate and then rent.  15 years ago when I did this on the side I did everything on the fly.  Make a list of what I wanted to do overall, and then make lists daily of what I needed for the next day - on the back of a piece of paper, bag, whatever.  After everything was done, I'd add everything up and see how close my final cost came to my initial estimate.  It worked out but I'd like to be able to find a program where I can plan ahead, manage the project more accurately, and keep track of expenses, timelines etc.  Anyone use or know of a relatively simple and inexpensive program for project management on a house rehab?  It's a small 2 level townhome so no major structural work, but it will need to be stripped to the studs and completely redone on the interior.
MS Project etc seem like overkill and the time it would take me to ramp up seems like it would be self defeating. 

Thanks!

 

[FestoolMike]

What platform (windows or Mac) are youworking with here?  There are some really good options on the Mac that i could share.

Mike

 

[tbellemare]

MS Project is Excel with macros, if I'm not mistaken.

You could just use Excel to stay organized or, if you don't already have Excel, you can get OpenOffice for free.

Tom

 

[Dan Clark]

MS Project is Excel with macros, if I'm not mistaken.

You could just use Excel to stay organized or, if you don't already have Excel, you can get OpenOffice for free.

Tom

MS Project is a completely different product from Excel.  That said, I've been using project management tools for over two decades (starting with Harvard Project Management) up to and including MS Project.  MS Project is a very good tool, but it is serious overkill.  After a while, you spend all your time just managing the software.  If it was me, I'd just use Excel. 

Regards,

Dan.

 

[tbellemare]

I used MS Project for many years and it sure seems to me that it is a layer on an Excel engine. The early versions made it seem more obvious.

Like I said, I could be mistaken...

Tom

 

[rookie08]

We've been considering a Mac lately.  It seems that despite the price, no one that gets one complains about the cost after they buy it and start using it.  What programs do you recommend for Mac?

 

[jgag]

I'm with Tom - the early versions made it obvious

it depends how you plan...

• Word outline mode is good for creating a top down hierachy and moving topics around - it can then be directly imported into excel - I have written the macros in the past...
• Open Workbench is the free and opensourced version of PMW that has been around in many guises - a very much more robust tool than MS Project (in its PMW guise - not used the new open format.
• The tool I've picked up on recently is mindsystems Amode - but it's a very much more complete tool for project management than MSP - support is outstanding...

 

[clintholeman]

I've used  FasTrack Project Management for years - a good Mac program.

www.aecsoftware.com/products/fasttrack/mac/

As an old time Mac user, I'm not sure if they are worth the money today... sadly so.

Clint, who started with an Apple IIE, went to Lisa # 498 and a bunch after that and now is running a Toshiba...

 

[FestoolMike]

Well, there are a few.  My personal favorite is OmniPlan:

http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omniplan/

It is very easy to use and does have the horsepower for larger projects.  But you will not be blown away with all these powerful features.  Easy entry and customization.

Some others:

http://www.aecsoftware.com/products/fasttrack/  
http://www.itaskx.com/software/en/iTaskX2_info.asp
http://www.projectwizards.net/en/merlin/

There are others, but these are the top applications to consider.  All of these have time limited demos that you can download and try.  See which one that you like and go from there!

Mike

 

[Administrator_JSVN]

I have absolutely no experience with any of these, but have read about them in various blogs that I frequent.  May be worth checking out.  All of them are free to use and web-based.

http://gantter.com/
http://www.zoho.com/
http://collabtive.o-dyn.de/

There are probably other free offerings out on the web.  You might want to do a search.

 

[rookie08]

Thanks to everyone for their great suggestions.  I'm going to play around with a couple of them and see which one works best on this project.  I'll let everyone know in case someone else is looking as well!

Thanks again!

James