Spruce Computer Systems

Spruce was founded in 1985 when a group of 19 Lumber, Hardware and Building Material Dealers (all of whom were having trouble finding what they needed in a software package) got together and acquired Building Material software and staff from Finserv Computer Corporation, a computer services company that produced various software applications and related services. A new software version was created which later became SprucePlus, a full-featured UNIX-based software package that made great strides in many areas including multi-branch affinity, multi-job affinity, and front to back integration into a solid General Ledger system. Enhancements kept the software ahead of the pack in terms of technology and feature depth, and the software is now an industry stronghold being used by some of the most successful and growth-oriented dealers in the country.

In 2000, Spruce acquired Anasys, a Wisconsin-based software company with an early Windows® based package installed mainly at single-location yards throughout the Midwest.  SpruceWare, as it came to be known, was very popular and known for its simplicity and ease of use.

In 2003, Spruce embarked on an effort to create, from the ground up, a completely new software package based on brand-new Microsoft technology: Visual Studio.NET and the .NET framework.  This technology represented a quantum leap forward for Microsoft, which was forced to break backward compatibility with earlier software (they wanted to break free of the constraints Visual Basic 6 and its backbone COM environment placed on programmers, and they couldn’t do that while maintaining compatibility).  It was with good reason, though, because they could include a long list of modern functions and structures which they’d been unable to include in earlier versions.

Spruce’s new software, which was developed completely under .NET, was aptly named SpruceWare.NET.  It was released on time and on budget in 2006, and a growing list of dealers (now over 100) are using it to easily maintain great customer service while managing the mountain of information they face every day.  Most of these dealers are new to Spruce, and they have been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the support and the continuous addition of time saving new software features at no additional charge to them.

Despite the expense associated with the introduction of a high-quality new software package, Spruce has still been profitable since 1989 and debt free since 1993.  We maintain our focus on one goal:  bringing the best software and service available to Lumber, Hardware, and Building Material Dealers.