Likelihood to Recommend CMiC is a robust platform best suited for large companies with resources for implementation and management of the program. One analogy is CMiC is like a droid phone where the user must decide how to use all the features of the program (as opposed to an iPhone where most configuration decisions are made for the user). Smaller companies with limited resources can struggle with CMiC both with the expense and configuration.
Read full review In this case, CF is the best of the 'OK so far' category in my mind. NONE of the software available today gets close to a truly effective, user friendly GUI and functionality set. I have used 7 different systems over the years, with the top 4 big names having the largest hours operating. Most have less functionality, others are severely overpriced and under featured. Still others are so complicated you need an entire IT department to implement them. Contractor Foreman does much of what it does the absolute best for the money, meaning this is probably the best value for construction management software I'm aware of. I believe I can say with confidence, that if CF does it, it strives to do it well, and continues to strive to get it better. Picking a feature or two that excels is rather pointless in a company with that outlook. THAT is a company I can get behind...
Read full review Pros The user interface is similar to that of other project management software applications so folks in our company that had previously used other applications have been able to switch over fairly easily. I really like the software and it was much less expensive than other applications. I like the mobile application so that our superintendents can view the documentation on their phones. I really like the punch list capability mobile field, however, we have a hard time getting our superintendents to use it for some reason. Read full review Estimates Project management Lead management - tracking where they are in the funnel and having web lead automatically pull into the system. Read full review Cons Needs to be more user friendly on the mobile side of the platform. Ease of use is key here. There is not much instruction or support in standing up some programs like deploying ECM for outlook, making Collaboration Gateway work, or setting up the system for getting Plans available on the mobile devices. Security configuration is extremely detailed and spread throughout the system. It is extremely hard to make adjustments to a person's security unless you know exactly where to look, which requires years of experience but shouldn't. Read full review Some of the modules like checklists and forms are confusing and hard to use some of the training videos or versions of an old outdated version of the software Would like to see a more efficent way of creating a submittal log generated from a specification book Read full review Likelihood to Renew This is a platform that would continue to be in the best interest for our company. I just hope that CMiC support removes the gaps between the enhancements that they create to better the system to what they currently have
Read full review Eliminated the need for our team to log into multiple systems to do their jobs which aligns to our Lean approach
Read full review Usability I believe it isn't easy to use and is unintuitive. Undecipherable error messages appear throughout the application without indicating what is wrong or how to correct it, in my experience. The terminology on the screens is specific to Canada, which adds to the confusion.
Read full review Reliability and Availability Sometimes since this is a cloud based product the system can become slow but we haven’t had any issues of availability without CMiC first letting us know it would be down
Read full review Performance Reports are pretty shown to run but general pages typically load pretty quick.
Read full review Support Rating The support team [has] been in touch with our deployment team and has given them effective guidance up to completion. It has helped us in [the] best methods of resource allocation and secure record-keeping process. We have tracked all our billing information and made the right payments with documentation and avoided [unnecessary losses]. [The] support team has [to] lead our teams to the right channels and empowering our team with the right skills for maximum production.
Read full review I rarely give anyone a 9 or 10 rating for service. The main reason for this rating is Contractor Foreman's dedication to improvement. To be completely frank, CF has fallen down on their tech help with me several times, but I am an exceptionally difficult user to service as I tend to use a product up to it's limits and want more. CF has actually addressed these wants several times (after waits that seemed interminable, but were actually pretty damn fast in the reality of software development)
Read full review In-Person Training The training was on system functions and not really how best to use it for our business. It would have been nice to be provided recommendations for use rather than just a blank slate of functionality.
Read full review Online Training I felt the training was good and the trainers knew the software.
Read full review Implementation Rating Lots of confusion between sales and implementation regarding what was included and not included...the security encountered a "bug" and made it extremely difficult to set up roles and individual responsibilities
Read full review Alternatives Considered CMiC Construction Platform is the best price point in the market. Others are revenue-based billings, and the annual fees reflect as such. CMiC Construction Platform support staff is generally amazing and offers real-time support on critical issues. The imaging and workflow functions are real-time savers. CMiC Construction Platform is generally a smaller and in touch organization that treats your team like their own and stays with you after the purchase.
Ejay Gering Vice President of Construction and Field Operations
Read full review I've used
Buildertrend and Conconstruct near daily for a little over 10 years. They were both pretty solid. But the price kept going up without much value being added to the software. As they grew, they didn't upgrade with the growth, so the sites became slower. Contractor Forman has all the functionality of the others, and several other tools that they don't. There are several tools our company doesn't even use yet that look great. It's not perfect, and the learning curve due to its increased capability is a bit of a challenge. But overall, it is superior in every way that mattered to us, and more affordable.
Read full review Scalability CMiC has several key features that can either work together or independently depending on your companies needs.
Read full review Return on Investment Better project visibility, surely. I can step into a former project and see how well/poorly it was run. Forecasting underway - nearly complete with year 2. Cost status tracking - this has been valuable, especially when figuring out how much of a liquid budget is left over. Read full review We don't have to double enter our job information anymore (estimates, bills, labor hours) to show employees what they need to see. Specific access within Contractor Foreman does that for us. It's taken us longer to learn how Contractor Foreman works within itself than we thought it would, so implementation is taking a little longer than ideal. However, we have been learning a lot along the way about the easiest ways to use the workflow that Contractor Foreman has. Read full review ScreenShots CMiC Construction Platform Screenshots Contractor Foreman Screenshots