Project Estimator vs LoadSpring

Likelihood to Recommend

If you are considering purchasing this (very expensive) software, there is a 100% chance you are doing so because you have been awarded a Government contract that dictates you use 4Clicks Project Estimator. There are plenty of easier to use estimating packages out in the world, but you can't use any of them if you have a contract that requires 4Clicks.

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Tim Corbett

General Manager

Infinite Energy Construction, incConstruction, 51-200 employees

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LoadSpring is great for managing licenses so that a user who hasn't been utilizing the software can be placed inactive so the license isn't being occupied. Managing services and applications is great. You can easily change access through the management portion of the service. Uptime is also very good.

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Verified User

Team Lead in Information Technology

Construction Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Project Estimator

LoadSpring

Takeoff tools

Job costing

Cost databases

Cost calculator

Bid creation

Project Estimator

LoadSpring

Task Management

Resource Management

Gantt Charts

Scheduling

Workflow Automation

Team Collaboration

Document Management

Email integration

Mobile Access

Timesheet Tracking

Change request and Case Management

Budget and Expense Management

Project Estimator

LoadSpring

Quotes/estimates

Invoicing

Project & financial reporting

Integration with accounting software

Pros

The estimates it produces are simple and easy to follow. The formatting is good.
The tech support provided is very attentive.

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Tim Corbett

General Manager

Infinite Energy Construction, incConstruction, 51-200 employees

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Management of sessions.
Account/license management.
Reliability.

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Verified User

Team Lead in Information Technology

Construction Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Cons

The software feels 20 years old. It has not kept up with modern times, and practically functions like an old DOS program.
Clunky interface, arcane commands.
Even their training info focuses on hotkeys like this is 1995. Even though I am of an age to remember computers in 1995, the younger generations of managers/estimators are not. It is time to bring the software into the new century!

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Tim Corbett

General Manager

Infinite Energy Construction, incConstruction, 51-200 employees

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Self-service account reactivation.
Integration of instructions on a per application level.
Built in linked help for companies using the software.

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Verified User

Team Lead in Information Technology

Construction Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Support Rating

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

LoadSpring 8.0

Based on 1 answer

LoadSpring support is very quick to respond. They have self-service for support which is great for quick fixes on the end-user side of things. They will respond with a good solution and if they need further assistance from an administrator, and they email them so they can assist the end-user with their issue.

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Verified User

Team Lead in Information Technology

Construction Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Alternatives Considered

WinEst uses much the same database (RS Means/Gordion type) and has a similar interface. It is a bit cheaper.

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Tim Corbett

General Manager

Infinite Energy Construction, incConstruction, 51-200 employees

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LoadSpring has a great up-time compared to our old hosting service. We haven't had many outages and very few issues while running our concurrent sessions. Automated license management has been great so our active licenses stay very low. I wasn't involved with the purchase and migration but I feel this was the better option.

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Verified User

Team Lead in Information Technology

Construction Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Return on Investment

As stated before, if you are buying this software, it is because you have a contract forcing you to. While it does work, it is clunky, awkward, and very expensive.
The price of the software and databases has always been high, but with the fairly recent acquisition of 4Clicks by Gordion (who also bought RS Means for their databases), there is literally no competition. Prices will continue to be very high, with no check on how high they can go.
Again, can't fault 4Clicks tech support, as I think it is the best in the industry. They know their product and they respond to issues immediately. Considering what we spend a year for this product, however, you would expect nothing less.

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Tim Corbett

General Manager

Infinite Energy Construction, incConstruction, 51-200 employees

View all 1 answers on this topic

Great license manager.
Has great up-time for hosting our application.
Self service account management is non-existent.

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Verified User

Team Lead in Information Technology

Construction Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

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Free/Freemium Version

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Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

—

Rating Summary

Project Estimator

LoadSpring

Project Estimator

LoadSpring