A production management software that helps roofing and exterior contractors manage their sales pipeline, create roofing estimates, schedules, oversee production, order materials and better understand the performance of their business. The roofing CRM specifically supports working in the Insurance Restoration, Retail Roofing, Residential Roofing, and Commercial Roofing industries. AccuLynx provides integrations with the most trusted names in the industry.
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HCSS
Score 9.2 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
HCSS is a construction software suite. It includes functionality for bidding, time card and project management, safety, planning, scheduling, equipment management, and data warehousing and reporting. Each module can be purchased separately. The suite can be hosted in the cloud.
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Pricing
AccuLynx
HCSS
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
AccuLynx
HCSS
Free Trial
No
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
Yes
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
Required
Additional Details
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More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
AccuLynx
HCSS
Features
AccuLynx
HCSS
Construction Project & Field Management
Comparison of Construction Project & Field Management features of Product A and Product B
AccuLynx
7.6
8 Ratings
0% above category average
HCSS
5.1
34 Ratings
39% below category average
Plan distribution & viewing
7.25 Ratings
5.010 Ratings
Plan markups & sharing
7.25 Ratings
5.07 Ratings
Photo documentation
8.18 Ratings
5.026 Ratings
Document sharing
8.28 Ratings
5.018 Ratings
Collaboration & approvals
7.77 Ratings
5.020 Ratings
Mobile app
7.58 Ratings
7.029 Ratings
Issue tracking & punchlists
00 Ratings
5.014 Ratings
Jobsite reports
00 Ratings
6.031 Ratings
RFI tools
00 Ratings
3.01 Ratings
Estimating
Comparison of Estimating features of Product A and Product B
When you want to track your quotes that have gone out to customers so that you can follow up on them, this system makes it way easier to do that. It also makes it way easier to track invoice dates. One area that it is less appropriate is for detailed big public bids where a traditional estimate template is not appropriate.
Our operation uses several pieces of what we call specialty equipment (not used every day on every job). The foreman when finished will give a location of where this equipment is left, this many times can be very vague and lead to a lowboy driver trying to block around to find the piece or driving down a street he cannot get turned around in. With the GPS devices, the driver can pinpoint exactly where the unit is and if he has room to turn around at that location.
#1 is support! HCSS is by far the best software support of any product we have ever used. Unlike most software companies HCSS utilizes their support calls to help upgrade their software. When you here them tell you that they will write down a particular issue you come across during a support call if they can't help you then and there they will research and get an answer to you extremely fast. If the software will not do it, you can bet there is a good chance it will be on the list of enhancements you will see come out in the near future.
Estimating software is very extensive. Their software is capable of handling the smallest estimate all the way to the largest joint venture estimate. It has advanced features that make it extremely useful for analyzing job materials, subcontractors etc.
HeavyJob is an extremely useful tool for the field to keep the office up to date with job costs. Everything is at the Foreman's fingertips on Tablets to allow the information from the field to get uploaded to HeavyJob manager which then can export to accounting. We are also able to give our Foreman the ability to deal with the Daily and weekly safety needs (Tailgate Meetings, incident Investigation, observations etc.) right on the Tablets thru HeavyJob.
Pricing in the database for each item is done manually due to the merger of two large suppliers nationally who decided to write their own database and estimating program and disconnect themselves from AccuLynx that had the ability to automatically update pricing. I feel that was a huge mistake on the part of the supplier. AccuLynx is trying to rectify that relationship.
It's unfortunate that the only calendaring option is Google Calendar. We are very tied to Outlook which we feel is more user-friendly and we know it well.
All their apps are on mobile devices. Although there is not a clear company policy on Android versus iPhone. Updates for features lag behind on Android. Some apps are exclusive to one platform making it hard to fully interconnect all programs.
Until someone shows me something more efficient or has features that are more streamlined and time is saved by all then I am all ears and ready to listen to that presentation. I wouldn't care at this point if I had to abandon QB if the system had it's own integrated accounting system otherwise it has to be able to do all and more of the features of QB and the CRM side also has to have/do more than AccuLynx features.
Very versatile and allows for other people to complete things and someone else to still look at and approve if needed. Great communication ability internally and with customers and with that being the case is a tremendous asset with documentation also. Really a well rounded tool that allows you to do everything needed for a job in one place and have the records to show what was done by whom and when.
As mentioned, user interface appears messy and complicated at initial onset. Training is necessary but becomes easy to maneuver through after solid daily use.
They can always improve and we are very successful when calling support. I would suggest they keep their support technicians available later for the west coast contractors who need help at the end of the day. We've come to know many of the techs because we call to offer suggestions but there's a process for us to follow for that.
I have never had a bad experience or heard of one in 4 years of doing business with HCSS. That is unheard of even with the hurricanes and flooding in Houston area it feels like HCSS was always there and willing to help in every way.
I was not employed with PPI upon implementation. I would prefer to reference my previous statement, that each company needs to evaluate its culture and address your implementation accordingly. The purchasing company should assign an employee as point person and really take charge of not just the technical side of the implementation (HCSS pretty much handles that), but focus on company culture and training.
AccuLynx has met our needs more than our previous CRM program. ALX is user-friendly which is super nice when training new employees, compared to our previous program which then seemed very outdated.
Other estimating products I have used consist of ICE/MC2 and MS Excel. ICE was not a good fit for our company, as they have awful technical support and offer very poor training. MS Excel is great for simple estimates where there is not a lot of data being compiled. However neither hold a candle to the power of HCSS Heavybid
I am have had a hard time justifying AccuLynx since I am a small business. I hate all the add ons. I do not appreciate that all the good tools cost extra money on top of my monthly payment.
Because of the codebooks (bid item codebook for DOT's specifically), we're able to carve off significant time in "stick-building" estimates
It's very easy to train newer estimators with HeavyBid due to the abundance of resources available on HCSS Academy and elsewhere (i.e. Arthur Nix's material)
The KPI's and Insights that Pre-Con offers helps us to make better decisions on Bid Day.
