Autodesk Build, based on the former PlanGrid, is construction productivity software. It includes tools to collaborate, collect, and manage project information throughout the project’s construction and operations lifespan. It enables document centralization and tracking.
$39
user per month
Autodesk Construction Cloud
Score 8.7 out of 10
N/A
The Autodesk Construction Cloud provides a bundle of construction management products to suite various use cases. Current bundles include Construction Operations, Preconstruction, as well as Virtual Design and Construction.
PlanGrid performs really well in all aspects of construction from the general to the sub/trade. The platform distributes and communicates project documentation in an extremely user-friendly manner. As with most software, it is cheaper the larger the scale of the project. In situations where the project is relatively small, and the trade contracts are also of relatively low dollar value, the product can be cost-prohibitive.
Well Suited: Autodesk Construction Cloud is cost effective, user friendly, and robust. They aren't nickel and diming you for use of each module. Once users are on-board with the system it creates an ecosystem that all users "go to first" for an answer. Less Appropriate: As a Developer, there are some hiccups as it is designed more for the GC (general contractor). A template option that is Developer forward would an improvement.
Plangrid is the best SaaS I have seen for ease of uploading construction plans and automated organization of those plans.
For companies that are not using other products for mobile access, the Plangrid mobile apps are perfect to allow people on and off site to share and collaborate in many phases of construction project documentation.
Plangrid has a very responsive technical support team (although it is pretty much email only).
Plangrid's website layout is easy to use and understand and allows new users to jump right in and do basic to moderate tasks without little training.
Meeting Minutes: Simple to use and adapt from Agenda to Minutes, attach reference documents efficiently, and assign accountability to attendees.
Budget/Cost Reporting: There is a learning curve, but the visibility of budgets and costs from inception to closeout is beneficial for the user and makes reporting to investors simple and consistent.
Document Management: The version history on drawings "sheets" is very helpful when managing a project through design and construction. Issuing addenda, drawings, or tracking down a change in design is simple.
Pay Applications/Change Order Workflow: the customizable workflows along with time stamps of reviews and response makes tracking down status and bottlenecks very easy.
The photo attachment process is a bit complicated. In ProCore (another similar software I've used), you can upload photos directly into RFIs for your reference, or into e-mails. For PlanGrid, you have to first upload the photo into the documents tab, then link them into the RFI. It's not intuitive and can add confusion to the documents tab.
Photos can't be directly uploaded. Between different devices and colleagues, it's possible you'll get an important photo outside of the PlanGrid photo capture feature within its app. Again, it's complicated for users to use.
In their new drawings viewer, the icons for actions do not have icons available. I had to use them all in order to understand what they meant, and I'm fairly tech savvy. I'm not sure if a new person to PlanGrid will pick up on each icon's abilities very easily.
There's no all-in-one solution in CM, but PlanGrid is fairly barebones, and I don't believe it has any ability to connect to other software. There's no ability to take meeting munites; you can hack the field reports feature to accomplish this, but it's clear that was not the intent of the designers.
The footprint large projects leave within Desktop Connector and Mitigating that data
REMOVE "add up to 80 projects" from the Desktop Connector Select Projects Screen! It is better to cycle the project data in/out for syncing latest greatest rather than have users load up their desktop connector full of projects and let data stagnate/have to be racked to update.
We are at the point where we have shown our teams what is possible with this software. We cannot take it away and go back to the way we used to do things. I think that they would push back on us to give them access to something electronic. It is a good program that we will continue to use
Hard to get the hang of this software, but with time it become very repetitive and easier to navigate. I have used this software for over a year now and the constant updates by Autodesk have made the software better and better to use at work. This allows me to use this tool more effectively
It is overall a very great product in terms of usability. Some features need some work like RFI tools and contruction administration tools. As the product develops I imagine these becoming more important and easier to use
The data mitigation is complete garbage. Any cloud collaborated model takes 2x to load in the Autodesk Construction Cloud environment that if it was saved locally or to on prem servers. We had our systems and bandwidth all evaluated to be applicable but the data downloads and sequencing through Desktop Connector leaves much to be desired.
Online chat during business hours is extremely helpful. The Plangrid staff has gone above and beyond many times to help us. One time they even offered to completely rebuild our 900+ sheet project so I could slip sheet a few old drawing revisions! This undoubtedly would have taken hours on Plangrid's end. They are always responsive and are continually improving, listening to user feedback.
Plangrid, while not serving the external document distribution function, is unrivaled for internal document distribution and sharing in the construction industry. The speed at which documents are navigatable, the ability to download your projects for viewing without an internet connection, and the document mark-up and photo tools place it head and shoulders above the competition.
Procore's user interface is not as user-friendly. Next steps are not as obvious and the overall graphic design is more old-school. I do however like how Procore lists the specific issues that you are assigned on the home page. Procore can be more difficult to navigate and it's hard to find attachments.
It helped us "wow" a joint commission survey in 2016 and have a successful survey because he loved how we could access plans on an iPad, check suite sizes, and didn't have to carry around huge, heavy sets of life safety plans.
