Autodesk Build vs. Foundation Software Construction Accounting

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.

Incentivized

Working as a general contractor or subcontractor, I highly recommend Foundation Software Construction Accounting. I would not recommend it for anything outside construction, but it could still be used for other businesses.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Invoicing
• Reports
• Payroll

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• I think A/P Invoice approval could be much smoother.
• Purchase orders should be more detailed able to be issued and easily modified and enter invoices against them.
• A/P check distribution should let you select checks for ACH payment and printed check in the same run.

Incentivized

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

Incentivized

There are some things it lacks, certain reports or history audits. I have to call them to do certain things-submit a ticket and wait on someone to call back instead of getting someone immediately. Especially if it's urgent. I have to wait on them to push an update-and they usually run a week or 2 later- to pull quarterly or annual tax forms.

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

Incentivized

I give Foundation Software Construction Accounting this rating because once you learn the software and how detailed its with multiple steps to complete transactions, it is very user friendly and keeps you from making user errors.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

Support is usually pretty great. Most of the time return calls to tickets logged are fairly quick. Most everyone is knowledgeable and helpful.

the person from them was impatient and would make comments about we've been over this

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.

Incentivized

Personally,
I did not have a hand in deciding the software, but for our company is has not
led to increased productivity or made things easier. It has been more difficult
for payroll to be inputted correctly and the payroll reports for certified
payroll often come out incorrect and we need to manually figure out how to correct
the issues and get them in correctly

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Financial Management
• Return on Investmetn
• Job Costing

Incentivized