Autodesk Build vs. Sage 100 Contractor

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

If you want a SQL-based ERP, this is a great solution. You can host it locally or on a cloud-based SQL instance. If you want a more modern, browser and cloud-based system, Sage 100 Contractor will not work.

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

• Sage integrates very well with our field time tracking software called Exaktime. We import the start/end time card data that includes job costs directly to the PR module which greatly reduces the time it takes to process payroll.
• Sage 100 C payroll calculations and WC/GL overhead calculations are easy to use and understand. The WC/GL overhead calculations are posted to project costs in real-time allowing for accurate total cost reporting of the project.

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

• Software maybe be too complicated for smaller contractors
• The dashboard information my be a bit much for some users
• Still an on premise software without a cloud option

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

The cost of Sage 100 Contractor software is relatively inexpensive compared to some higher-priced options like Foundation and Microsoft Dynamics GP. But more importantly, the cost of implementing new software is costly. Implementation costs include testing and training. There are also risks involved with switching software such as missing data after conversion. Plus, there are always some unknown downsides to switching that are not apparent until the switch is made such as perceived capabilities that really don't exist. For these reasons, we will likely stay with Sage 100 Contractor for a long time. If we grow (say double) in size, we would consider other options.

Incentivized

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

In the end there are tons of other products that are much better. Time cards don't work, we needed an external software to track this for employees. Estimation is cumbersome, we just used Excel. Payroll was ok, but didn't do employee taxes correctly when they make a certain amount for some reason. Overall, it's a bad product.

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

If we ever have issues with Sage 100, the live chat is an awesome tool. However, most of our live chat inquiries are not because of the issues we have, but more for us to better understand how we are supposed to use the software. Sometimes we ask ourselves "what if we" and if we need guidance, the live chat will provide us with the answers or resources to figure out what we need. They always follow up to ensure the problems we encounter have been fixed. If our issue is an indicator of an upgrade that could be made, Sage 100 C offers a way to submit the idea for review and improvement of the software.

Incentivized

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

I have use Sage 50, Sage 90, Peachtree Quantum, QuickBooks, Great Plains. They are all good for what they can do. Sage 100 Contractor is the best at what it does. It's a good fit.

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

• It has cut down on accounting personnel and made the cost more effective in that department.
• It allows for more company wide visibility on all jobs.

Incentivized