BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product vs. FastPIPE vs. Pipeline Suite

When receiving RFQ's from companies within a manageable distant from our location, it has been very helpfull. Receiving RFQ's for projects outside of our work area, it is just a waste of time. The projects available are well organized and give date due of proposal.

Incentivized

It's absolutely well suited to anyone needing accurate piping takeoff and laboring estimates, with great reporting and up to date pricing. I love that I didn't need to spend time trying to update the price logs. It's easy to learn, and works well in a large or small environment, and lends itself to more than just estimating, but becomes a good project management tool as well. Fantastic software.

Incentivized

Pipeline Suite is a very niche product, but for anyone who has ever dealt with the construction bidding process, you can understand the need for it. With Pipeline Suite, it is so easy to request bids, share documents and plans, and coordinate schedules for submittals. We are able to prequalify sub contractors and vendors at a faster pace as well with the product

Incentivized

• Helps keep track of multiple jobs at once
• Helps sort your bid invites into won/lost/pending/archived etc.
• It is a central location where general contractors can put all their updated files and addendum
• Lets you see which contractors are bidding the same job so you can coordinate your estimating

Incentivized

• FastPIPE was very fast to learn, very straight forward and user-friendly. It's easy to use and teach new interns and project engineers how to quickly takeoff sections to backup change orders or assist in heavy bid load.
• It's fantastic at keeping up to date on price changes. I'd get updates often, and they were usually within 2-3% of our discount prices with local vendors. In the few instances it wasn't, FastPIPE was very easy to adjust or factor for project costs.
• Is great at being able to pull up reports and graphs and track different materials and labor costs for factoring. We bid on a lot of high rise residential buildings, so we do takeoff by floor. It would give detailed reports per page as opposed to just a lump sum. Very detailed so it was easy to adjust per our project approach.

Incentivized

• Sharing documents and plans with project stakeholders is a piece of cake.
• The product makes tracking the status of bids so much easier.

Incentivized

• There was a previous glitch where bid forms have been updated by subcontractors that have accessed a former version are not able to access the updated/new bid form.
• I would like to see the ability for BuildingConnected to automatically send a bid reminder to bidders at a set amount of time prior to the bid date.

Incentivized

• It was a trick or two learning how to upload prints correctly, I think that interface could be a bit easier, but it's already better than most of the competition.
• Might be nice to have easier labor factoring, in case we want to pre-load our own instead of MCA time factors for piping labor
• It would auto update upon opening occasionally. It's fairly fast, but I prefer to OK that in case I just need to come up with something quickly and don't want to wait.

Incentivized

• The onboarding process was difficult for us just because we had some pretty disorganized databases.
• The product is pricey for small to medium sized firms.

Incentivized

Very easy to use.

Incentivized

Though I haven't had to utilize any live support at BuildingConnected, I know others at my company have and have had good success with them. They seem to be very responsive and since the software is so simple, there are not that many pitfalls or hurdles that you need to work through to accomplish your task.

Incentivized

I have found that the customer support team has an understanding of the construction bidding process. They have been able to see issues through our eyes, so to speak, not just through the eyes of a software company. They have always been very timely in their responses and seem to go above and beyond to solve issues

Incentivized

Quick and easy. Pretty much menu-driven

Incentivized

Have used BlueBook Construction, which has a smooth, quick search for local contractors. Still, they don't allow us the client project creation. I even had issues with them displaying proper project descriptions based upon was receiving inadequate and or erroneous bid proposals, and the engagement manager was not flexible in resolving the problem!

Incentivized

I've used the quote soft piping takeoff as well, and it's just not as easy to use or update. Basic methodology and interaface is similar, but it's more 'clunky' to use, is harder to keep updated and to upload PDF's for takeoff, and it's just not as streamlined or user friendly. Akin to comparing driving a truck to a sports car. The Fast Pipe is really smooth and easy to function in.

Incentivized

I don't have a lot of personal experience with SmartBid, but from what I hear from other colleagues, Pipeline Suite makes it easier for subcontractors to access documents/plans and to respond to bids. The interface and design of Pipeline Suite is more modern and the user experience is a major upgrade from SmartBid

Incentivized

• Allows our company to accurately estimate the cost of a project.
• Helps us to reach out to qualified subcontractors based on past experience and history with our company.
• Contains bid leveling capabilities to ensure that all proposals cover a full scope of work.

Incentivized

• Best impact is time saved. It's so much faster to do bid takeoff and hit the ground running
• Being able to 'draw in' on design-build and being able to print my takeoff has been helpful when turning the job over so the field install understands the approach taken to get the job.
• Ease of use and learning has made it much more cost effective to bring new people up to speed.

Incentivized

• We have been able to respond to more bids using Pipeline Suite.
• Our proposals are more accurate and organized, which has made our projects come under budget more often.

Incentivized