BuildingConnected, an Autodesk product vs. PlanSwift, by ConstructConnect

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

I use PlanSwift for all my projects - it has just cut my time by a major percentage when it comes to quantifying a blueprint. At times there are funky areas, which are just hard to calculate on paper. It also has a great tool for scaling according to the dimensions, so if a drawing is missing a scale, you can always allot a scale by giving directions and then marking the points. I use this tool to check the scale as well - sometimes the drawings say something but the scale if off and you are left with an incorrect take-off. The dimension tool is a good way to check that. We don't use it much for pricing purposes though, we have found other software which are more robust when it comes to estimation, but we can see using PlanSwift for pricing sometime in the future.

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

• Easy to use and intuitive.
• Accurate data to use for projects, allowing for a central hub for all teams to work from.
• It's a central stop from take off and plan review all the way to plugging numbers into our estimating.
• The ability to link through SharePoint, which always access from any user and location.

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

• Submittals are not user friendly in PlanGrid. In fact, this is the one feature we would like to see improved.
• Billing is based on how many users you have. It would be very nice if they would do it based on revenue or other factors such as other programs do.

Incentivized

It's become the go to program for our takeoffs. We have tried others but this is the simplest.

Incentivized

Very easy to use.

Incentivized

Plan Swift is a user friendly program that makes takeoffs easy to perform. Not a whole lot of knowledge or skill is required.

Incentivized

Never had an issue

Incentivized

Plan Swift is only as fast as your computer system and internet

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 called once needing support. I was asking about the "compare" tool to compare different versions. They told be about their desktop app and I downloaded. They answered quickly, you could understand them, and they took care of my question

Incentivized

Quick and easy. Pretty much menu-driven

Incentivized

just know what use you want to get out of it. In our case it was just to do area take offs.

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

Bluebeam is amazing and can accomplish any take-off needs, but you will spend much more time creating your conditions and take off items. It is not as user-friendly as PlanSwift. OST (On screen takeoff). This product is by far better than PlanSwift, as it is amazingly easy to use. However, it is much more expensive. Cloud-based takeoff software -- this kind of software is difficult for me to use because of how slow the pages load and navigate. It's hard to beat that from PlanSwift or OST.

Incentivized

Several of our departments can use the take off feature to assist them in their job responsibilities.

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

• The estimators' productivity is greatly increased, I do takeoffs in less than half the time with more accuracy and detail captured.
• Easy sharing of what was taken off, I'm able to ensure everything is captured.

Incentivized