Likelihood to Recommend I think the complexity and cost of the program make it particularly useful, in situations where: the project is relatively large, with a wide variety of specialties that interact and depend on one another, and with specialists who are not physically together and whose communication and understanding is vital for the proper development of the project. If the project does not meet these characteristics, it is preferable to use less complex tools, cheaper, and that require less effort training the staff to use the software in question.
Read full review In this case, CF is the best of the 'OK so far' category in my mind. NONE of the software available today gets close to a truly effective, user friendly GUI and functionality set. I have used 7 different systems over the years, with the top 4 big names having the largest hours operating. Most have less functionality, others are severely overpriced and under featured. Still others are so complicated you need an entire IT department to implement them. Contractor Foreman does much of what it does the absolute best for the money, meaning this is probably the best value for construction management software I'm aware of. I believe I can say with confidence, that if CF does it, it strives to do it well, and continues to strive to get it better. Picking a feature or two that excels is rather pointless in a company with that outlook. THAT is a company I can get behind...
Read full review Pros It allows the different specialists or users, to make virtual and quick analyzes that have been translated into the rapid resolution of problems. Bentley Navigator allowed me to incorporate and manage important amounts of information that were key in the design phase, and that being inputs for different areas could be a source of conflict. The conflicts that have been generated are much smaller than those seen in similar projects previously carried out without the help of this tool. Allowing the visualization of the information in 3D models, added to its capacity to export 3D models as PD files, has allowed to increase the fluidity and communication of information with the client, which has translated into a reduction of the hours invested by the technical manager in that activity. Read full review Estimates Project management Lead management - tracking where they are in the funnel and having web lead automatically pull into the system. Read full review Cons It could give alert messages warning that the information that is of shared use, has the latest version, with all the updated modifications. The information contained in the visual reports currently generated by the software could be expanded. Read full review Some of the modules like checklists and forms are confusing and hard to use some of the training videos or versions of an old outdated version of the software Would like to see a more efficent way of creating a submittal log generated from a specification book Read full review Likelihood to Renew Eliminated the need for our team to log into multiple systems to do their jobs which aligns to our Lean approach
Read full review Support Rating I rarely give anyone a 9 or 10 rating for service. The main reason for this rating is Contractor Foreman's dedication to improvement. To be completely frank, CF has fallen down on their tech help with me several times, but I am an exceptionally difficult user to service as I tend to use a product up to it's limits and want more. CF has actually addressed these wants several times (after waits that seemed interminable, but were actually pretty damn fast in the reality of software development)
Read full review Alternatives Considered The tools and functionalities that have been used previously, are not commercial software, they have been software developed internally, of course much simpler and less functional than commercial software such as Bentley and its competition. This fact clearly obeyed a guideline of the organization that aimed to minimize the costs associated with the acquisition of software such as the Bentley.
As you learn from the experience and mistakes, once you lost a lot of time and money because you did not have the necessary tools to guarantee the timely flow of information, between personnel who were physically distant from each other but who needed of a very high technical interaction. As a result of this fact, the use of tools such as this was proposed as a test, in order to evaluate its real usefulness over time.
Read full review I've used
Buildertrend and Conconstruct near daily for a little over 10 years. They were both pretty solid. But the price kept going up without much value being added to the software. As they grew, they didn't upgrade with the growth, so the sites became slower. Contractor Forman has all the functionality of the others, and several other tools that they don't. There are several tools our company doesn't even use yet that look great. It's not perfect, and the learning curve due to its increased capability is a bit of a challenge. But overall, it is superior in every way that mattered to us, and more affordable.
Read full review Return on Investment The frequency and quality of information flow between field and office staff has improved. The costs for cellular use concepts associated with the sharing of information associated with the projects where the software has been used have been reduced compared to projects where more traditional control tools have been used. Read full review We don't have to double enter our job information anymore (estimates, bills, labor hours) to show employees what they need to see. Specific access within Contractor Foreman does that for us. It's taken us longer to learn how Contractor Foreman works within itself than we thought it would, so implementation is taking a little longer than ideal. However, we have been learning a lot along the way about the easiest ways to use the workflow that Contractor Foreman has. Read full review ScreenShots Contractor Foreman Screenshots