Bluebeam Revu is a PDF management, control, and editing tool. It enables collaboration and markup within shared documents across projects’ life cycles and has takeoff and bid creation capabilities.
$240
per year per user
Buildertrend
Score 7.4 out of 10
N/A
BuilderTrend is a construction management system. It includes functionality for pre-sale, project management, financial management, and customer management processes. It also provides mobile accessibility.
N/A
CoConstruct
Score 7.0 out of 10
N/A
CoConstruct, from Buildertrend since the November 2021 acquisition, is a custom builder & remodeler software. It allows users to enter data once and have that information flow through the estimate, specs, selections, bids, proposals, change orders, and budgets, including to and from QuickBooks. In addition, CoConstruct includes scheduling and 3-way communication between builder, client, and trade partners. Everything is captured via email and texting. Login isn't required for…
$49
per month
Pricing
Bluebeam
Buildertrend
CoConstruct
Editions & Modules
Revu Standard
$349
per seat
Revu CAD
$449
per seat
Revu eXtreme
$599
per seat
Core Subscription
Contact for quote
per year
Premium
Contact for quote
per month
Premium
Contact for quote
Ramp
$49
per month
Plus 5
$299
per month
Plus 10
$399
per month
Plus 15
$499
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Bluebeam
Buildertrend
CoConstruct
Free Trial
Yes
No
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Yes
Yes
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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CoConstruct pricing is based on active job sites that have client access online, which means it is adaptable to builders & remodelers businesses. This means that there are an unlimited amount of projects available for estimates and proposals, so that customers only pay when they win a contract. Also built into the pricing are a myriad of services: a dedicated implementation coach, free estimate & scheduling templates based on industry best practices from successful builders and the NAHB, unlimited storage and users, software branded with the customer's logo, unlimited amount of warranty projects, and unlimited phone & email support. The vendor offers a money-back guarantee that is good for the first 90 days of service.
I haven’t spent enough time with Revit to give a full comparison. But three architects I’ve worked with have all said they enjoy both programs and Bluebeam was highly recommended for my needs in the company.
The program has outstanding customer service. With project scheduling, project management, financial management, customer management, and service management capabilities in a single suite, there's really not much this program can't do! Owners generally love the use of this …
Buildertrend provides a similar product; however, I found it a little more clunky to use. Buildertrend integrates with a third party estimating software; however, it wasn't one I used. I had already invested in an estimating system that I could manipulate better to support …
CoConstruct has a lot of similar functionality as comopared to Buildertrend and when it came down to selecting one over the other, CoConstruct won our business because of this fact. The fact that it does almost all of the same things at a fraction of the cost of Buildertrend …
We have tried all the major products and some minor ones too.
Don't pick Buildertrend. We spent a year with them and discovered that they release beta-quality features. We signed on to their payment system, and it cost us so much time and energy to sort out the mess that it …
We utilize CoConstruct because it doesn't forget the close relationship with a client. Other software performs well in project management, but so often they epitomize the adversarial relationship in construction between the contractor and the client. CoConstruct tries to put …
CoConstruct is the only single-entry estimating system that allows each user to enter a piece of information once, and have that data flow directly from the estimate, specifications, selections, bids, change orders, budgets, and to and from QuickBooks with no double entry! It …
The program is great for editing construction drawings, stamping/approving official documents and overlaying revised documents to see design changes. You can use it as an estimating takeoff tool, estimating database, document control, cloud document storage, the list goes on! Bluebeam poses many applications for the user to utilize for the desired needs. There may be some other software that has one specific function that can perform the specific task better, but Bluebeam is a holistic program with many tools for use.
Buildertrend was made for a specific industry (building) and so I would recommend it to anyone in that industry, with the exception of Sales and Marketing. But for everything else from the financing to the permitting to the construction and all else, Buildertrend is exactly what our team has used and will ALWAYS use. Even with our decision to use other systems for Sales and Marketing, we have never given one thought to taking Buildertrend out of our process. We will always be with Buildertrend.
Having the ability to completely manage a project from start to finish with one app is super helpful. The time reporting feature (when it works correctly) is a nice added bonus as it allows employees to switch from one task to another on the same project or to another project and task with ease, aiding in the accounting process of the total project. This was helpful for running analytics to see where we were spending too much time on certain tasks, thus allowing us to assess any training needs.
Once you set Bluebeam Revu as your default PDF handler, it launches immediately when clicking a PDF to open. The speed with which it opens documents is impressive.
Creating PDF's out of other documents, such as Word, Excel, JPG's, etc. is simple.
Digitally signing documents is a simple, secure process. You can keep your signature password-protected, yet still access it quickly.
The Bluebeam Revu mobile application ( I use the iOS version on an iPad Pro), is awesome. Not only does it handle PDF's like you would expect it to, it allows for effortless digital signing of documents on the fly. Nice to be able to quickly sign a document and email right back out from the tablet no matter where I am.
The integration of all aspects needed to run a remodeling company efficiently: project scheduling and management, financial planning and customer service. Since it’s an all-in-one suite and cloud-based, it enables our team to keep track of all our projects in real-time. Communication breakdown is the last thing we want, so being on the same page is not only desirable but makes for the best possible relationship with our clients.
Product education - We like how CoConstruct helps new users and get them to start using the tool right away. The dashboard resource materials are incredibly useful. We don’t have to spend a lot of time training new hires on the system and onboarding new clients.
If you have several tabs open and you try to drag one out for a side by side view then you do not have all the modification options and you have to combine them back together.
There is a lag time when hitting the print option.
There is also a lag time when opening files, sometimes I think the window is frozen.
I wish the basic version also had basic file editing, as in editing a document as Adobe does.
Onsite consultants. There is a demand for this service that is great enough to allow outside BuilderTrend Super-Users like me to partner with BuilderTrend and make this a reality.
As their company grows, their support needs to grow as well.
Provide incentives for Super Users that are helping BuilderTrend acquire new business. Advocates should be their best friend.
Internal Communication - CoConstruct lacks the ability to tag-team members for internal communication using @mentions or any other means. This has been crippling for us and forced us to use alternative software for communicating among our team members.
Pipeline Management - CoConstruct's lead-tracking system feels clunky and hard to navigate and doesn't provide a pipeline view that's easy to navigate. We have moved our Pipeline Management outside of CoConstruct to make it easier for our sales team to track leads.
CRM - CoConstruct doesn't offer anything for customer follow-up after projects are completed. This, in addition to the lack of an effective pipeline system, has led to our decision to use Hubspot as our CRM. Moving projects into CoConstruct for Design and back our after Production.
Bluebeam is a powerful PDF viewer and mark-up tool. We are more familiar with it than Adobe Acrobat Pro or other viewers, and it has more features geared towards construction document managers than Acrobat Pro does.
I'm constantly finding that Bluebeam Revu does more than I knew it could. And when I find something that it can't do, I've found that Bluebeam truly listens to its user base and will work to incorporate any good suggestion when feasible.
Its simple to use and intuitive. The level of support that we have from online videos, to access to customer support, and the ability to call anyone at anytime on the main line has been invaluable to utilize and not get stuck on something you don't know yet. We've never not had anyone that couldn't respond in time for us.
Its hard for me to give a rating on this one as we rarely have to use the support feature for Bluebeam. However, when we have used it, they have been ultra supportive in helping us get exactly what we needed. I know another engineer was trying to figure out a feature and the rep gave a detailed tutorial on how to complete the task
I highly recommend. The only suggestion I have would be to offer a free trial. They do offer a 30 day money back guarantee. The price point isn't daunting if you have had a 100 % no strings attached/no effort to cancel or try to remember to get your money back - no strings attached chance to try out the product. Especially for such a big purchase decision, I think Buildertrend would see an incredible increase in sales. They have the value and companies just need a chance to see it first hand.
The support staff is brilliant; they don't operate on Australian time, so you can't just dial up support when you need it. The response times are quick, and the staff is knowledgeable. They are also well versed in most of the differences between buildings in the US and the building in Australasia. Despite their funny accents and strange use of the English language, we get by just fine!
We feel there is not another program out there that would compare to Bluebeam at this current time. Some of the other programs out there do not include studio or the overlaying process which is one of our main uses. The ease of hyperlinking makes this product stand out the most.
The program has outstanding customer service. With project scheduling, project management, financial management, customer management, and service management capabilities in a single suite, there's really not much this program can't do! Owners generally love the use of this software as well, giving them the ability to view daily logs, photos, schedules, etc.
Products like Procore and PlanGrid are geared towards projects with huge projects teams, multiple stakeholders and dozens of subcontractors. CoConstruct can be used for projects big and small (value) and also with small project teams or large projects teams. For small partial renovation or addition projects CoConstruct is a good more cost effective option.
A major positive aspect is being able to take your computer home without taking the entire set of paper drawings. They have made it so easy to navigate a set of drawings that I can work at home using only the digital drawings.
Collaboration with owners and architects has been a great feature. Setting up a Bluebeam studio and having everyone get in and mark things up, then having the architect be able to go in and see what markups have been added, has made the constructability review process much much better.
Even when not working on drawings, Bluebeam is a very good tool for working with standard PDF documents. The markup tools are very easy to use.
The negative aspect is the takeoff function because some people would like estimators to use the Bluebeam takeoff because it would make their job easier down the road; however, the actual act of doing a full scale takeoff in Bluebeam would require much more time.
The prior year cost me roughly $4300, which was barely reasonable for my volume. Some clients liked the format, some hated it and didn't participate. In my experience, few subcontractors or suppliers embraced the program, severely limiting the effectiveness.
For the coming year the fees would have exceeded $17,000, far too much for a program with limited client, employee, and subcontractor appeal with as small a volume as I have.
Honestly, for the last year, I feel they've been a burning tire hung around my neck and I regret not cancelling them in early 2019, I'd have $10,000 more in my pocket and no significant negative impact.
I did appreciate the daily log as a way to report on progress, but less than half my clients made use of this option.
