Bluebeam vs. Contractor Foreman

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Bluebeam
Score 8.5 out of 10
N/A
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
Contractor Foreman
Score 9.3 out of 10
N/A
Contractor Foreman is an online construction management software for contractors and boasts users among contractors in more than 75 countries.
$588
per year
Pricing
BluebeamContractor Foreman
Editions & Modules
Revu Standard
$349
per seat
Revu CAD
$449
per seat
Revu eXtreme
$599
per seat
Basic
$588
per year
Standard
$948
per year
Plus
$1,497
per year
Pro
$1,990
per year
Unlimited
$2,988
per year
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
BluebeamContractor Foreman
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
YesNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details—Plans are based on features and licenses needed. Plus, Pro, and Unlimited plans include a 100-day money back guarantee.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
BluebeamContractor Foreman
Considered Both Products
Bluebeam

No answer on this topic

Contractor Foreman
Chose Contractor Foreman
Of all the myriad different systems I have used over the last 20 years, Contractor Foreman seems to not only be better, but more serious and dedicated to continuous improvements to their platform. THAT will make for the best app, not just today but every year it continues this …
Top Pros

No answers on this topic

Top Cons

No answers on this topic

Features
BluebeamContractor Foreman
Reporting & Analytics
Comparison of Reporting & Analytics features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
8.7
1 Ratings
6% above category average
Contractor Foreman
8.7
20 Ratings
6% above category average
Standard reports9.01 Ratings8.719 Ratings
Custom reports8.01 Ratings8.517 Ratings
Data exportability9.01 Ratings8.616 Ratings
Dashboards00 Ratings8.819 Ratings
Construction Project & Field Management
Comparison of Construction Project & Field Management features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
8.8
50 Ratings
17% above category average
Contractor Foreman
8.7
20 Ratings
16% above category average
Plan distribution & viewing9.048 Ratings7.15 Ratings
Plan markups & sharing9.150 Ratings8.811 Ratings
Issue tracking & punchlists9.030 Ratings9.518 Ratings
Photo documentation9.033 Ratings9.320 Ratings
Jobsite reports9.028 Ratings9.814 Ratings
Document sharing9.044 Ratings8.817 Ratings
RFI tools8.932 Ratings8.812 Ratings
Collaboration & approvals9.139 Ratings8.815 Ratings
As-built drawings9.042 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile app7.827 Ratings8.720 Ratings
Submittal design and management8.918 Ratings8.79 Ratings
Checklists9.01 Ratings8.918 Ratings
Change orders8.01 Ratings8.918 Ratings
Meeting Minutes00 Ratings8.13 Ratings
Specifications00 Ratings7.54 Ratings
Estimating
Comparison of Estimating features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
8.9
27 Ratings
8% above category average
Contractor Foreman
9.1
19 Ratings
11% above category average
Takeoff tools7.025 Ratings7.72 Ratings
Job costing8.45 Ratings9.418 Ratings
Cost databases10.01 Ratings9.314 Ratings
Cost calculator10.02 Ratings9.615 Ratings
Bid creation9.07 Ratings9.616 Ratings
Human Resource Management
Comparison of Human Resource Management features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
-
Ratings
Contractor Foreman
7.7
14 Ratings
1% below category average
Employee demographic data00 Ratings7.63 Ratings
Employment history00 Ratings7.610 Ratings
Job profiles and administration00 Ratings8.914 Ratings
Workflow for transfers, promotions, pay raises, etc.00 Ratings7.83 Ratings
Organizational charting00 Ratings7.43 Ratings
Organization and location management00 Ratings8.53 Ratings
Compliance data (COBRA, OSHA, etc.)00 Ratings6.45 Ratings
Payroll Management
Comparison of Payroll Management features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
-
Ratings
Contractor Foreman
6.7
4 Ratings
12% below category average
Pay calculation00 Ratings6.33 Ratings
Support for external payroll vendors00 Ratings6.54 Ratings
Off-cycle/On-Demand payment00 Ratings4.51 Ratings
Benefit plan administration00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Direct deposit files00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
Salary revision and increment management00 Ratings6.63 Ratings
Reimbursement management00 Ratings6.82 Ratings
Asset Management
Comparison of Asset Management features of Product A and Product B
Bluebeam
-
Ratings
Contractor Foreman
7.7
2 Ratings
1% above category average
Tracking of all physical assets00 Ratings7.72 Ratings
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BluebeamContractor Foreman
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User Ratings
BluebeamContractor Foreman
Likelihood to Recommend
4.4
(62 ratings)
9.3
(23 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
1.0
(2 ratings)
9.1
(2 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
1.0
(11 ratings)
8.8
(3 ratings)
User Testimonials
BluebeamContractor Foreman
Likelihood to Recommend
Bluebeam, Inc.
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.
Read full review
Contractor Foreman
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
Bluebeam, Inc.
  • 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.
Read full review
Contractor Foreman
  • 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
Bluebeam, Inc.
  • 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.
Read full review
Contractor Foreman
  • 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
Bluebeam, Inc.
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.
Read full review
Contractor Foreman
Eliminated the need for our team to log into multiple systems to do their jobs which aligns to our Lean approach
Read full review
Usability
Bluebeam, Inc.
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.
Read full review
Contractor Foreman
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Bluebeam, Inc.
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
Read full review
Contractor Foreman
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)
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Alternatives Considered
Bluebeam, Inc.
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.
Read full review
Contractor Foreman
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.
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Return on Investment
Bluebeam, Inc.
  • 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.
Read full review
Contractor Foreman
  • Contractor Foreman replaced 5 other apps we were using saving us money and centralizing everything
  • We are net positive day one with just the cost of the apps we didn't have to purchase
  • it has great documentation features so we don't make costly mistakes or miss details.
  • The overall savings has be significant
Read full review
ScreenShots

Bluebeam Screenshots

Screenshot of Bluebeam Cloud with Markup ListScreenshot of Bluebeam Cloud with Tool ChestScreenshot of Bluebeam Revu MarkupScreenshot of Bluebeam Revu Studio Session

Contractor Foreman Screenshots

Screenshot of The client portal that lets customers to stay in the loop and know what is going on during all phases of the project.Screenshot of The custom dashboard which allows users to see the data that matters most to them.Screenshot of Stats that keep users informed to help them make use of data.Screenshot of The lead manager, that helps close deals without letting leads fall through the cracks.Screenshot of the Files & Photos screen, where making up plans can be done with Contractor Foreman.Screenshot of Time Cards, that display who is where and what they are doing.