Buildertrend vs. Viewpoint Spectrum

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.

Incentivized

The Installation team is amazing. They provide clear guidance at the beginning of the process regarding what is expected and what needs to be done. The implementation manager follows up monthly with you to make sure you are on track and if you need additional help. They are very helpful and responsive in resolving issues.

Incentivized

• Manages in one place - crucial for organization.
• Professional, across the board it provides companies with a seamlessly organized and flawless presentation - to subs/vendors/owners/etc.
• Time Saver - you don't have to dig around through files/create templates/flip through your contact binder - it's all there.
• Practical tools- designed for contractors. You get what you need - period.

Incentivized

• Job Costing - Viewpoint Spectrum handles job costing per project, per work order, per site, and gives us an up to date analysis of the project.
• HR - helps to keep all of the training certifications and HR incidents in a consistent and manageable order for all Managers to use.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Support isn't readily available. You can submit a ticket and wait days before it's picked up. Even critical issues (system outages) can wait an hour or two before someone responds.
• Large companies will feel limited. This product wasn't designed to handle large amounts of data, and performance seems to slow when there are more than 80 concurrent users.
• The new developments are limited. HR Management is less robust than a third-party product specializing in HR Management. Viewpoint Analytics is nowhere near as robust as Power BI or Tableau.

Incentivized

The product is working for us and the cost to implement a new system does not warrant the expense.

Incentivized

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.

There's a little bit of a learning curve, but once you've been working in the system for a while, it becomes second nature. I would say that out of all of the other software that I've personally used, Spectrum has been the easiest one to pick up and learn quickly

Incentivized

I've never seen Spectrum down

For the most part the product is very reliable. Since we are hosted we sometimes have connectivity issues but I would say that is more our ISP than Spectrum.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

The support has recently changed. Last year, you could call in and get an immediate response. Now that doesn't seem possible unless you have an urgent situation with access to the software, payroll or payables. I have found that using chat or e-mail works nicely for the most part, but sometimes I feel it would be easier if someone from support would jump on our site and take a first-hand look rather than going back and forth

Incentivized

Our trainer was excellent and navigated the time zone differences expertly. She gave us test assignments to complete and was available for questions at any time.

Incentivized

My only insight would be to take time in your implementation and training process; ours was six weeks from start to finish.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

I have previously used Sage Masterbuilder, another construction industry software. This has been a number of years ago. The company I am working for already had Spectrum and have been using it for as long as it has been around when it was known as Forefront. Based on conversations I've had with the personnel that were here at the time of purchase, Spectrum clicked off all the boxes they were looking for.

Incentivized

You can grant user specific access which is nice. Project managers do not need all the same modules as Accounting. But Accounting does need access to PM modules as well

• 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.

• [In my opinion,] it takes at LEAST twice as long to do our jobs now.
• [I feel like] we are paranoid about something not being printed correctly because of [what I believe are] buggy text fields.
• [In my experience,] we still have to refer to a physical file cabinet with paper, even though a main point of switching was to go paperless.
• [In our experience,] screens can now be "locked", so we can't see something if our coworker is also looking at it.
• [I believe that] the financial hit our company took from this switch was astronomical. [In my opinion:] Beware!