CoConstruct vs. ConstructConnect Bid Management

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.

Incentivized

SmartBid is also very useful for conducting sub-contracting analysis and management simulations in the didactic field. The procedures for sharing documents are helpful, but the graphic can be improved. Many forms can be pre-filled. This helps a lot in saving time and money! SmartBid is great for exporting and/or sending single or mass emails. However, as mentioned, it would be useful to simplify some pre-construction processes and improve the overall communication

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• It's very easy to set up a job and manage who receives solicitations. You can also keep detailed notes on who've you contacted and see if they're actually downloading and reviewing the documents.
• You can add a confidentiality agreement clause which they must accept before accessing the documents. It then stores this information if it ever needs to be accessed. This is much cleaner and easier then sending out a NDA form and having the subcontractor return it before actually sending drawings/docs.
• You can send Invitations to Bid and set it up to continue sending these ITB's until the subcontractor responds. However, this can also be a negative point because once you set up a delayed ITB, it doesn't update as the subcontractors view and respond to the ITB's. So if a sub is "Not Responded" and you set up a delayed ITB to fire off every day for 5 days, and the sub responds after day 2, that sub will continue to receive ITB's for all 5 days.
• Uploading drawings is quick and easy. It's especially convenient if you link to one of your cloud services such as Egnyte, Google Drive, etc.
• The search tools are quick and easy and often very accessible from any page.

Incentivized

• 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.

Incentivized

• Create sub categories under other trades that allow to better narrow down the exact jobs you are looking for.
• Not send repeatetive emails for the same projects.
• Make the service more affordable to small business's looking to grow.

Incentivized

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!

Incentivized

SmartBid has an excellent support team that is always at your service. Any problem I've had (when I've even had them) has been resolved almost immediately, along with tips on how to avoid them in the future. If you're looking for a program with excellent customer service, look no further than SmartBid.

Incentivized

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.

Incentivized

iSqFt is a solid competitor in the bidding/estimating platform world but as a user, Building Connected is the front runner. iSqFt lacks on the collaboration side and isn't as easy to use and access as its competitors. Building Connected is used by most of our clients so it's easier to use because there is more information in one place.

Incentivized

• It made time recording much easier and much more reliable
• With its GPS feature, we would be able to track when an employee left a job to help ensure accurate time recording
• Having the ability to give the homeowners their own custom home building app to watch the progress helped to put us ahead of the game in the industry
• Running job cost reports as easily as CoConstruct allows helped to curb some of our administrative fees

Incentivized

• SmartBid helps eliminate jumping all over the place, all your invites are on one system.
• It allows us to see who and how many general contractors are bidding, let’s us know if it’s a job worth spending time on.

Incentivized