CoConstruct vs. Yamdu

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

Even for a small business like mine, Yamdu really felt like a one-stop shop for everything. It's hard to find a comprehensive software for film/video productions, but Yamdu has everything we need. The only thing that really held us back was the cost, ultimately. If anything, I would love a storyboarding feature that let you set the time per shot and build out a sequence in pre-production. I used Storyboarder for this currently and it's very helpful, especially for music videos, to be able to build out a storyboard, set a music/audio track to it, then play it back in real time and see the pacing of the shoot.

• 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

• Crewlists
• Callsheets
• Breakdowns

• 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

• More specific financial management reports.
• Creation of some instant messaging software for the team.

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

This is one of Yamdu's strongest points.

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

At the time, there really wasn't anything else like Yamdu. Especially as, in Celtx's case, at that time they weren't doing Excel/CSV exports of shot lists in the A/V format, something we required for what we were shooting. I understand that StudioBinder has increased its featureset the past few years, but Yamdu always felt like the most robust option and more familiar with the film/tv world.

• 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

• Positive impact, centralized place with some good tools for film productions
• Negative impact, not that flexible and as expected and strict pricing policy with little flexibility