All of these programs are a good fit for somebody, but what we liked about Contractor Foreman is the ease of use and that they listen to the needs we have and work to add them or fix them. The program can look a little intimidating at first but once you get it setup the way you …
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...
When you have a lot of techs out in the field, Jobber helps to keep track of who is assigned to which job. This lessens the likelihood of miscommunication or having jobs "fall through the cracks." Techs do not need to physically come to the office for their assignments each day which saves time and money since they can access their Jobber assignments through their phones.
The recurring job feature was key to our decision in selecting Jobber. There's a lot of flexibility in how you schedule recurring work. I especially like that you can select the frequency (weekly, monthly) coupled with either a specific date or day of the week/month.
Client email reminders help our clients know when we're coming and provide an important point of contact. Customizing the email was easy.
Client overview. It's extremely helpful to be able to view a client's record and see the upcoming visits along with the completed work.
It is usable in multiple settings, but in my opinion preferably for small to medium-sized organizations. It covers the process as a whole and can be used in any segment (from creating a quote to client communication). The mobile app is very usable, intuitive, and especially useful for people working in the field
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)
There is hardly an app that covers it all while staying simple and wrapping up the process. From the filing of the request, everything goes smoothly following a natural progression. Reports are insightful, give you an instant overview and easy to understand. In addition, you can easily track any information from those on clients to expense tracking.
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.
We don't have to double enter our job information anymore (estimates, bills, labor hours) to show employees what they need to see. Specific access within Contractor Foreman does that for us.
It's taken us longer to learn how Contractor Foreman works within itself than we thought it would, so implementation is taking a little longer than ideal. However, we have been learning a lot along the way about the easiest ways to use the workflow that Contractor Foreman has.
This has helped us keep costs down by routing our jobs more efficiently. Specifically, it saves tons of time in routing the jobs, but also saves time/fuel for our drivers.
