Contractor Foreman vs. NoteVault

As the name suggests, Contractor Foreman is GREAT for general contractors. However, being a consultant, I feel as though if upper management within the company I serve were more tech-savvy, they could accomplish much of the same tasks on other platforms that could give more advanced metrics. I also feel that the platform may feel outdated on purpose to ensure that those general contractors who aren't as tech savvy can understand the platform more.

Incentivized

NoteVault helps to reduce the amount of time to produce a daily report and makes the typically burdensome task easier to accomplish. Our Superintendents are able to craft their daily reports as they see the work activities being performed as opposed to trying to remember what happened during the day and then writing down those activities with accuracy after a long day in the field. NoteVault also allows our Superintendents to keep accurate manpower counts, material deliveries, equipment on site and weather reports.

• The service is top notch. You would be hard pressed to find other options with this kind of service.
• The ability to have your project flow through the modules makes it a breeze to use.
• Being able to track time as well is a key feature.

Incentivized

• Enhances safety; instead of writing notes, with my head down buried in a notebook, I am aware and looking around. I work on highway repair projects next to live traffic and all types of construction equipment moving in all directions and overhead.
• Documentation; I got in a dispute with a contractor recently and won it immediately by showing my Notevault notes with time stamped photos of the disputed work.
• Communication; I can keep other support staff back in the home office up to date with project developments and they get to see what is going on .

Incentivized

• In the CDB, I'd like to be able to create a line item with a specified percentage, and when I pull that line item into an estimate or proposal, I'd like the system to automatically calculate it based on that contract value. (Example, Contingency line is always going to be 15% of the contract value).
• I'd like to be able to rearrange "blocks" on a page when I'm getting ready to send or print it. Lots of dead space on pages. Estimates 4 pages in total when it could be 2.
• I'd like to be able to create budget summaries. Where the line items are grouped into their respective master format categories, and the category has the sum of all the line items in that category.

• The website for administrators setting up projects and users could be improved. It's hard to find where things are located. I would like it in more of a Office (Word) template, with tabs up top. Some things are in Settings, some are in tabs, some are on the right side.

Incentivized

We have compiled so much information on CF it would be counterproductive to move to another software. We have also sold a lot of clients on the client portal feature. It is crucial for our communication between customers. The only reason we wouldn't renew the service is if somewhere offered the exact same service but at a lower cost

Incentivized

It flat works and has paid for itself quickly.

Overall, Contractor Foreman is a great product, and I’m sure we’ve only scratched the surface of everything it has to offer. It can be a little quirky at times, occasionally displaying a 'Bad Gateway' message, but we haven’t experienced any timeout issues in the past few months. As we continue to use it, I’m confident we’ll uncover even more ways to streamline our workflow

Incentivized

Simple use of functions. Majority of people can become familiar with this product fairly quick

Incentivized

Availability was good, FUNCTIONAL availability was more spotty

Incentivized

Many times we had issues that turned out to be errors and bugs. At first, we would be told forcefully that there were no bugs, then we would document them, and we would get an acknowledgement but no apology for essentially either gaslighting us or being ignorant of their system

Incentivized

We have only had one issue the entire time we have had Contractor Foreman and that was that we had the hardest time getting the platform to allow us to log in, but we called our support and within 5 mins we able to log back in

Incentivized

The team that does your implementation is amazing. They're skillful, kind, they will take as much time as you need, and they have a sense of urgency

Incentivized

A few of them were too specialized, and we're trying to limit the amount of software we have data entry into. Buildertrend was probably the biggest competitor we reviewed, but the cost and migration effort didn't seem enticing to us as a business. I think Contractor Foreman has its own quirks, but once you understand the methodology behind the software, it works very well, and at the price, it's hard to imagine migrating away to something that does the exact same thing for 2-3x the cost (plus all the data migration).

Notevault is who we decided to use, for the simple fact that it is the easiest on the market for our foremen to use. Make it easy, and they'll actually do it. Make it bulky and cumbersome, and they'll do a way less accurate job of daily reporting. This is why Notevault works for us... IT'S EASY!!

We had just 2 users

Incentivized

• It has allowed for more structure within the company
• It has given more clear communication from the sales office to the field
• It has increased the capacity of projects we are able to take on by allowing them to flow smoother and have less wasted time on projects

• It has made it easy for our guys out in the filed to report all that is needed for daily reports so there is no scrabbling to remember and report at a later time.
• NoteVault has had no negative impact for us at all.

Incentivized