Newforma Project Center vs SmartBid

Likelihood to Recommend

Newforma is a great tool to collaborate with large teams and between firms. It allows for great documentation of transfers, activities, and other procedural aspects of projects that require collaboration between disciplines, for example, MEP, electrical, architectural and technology. For internal use, Newforma has been great for communications tracking and archival, as well as for record-keeping of all the users in a team or number of teams. Many great options are features are unused due to a lack of training or exposure to them, for example, the graphical viewers that can preview CAD, Revit, and other formats, or the markup tool available with the desktop client.

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Gil Lopez CTS ING

Integrated Technology Architect

TEECOMDesign, 51-200 employees

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As mentioned before in some of the previous questions, the confidentiality agreement feature is extremely helpful. I have worked on several projects where it's so early in the design phase that the documents are considered confidential and we are required to get a signed NDA from every person who sees the documents. This feature makes it extremely painless. SmartBidNet is less appropriate if you're just doing a quick cost exercise where you might not need to contact several subs. It's easier to just use email and a cloud sharing program like Box or Egnyte.

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Verified User

Professional in Other

Construction Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Newforma Project Center

SmartBid

Plan distribution & viewing

Plan markups & sharing

Issue tracking & punchlists

Photo documentation

Jobsite reports

Document sharing

RFI tools

Collaboration & approvals

As-built drawings

Mobile app

Submittal design and management

Pros

Newforma sits on top of our previous filing system (Windows Explorer). This was very important to us because we didn't have to change the project numbering system in order to fit Newforma's design. Also, if we were to decide we didn't like it, we could easily revert back to our previous methods.
Newforma does a great job of indexing information, making searches much easier by being able to use keywords instead of knowing the exact file location. No more traversing through countless folders before finding what you need.
Newforma keeps a read receipt for everything that you submit through it for issue tracking, and keeps an easy to read record of your workflow.

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Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology

Civil Engineering Company, 11-50 employees

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Extremely User-Friendly
Constant Reminders

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Verified User

Analyst in Other

Construction Company, 201-500 employees

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Cons

File downloads.
User-interface.

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Verified User

Professional in Professional Services

Architecture & Planning Company, 51-200 employees

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Ability to download all without having to be a zip file.
Provide a submittal board for questions and answers.

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Matthew Smith

Estimator and Project Manager

Century Exteriors Inc.Construction, 11-50 employees

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Support Rating

Newforma Project Center 7.0

Based on 1 answer

While I have never asked for support myself, a Newforma representative has been in the office annually to give training seminars and info sessions on how to fully use the product. I find this essential to keep the product relevant and make sure everyone knows its full capabilities and an important part of customer support.

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Verified User

Professional in Professional Services

Architecture & Planning Company, 51-200 employees

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SmartBid 9.5

Based on 2 answers

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.

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Verified User

Analyst in Other

Construction Company, 201-500 employees

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Alternatives Considered

A good competitor against other similar solutions and support is excellent.

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Verified User

Manager in Customer Service

Architecture & Planning Company, 51-200 employees

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Better ability for subcontractors to respond via program.
Simpler interface.
Easier note tracking.

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Verified User

Project Manager in Product Management

Construction Company, 51-200 employees

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Return on Investment

Newforma makes it easy to transfer, share, archive, and search extensive data sets in a single GUI
For it to be effective, all users in a team must receive a basic training and use it consistently
Adoption in the industry is good (A/E); many teams use it consistently. Learning to use it once produces time-saving in subsequent projects

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Gil Lopez CTS ING

Integrated Technology Architect

TEECOMDesign, 51-200 employees

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It is a big time saver compared to sending out individual emails.
It saves time in having multiple individual databases for company contact info.
It ensures that everyone is getting the same information.

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Verified User

Project Manager in Professional Services

Construction Company, 51-200 employees

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Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Yes

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Rating Summary

Newforma Project Center

SmartBid

Newforma Project Center

SmartBid

Newforma Project Center vs SmartBid