PlanSwift, by ConstructConnect vs. WorkflowMax

I use PlanSwift for all my projects - it has just cut my time by a major percentage when it comes to quantifying a blueprint. At times there are funky areas, which are just hard to calculate on paper. It also has a great tool for scaling according to the dimensions, so if a drawing is missing a scale, you can always allot a scale by giving directions and then marking the points. I use this tool to check the scale as well - sometimes the drawings say something but the scale if off and you are left with an incorrect take-off. The dimension tool is a good way to check that. We don't use it much for pricing purposes though, we have found other software which are more robust when it comes to estimation, but we can see using PlanSwift for pricing sometime in the future.

Incentivized

WorkflowMax is very well suited for a business that wants to track time billed by project, to have an easy way to generate invoices for those projects, and to keep track of overall productivity and invoice status. I imagine it can also be adapted to different types of businesses that deal in goods rather than services and time. I am not sure for which scenarios or businesses the program is not appropriate.

Incentivized

• Easy to use and intuitive.
• Accurate data to use for projects, allowing for a central hub for all teams to work from.
• It's a central stop from take off and plan review all the way to plugging numbers into our estimating.
• The ability to link through SharePoint, which always access from any user and location.

Incentivized

• You can customize the notifications and this has helped us enormously to schedule dates that we overlooked. Also the templates are customizable which gives the company its own branding on its reports.
• It is integrated with the Xero platform which makes it very useful to streamline the processes of billing, accounts payable, accounts receivable, petty cash flow and all the accounting and administrative area.
• It also has a very complete mobile version, where we can be present and monitor the progress of projects in real time, no matter where we are.

Incentivized

• Submittals are not user friendly in PlanGrid. In fact, this is the one feature we would like to see improved.
• Billing is based on how many users you have. It would be very nice if they would do it based on revenue or other factors such as other programs do.

Incentivized

• Currently the timesheet function allows staff to input time for overlapping periods which can cause some headaches when it comes to payroll and invoicing. We understand this is being addressed.
• The amount of flexibility in the product can create some challenges when setting up the jobs database at the onset. It is a daunting challenge but worthwhile when completed correctly and rolled out across the firm. Adding new jobs is much easier.
• No search function to find a specific job, you have to scroll through all jobs allocated to you.

Incentivized

It's become the go to program for our takeoffs. We have tried others but this is the simplest.

Incentivized

Because we can't imagine being without it!

Incentivized

Plan Swift is a user friendly program that makes takeoffs easy to perform. Not a whole lot of knowledge or skill is required.

Incentivized

It's easy to use and provides me with instant online access to the management of my business whether I am at my desk or overseas

Incentivized

Never had an issue

Incentivized

Plan Swift is only as fast as your computer system and internet

Incentivized

I have called once needing support. I was asking about the "compare" tool to compare different versions. They told be about their desktop app and I downloaded. They answered quickly, you could understand them, and they took care of my question

Incentivized

The support team are excellent. The only downside is that you can't phone them!

Incentivized

just know what use you want to get out of it. In our case it was just to do area take offs.

Incentivized

Decide how to breakdown your ongoing jobs - are they monthly recurring or annual broken into chunks? What are you going to give clients i.e. how will your proposals and invoices look?

Incentivized

Bluebeam is amazing and can accomplish any take-off needs, but you will spend much more time creating your conditions and take off items. It is not as user-friendly as PlanSwift. OST (On screen takeoff). This product is by far better than PlanSwift, as it is amazingly easy to use. However, it is much more expensive. Cloud-based takeoff software -- this kind of software is difficult for me to use because of how slow the pages load and navigate. It's hard to beat that from PlanSwift or OST.

Incentivized

WorkflowMax is much much easier than Streamtime, much more affordable and easier to try out and see if it meets your needs. Streamtime is a great comprehensive product but we lost a year's subscription in investment because we couldn't get answers to the support questions we needed and they had a no refund policy!

Incentivized

Several of our departments can use the take off feature to assist them in their job responsibilities.

Incentivized

• The estimators' productivity is greatly increased, I do takeoffs in less than half the time with more accuracy and detail captured.
• Easy sharing of what was taken off, I'm able to ensure everything is captured.

Incentivized

• Max enables Loan Assistant to invoice very quickly and easily and integration with Xero for card payments brings our cashflow forward.
• Max enables the Loan Assistant team to manage their workflow in an efficient and productive way. The team all work from home. It is the centre of our Loan Assistant universe.

Incentivized