TrustRadius Insights for ConstructConnect Bid Management are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.
Pros
Efficient Document Management: Users have praised SmartBid for its excellent document management capabilities. Many reviewers have found it convenient to store and manage project-related documents using the software. They appreciate how it provides a centralized location for all their documentation needs, making it easy to control the exchange of documents with customers and subcontractors.
Streamlined Bid Process: SmartBid offers a streamlined bid process that users find valuable. Multiple reviewers have mentioned that they can easily set up and manage job solicitations, determining who receives invitations to bid. The software allows them to keep detailed notes on contacts made and track if recipients have downloaded and reviewed the documents. Additionally, users appreciate being able to add a confidentiality agreement clause within SmartBid, eliminating the need for separate NDA forms.
Effective Communication: Users highly value SmartBid's communication features. Several reviewers have highlighted the ability to distribute bid documents easily through SmartBid as a significant advantage. They find it beneficial in simplifying the communication process with subcontractors during bidding processes. Furthermore, users appreciate being able to communicate with a large number of people at once through SmartBid's email system, ensuring efficient and timely communication.
As a subcontractor, we are a user of iSqFt as part of our bidding and estimating process. Our general contractor clients send us bid invitations through iSqFt along with the project documents, specifications, and drawings for each project. The platform allows for sharing documents and information easily with all project stakeholders.
Pros
Document Sharing
Communication
Bid Platform
Cons
Integration with other bidding platforms
Integration with ProCore
Easier access for team members
Likelihood to Recommend
iSqFt is a solid bidding platform that allows for document sharing and communication management between general contractors and subcontractors. The platform is not as intuitive and easy to use as other bidding platforms I have used such as Building Connected, but it gets the job done. Our clients drive which platform they use so we don't have control of which platform they use.
We use SmartBid both for educational purposes in Management engineering courses at the University where I work and in managing complex restoration works for historic buildings. In particular, SmartBid is very useful in managing complex construction sites in all the different phases of intervention (from diagnostics to conservation). We use the free version of the software with our students. SmartBid helps us to save precious time. It is also handy software to store working documents and share them with all workers.
Pros
SmartBid is awesome in storing documents.
Managing the different intervention phases.
It allows you to easily control the exchange of all the documentation with all customers and sub-contractors.
Cons
The graphical interface needs improvements to make it easier to use.
Some operations are not fully automated.
Currently, it is impossible to track what all users modify. User monitoring is the key, considering that we work with complex historic buildings.
Likelihood to Recommend
SmartBid is also very useful for conducting sub-contracting analysis and management simulations in the didactic field. The procedures for sharing documents are helpful, but the graphic can be improved. Many forms can be pre-filled. This helps a lot in saving time and money! SmartBid is great for exporting and/or sending single or mass emails. However, as mentioned, it would be useful to simplify some pre-construction processes and improve the overall communication
iSqFt helps me keep track of upcoming projects and bidding opportunities in my area. It has projects listed that I may not have been aware of if not through their platform. iSqFt also send emails when new bidding opportunities featuring my scope become available which is a great for someone who is busy bidding projects because it eliminates the time it takes digging through the bid boards to find relevant projects.
Pros
preemptively sends emails for new opportunities related to my scope.
Has features to narrow down the exact opportunities you are looking for.
Has an extremely simple to use web interface.
Cons
Create sub categories under other trades that allow to better narrow down the exact jobs you are looking for.
Not send repeatetive emails for the same projects.
Make the service more affordable to small business's looking to grow.
Likelihood to Recommend
I have noticed that many projects listed on iSqFt do not have all of the project details required to accurately bid a project. It would be nice if they had a vetting process that would required customers to upload certain documents and confirm they have certain information beofre placing the job out to bid through their platform.
SmartBid is used by our estimators, project managers, and general superintendents. As an estimator, I use SmartBid to view new opportunities and track my current open bids. Our project managers and superintendents use the software to view change orders, punch lists, and other tasks after we've been awarded a project from the general contractor.
Pros
Extremely User-Friendly
Constant Reminders
Cons
New Opportunities
GC Correspondence
Likelihood to Recommend
SmartBid is excellent for any subcontractor that is receiving and all of their information from an awarded general contractor. It does a great job of posting addenda, RFI responses, and other changes throughout the bid process, so you are never out of the loop. It might not be as useful to a subcontractor that hasn't been invited to bid on a project yet.
Currently, we use SmartBid to manage multiple estimating projects. My responsibilities fall more towards an administrative role with some estimating. As a subcontractor, we receive a high volume of invites from multiple contractors. Having access to this program allows multiple estimators to be involved across our different office locations.
Pros
Email alerts for invites, withdraws, addendum and special notes.
Quickly respond bidding/unsure/not bidding.
Cons
Ability to download all without having to be a zip file.
Provide a submittal board for questions and answers.
Likelihood to Recommend
I can’t speak for a general contractor, but I can say the general contractors that send invites to us (who use this program) tend to win a good number of jobs. I believe there are other features for general contractors that we do not have access to as a subcontractor. However, it is free for us to use once we’ve been invited and it does help us manage estimates from multiple contractors.
I have to use iSqFt when a general contractor sends me a bid invite thru their service. I am the only one who uses it in our company. iSqFt would be a great asset to me because it gets me plans, bid invites etc.
Pros
It allows me access to plans and specifications on job that I been invited to bid on.
Also keeps track of addendums and the bid date in case they change it.
Cons
iSqFt has one major flaw that makes it a pain to use. I go there to get plans and specs. You think a company that sends you plans and specs would have a faster download speed, it takes forever to get the plans and specs. I usually find a way around iSqFt to get the plans and specs.
Likelihood to Recommend
iSqFt would be a good little company, it has everything I need to do my job. The only problem is the download speed, I have high speed internet so I know it's not on my end. I use other companies that do the same as iSqFt and they don't have a problem with downloading just iSqFt.
We work with consulting engineers, mechanical contractors, and general contractors on plan and specification construction projects. The general contractor posts plans and specs under the project on the website so bidders and sub contractors can avoid having to pick up paper files and also avoid sending large files through email.
Pros
Even with a "Limited Access" free account, you are able to see all the necessary files. When using it to just look at a job and download documents, this is all you should need. With more access you can see more projects that are out to bid but as a sales engineer for a manufacturer, I receive the bid requests from my contractors who are bidding there is no need to upgrade my access level.
Documents are very easy to download into a .zip file and you can pick and choose which documents you want to download for specific trades. Plus there is a specific tab for Addenda so you don't have to search through the Documents tab. The tabs also show the amount of files in each tab so you can easily stay up to date on current documents.
The Dashboard of each job shows the project general contractor and for subcontractors, responding to a bid request is as easy as clicking a button to indicate if you will bud or will not bid. This dashboard also shows location and the project description which are particularly helpful for a manufacturers rep/sales engineer that may not see the project description otherwise.
Cons
The formatting and sizing of the font can be a little clunky at times. The main tabs at the top (Home, Projects, Prequalification, Administration) are rather large while the tabs within the project (Dashboard, Details, Bidder/Packages, etc..) are a little small. For those engineers who spend all day looking at computers and have failing eyesight, this can get to be a pain since the format is also spread out while being small font. If you zoom in to read, it cuts out a lot of the other sections you'd like to see.
Things are only updated on the project details if they are manually entered. If the company that enters the project into the system only fills out the minimum amount of detail, some of the function of the detail tab is rendered useless. Some of these inputs include value range, number of building, number of stories, total area, etc. which is used by some subcontractors for budget purposes and internal statistics on jobs that are bidding. So what you get out of this section is all that the owner of the projects wants to put in.
There is a button to submit an RFQ or general question but you must be a subscriber to the software to enter a question. Otherwise it's a long process of going up the chain of command to submit. This makes it confusing for the team fielding the questions since they are coming from different chains of communication. I've had jobs where my questions were completely missed because of this.
Likelihood to Recommend
iSqFt is great for communication project requirements, bid intents, projects and documentation changes, and follow up transmittals. Since a basic membership is free, it is a good way to distribute documents to bidders and sub bidders and not have to worry about manually sending out addenda and dealing with email file size limitations.
It is being used across the whole organization by all of the estimating departments.
It is a great way to manage bid solicitations. It is very easy to send large amounts of data (in the form of drawings and specs) to a large audience, and then to manage and oversee what that audience does with the data. Are they looking at the drawings? Are they even opening your emails? Etc.
Pros
It's very easy to set up a job and manage who receives solicitations. You can also keep detailed notes on who've you contacted and see if they're actually downloading and reviewing the documents.
You can add a confidentiality agreement clause which they must accept before accessing the documents. It then stores this information if it ever needs to be accessed. This is much cleaner and easier then sending out a NDA form and having the subcontractor return it before actually sending drawings/docs.
You can send Invitations to Bid and set it up to continue sending these ITB's until the subcontractor responds. However, this can also be a negative point because once you set up a delayed ITB, it doesn't update as the subcontractors view and respond to the ITB's. So if a sub is "Not Responded" and you set up a delayed ITB to fire off every day for 5 days, and the sub responds after day 2, that sub will continue to receive ITB's for all 5 days.
Uploading drawings is quick and easy. It's especially convenient if you link to one of your cloud services such as Egnyte, Google Drive, etc.
The search tools are quick and easy and often very accessible from any page.
Cons
REPORTING REPORTING REPORTING!!! The reporting functions in SmartBidNet are its weakest link. I just had a co-worker ask how to get a certain report (I get this question often) and I simply laughed as I've been trying to resolve this issue with SmartBidNet for years. After numerous requests for a feature enhancement regarding reporting (and I'm very detailed in what needs to change), I have seen ZERO progress. I finally just created my own Excel workbook which creates a usable report after extracting info from worthless report put out by the current system.
Once you set up a delayed ITB, it doesn't update as the subcontractors view and respond to the ITBs. So if a sub is "Not Responded" and you set up a delayed ITB to fire off every day for 5 days, and the sub responds after day 2, that sub will continue to receive ITBs for all 5 days.
The file size limit to upload is about 350 MB. If I ever want to upload a model, they are often larger than 350 MB and it requires that I contact the SmartBidNet support staff and SOMETIMES they will make an exception to upload these larger files. With SmartBidNet being all about technology, it seems strange that they wouldn't cater to 3D models being uploaded as this is the future of the construction industry.
Likelihood to Recommend
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.
SmartBidNet is used by my employer to solicit bids from subcontractors. We use it to distribute plans and specs, track accepted/declined to bid and subcontractor ratings. We record notes for every conversation which makes it easy to see what I or another employee discussed with a subcontractor.
Pros
Tracking accepted/declined subcontractors.
Easily distribute bid documents to subcontractors.
Take and track notes for conversations with subcontractors during the bidding process.
Track notes on company performance and past bidding record.
Cons
We have seen intermittent problems with notes disappearing.
Ability to have more than one project bidding open at the same time/on multiple windows.
Mobile apps.
Likelihood to Recommend
It's a great tool for bidding but that is all. There is no project management integration so you need a separate program.
VU
Verified User
Project Manager in Product Management (51-200 employees)