TrustRadius
HeavyBid is a construction and estimation software offering from HCSS.https://dudodiprj2sv7.cloudfront.net/product-logos/rB/Pe/NT6BMNT9APQG.JPEGGood equipment cost program, but needs better initial setup.E360/Fueler Plus is mostly used by the equipment department. We now are using the mobile app that operators can notify my shop foreman about issues on the equipment he is running. It addresses scheduled PM service alerts and tracks all repairs and costs to each equipment. This is all done electronically now rather than paper and file folders.,E360 tracks cost and time for repairs. Fueler Plus tracks dispersement of fuel (gallons to each equipment) and cost of fuel. Simple to use once you get used to it.,When setting up equipment/vehicles the license plate or EIN are on another screen and not on the General tab. This total doesn't make any sense. Fueler Plus time card is a joke. It shouldn't even be called a time card, because it doesn't function as one. It's more of a fuel time log. There is no type of user manual for these products. Even a simple flow chart would work. I'm not a techy person, so I like visual stuff. At implementaion everything is going so fast that I missed a lot of technical important stuff. No disrespect to the implementor, but it felt like because they have done this a million times, we should already know this. I believe this is where hand outs are very important. One example was setting up PM's. I don't recall them saying that I would have to initialize each one for each eauipment.,8,9,5,Estimating Operations / Project Management Equipment Management,HCSS saves us time and wins us jobs.We use HeavyBid for all of our estimating and HeavyJob for production tracking.,Absolute best aspect is their tech support. They always answer the phone and nearly always have the solution at hand. That is absolutely critical when working on a bid.,A few years back they implemented a Work Breakdown Structure type estimate but it has been slow to evolve. I understand this due to most of the industry lack of use of the product but that creates a chicken and egg scenario. Perhaps they would use it more if it were developed further. There needs to be a mobile integration with HeavyBid for Android. HeavyJob has seen some great upgrades to the mobile side on iPad and to a lesser extent Android. They need to stay concurrent with each other rather than forcing one OS on users over the other. Similarly, while tablets have gotten love, Windows based touch screens, like Surfaces, have not. This are becoming more and more common, but if you want to use one for HeavyJob you have to use the clunky PC version and not the optimized for touch version that is on the tablets.,9,10,7,Estimating Operations / Project Management,Estimating Link,Bluebeam Revu, ProcoreWhat's so HEAVY about HCSSHCSS is primarily used at our organization by our Underground group. The primary product we use is HeavyBid for estimating new projects as well as large change orders on existing projects. While we have licensing for both HeavyJob and Dispatcher also we have not had much success utilizing them to their full potential due to internal company issues. Overall HCSS provides a robust project management solution allowing for the information to flow freely from the estimators to the project teams.,HeavyBid integrates well with our accounting system and has reduced my budget development time significantly from our previous software. HeavyJob's ability to capture field information from a mobile device is key to future success in the industry. There are several other platforms which provide the ability to capture field data but to date I have yet to find one as robust and user friendly. HCCS's customer service is the cornerstone of my continued support of the software. I have contacted them several times after hours only to be greeted by a knowledgeable PERSON. The ability to converse with someone who knows the product and how to resolve issues without being on hold or speaking to a computer is invaluable.,HeavyJob is not envisioned to be an accounting system by the developers. Eventually more auditing capabilities will be needed. Custom reports are expensive.,8,10,4,Estimating Operations / Project Management,Vista by Viewpoint, Primavera UnifierBehind the scenes review.I work for a concrete subcontractor and we utilize both Heavy Job Mobile and Desktop versions. We use it for our mobile timecards, productivity tracking, dispatching, safety documentation and inspection management as well as training logging. With the exception of our accounting department, the rest of the company directly uses HCSS modules on a daily basis, including all field management personnel.,The modules integrate well with each other which makes information sharing easy. The mobile application works well and has enough back-end customization to be useful to any type of construction company. The mobile platform is clean and easy to navigate.,Document storage is a huge thing they need to address. Similar to how a Google drive functions, they need to create a built-in way to attach and store project documents. The Extra Work Tag documentation in the mobile field application could use a lot of improvements from sequentially being numbered in some fashion, as well as multiple signature lines for both the General and the Subcontractor representatives.,9,10,9,Operations / Project Management,,Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate, Bluebeam Revu, ProcoreHCSS HeavyBid ReviewHCSS is currently used to bid on projects.,Organized Easy to use and learn new features. HCSS listens to its users to help make their programs very user-friendly.,None so far.,10,10,10,Estimating
  3. HCSS Reviews
Windows
HCSS
97 Ratings
Score 9.1 out of 101
TRScore

HCSS Reviews

HCSS
97 Ratings
Score 9.1 out of 101
Top Rated Award
Visit Website
Show Filters 
Hide Filters 
Filter 97 vetted HCSS reviews and ratings
Clear all filters
Overall Rating
Reviewer's Company Size
Last Updated
By Topic
Industry
Department
Experience
Job Type
Role
Show All Filters
More Filters 
Less Filters 
Reviews (1-25 of 34)
  Vendors can't alter or remove reviews. Here's why.
March 06, 2018

HCSS Review: "Good equipment cost program, but needs better initial setup."

Dennis Daikoku
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
E360/Fueler Plus is mostly used by the equipment department. We now are using the mobile app that operators can notify my shop foreman about issues on the equipment he is running. It addresses scheduled PM service alerts and tracks all repairs and costs to each equipment. This is all done electronically now rather than paper and file folders.
  • E360 tracks cost and time for repairs.
  • Fueler Plus tracks dispersement of fuel (gallons to each equipment) and cost of fuel.
  • Simple to use once you get used to it.
  • When setting up equipment/vehicles the license plate or EIN are on another screen and not on the General tab. This total doesn't make any sense.
  • Fueler Plus time card is a joke. It shouldn't even be called a time card, because it doesn't function as one. It's more of a fuel time log.
  • There is no type of user manual for these products. Even a simple flow chart would work. I'm not a techy person, so I like visual stuff.
  • At implementaion everything is going so fast that I missed a lot of technical important stuff. No disrespect to the implementor, but it felt like because they have done this a million times, we should already know this. I believe this is where hand outs are very important. One example was setting up PM's. I don't recall them saying that I would have to initialize each one for each eauipment.
Once set up properly, I believe it's a great way to track cost and fuel usage.
Read Dennis Daikoku's full review
January 29, 2018

User Review: "HCSS saves us time and wins us jobs."

Christian Long
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use HeavyBid for all of our estimating and HeavyJob for production tracking.
  • Absolute best aspect is their tech support. They always answer the phone and nearly always have the solution at hand. That is absolutely critical when working on a bid.
  • A few years back they implemented a Work Breakdown Structure type estimate but it has been slow to evolve. I understand this due to most of the industry lack of use of the product but that creates a chicken and egg scenario. Perhaps they would use it more if it were developed further.
  • There needs to be a mobile integration with HeavyBid for Android.
  • HeavyJob has seen some great upgrades to the mobile side on iPad and to a lesser extent Android. They need to stay concurrent with each other rather than forcing one OS on users over the other.
  • Similarly, while tablets have gotten love, Windows based touch screens, like Surfaces, have not. This are becoming more and more common, but if you want to use one for HeavyJob you have to use the clunky PC version and not the optimized for touch version that is on the tablets.
It is most suited for heavy civil construction. It is not very well suited for straight-up building construction and negotiated work. Although it can still do it, it just isn't tailored that way.
Read Christian Long's full review
January 23, 2018

User Review: "What's so HEAVY about HCSS"

Daniel Duke
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HCSS is primarily used at our organization by our Underground group. The primary product we use is HeavyBid for estimating new projects as well as large change orders on existing projects. While we have licensing for both HeavyJob and Dispatcher also we have not had much success utilizing them to their full potential due to internal company issues. Overall HCSS provides a robust project management solution allowing for the information to flow freely from the estimators to the project teams.
  • HeavyBid integrates well with our accounting system and has reduced my budget development time significantly from our previous software.
  • HeavyJob's ability to capture field information from a mobile device is key to future success in the industry. There are several other platforms which provide the ability to capture field data but to date I have yet to find one as robust and user friendly.
  • HCCS's customer service is the cornerstone of my continued support of the software. I have contacted them several times after hours only to be greeted by a knowledgeable PERSON. The ability to converse with someone who knows the product and how to resolve issues without being on hold or speaking to a computer is invaluable.
  • HeavyJob is not envisioned to be an accounting system by the developers. Eventually more auditing capabilities will be needed.
  • Custom reports are expensive.
HCSS is a flexible system and can be suited to nearly any need. The largest problem I have found is that many users don't know what they want at first and it is fairly cumbersome to change some of the key components the further down the implementation process goes.
Read Daniel Duke's full review
June 15, 2018

HCSS: "Behind the scenes review."

Verified User
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
I work for a concrete subcontractor and we utilize both Heavy Job Mobile and Desktop versions. We use it for our mobile timecards, productivity tracking, dispatching, safety documentation and inspection management as well as training logging. With the exception of our accounting department, the rest of the company directly uses HCSS modules on a daily basis, including all field management personnel.
  • The modules integrate well with each other which makes information sharing easy.
  • The mobile application works well and has enough back-end customization to be useful to any type of construction company.
  • The mobile platform is clean and easy to navigate.
  • Document storage is a huge thing they need to address. Similar to how a Google drive functions, they need to create a built-in way to attach and store project documents.
  • The Extra Work Tag documentation in the mobile field application could use a lot of improvements from sequentially being numbered in some fashion, as well as multiple signature lines for both the General and the Subcontractor representatives.
The training staff is helpful and I feel would be able to teach this program to any company and help implement.
Th platform is robust enough for the management team, however simply enough for our employees in the field to be able to use.
Read this authenticated review
January 29, 2018

"HCSS HeavyBid Review"

Verified User
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HCSS is currently used to bid on projects.
  • Organized
  • Easy to use and learn new features.
  • HCSS listens to its users to help make their programs very user-friendly.
  • None so far.
HeavyBid is very useful for bidding work.
Read this authenticated review
January 09, 2018

HCSS Review: "From a Paper Notepad to a Sofeware Program, what an upgrade."

Olaf Johnson
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HCSS products are being used at almost every level of our company. Project managers are using Heavy Bid. Foreman are using Heavy Job to report time and quantities. The Scheduling group is using Dispatcher to schedule and move equipment, Heavy Job to follow up on production and quantities on certain projects and GPS on all rolling stock. The repair shop is using Equipment 360. Dispatcher is a tool I would no longer want to be without. The advantages it gives me from an organizational stand point are tremendous. I can quickly see where are of my equipment is or has been, what resources I have available and where they are located.
  • Dispatcher's history function is of great use. The ability to quickly know what job and what crew used a certain piece of equipment is very useful.
  • Dispatcher's ability to transfer information from one user to the next to reports for end users saves a lot of time and confusion.
  • The amount of time and money that is saved by our lowboy drivers is huge because of the ability to located the piece using the GPS units
  • In Dispatcher you should be able to make adjustment (date, time, equipment, notes) to scheduled equipment after it has been assigned to driver in dispatch screen
  • In Dispatcher you should be able to select multiple pieces of equipment to modify in dispatch window
  • Dispatch screen in Dispatcher would be better if displayed horizontally instead of vertical
Our operation uses several pieces of what we call specialty equipment (not used every day on every job). The foreman when finished will give a location of where this equipment is left, this many times can be very vague and lead to a lowboy driver trying to block around to find the piece or driving down a street he cannot get turned around in. With the GPS devices, the driver can pinpoint exactly where the unit is and if he has room to turn around at that location.
Read Olaf Johnson's full review
January 09, 2018

HCSS Review: "Spot on estimating and Field Management software!"

Mike DeRousse
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HCSS is being used across most of our organization. It starts with estimating projects, continues thru project management. The software is extremely versatile and powerful and HCSS is always continuously strengthening their products. HCSS helps us to be extremely competitive in our field and allows us to keep track of our costs in the field as well as managing our resources that are needed throughout our project locations.
  • #1 is support! HCSS is by far the best software support of any product we have ever used. Unlike most software companies HCSS utilizes their support calls to help upgrade their software. When you here them tell you that they will write down a particular issue you come across during a support call if they can't help you then and there they will research and get an answer to you extremely fast. If the software will not do it, you can bet there is a good chance it will be on the list of enhancements you will see come out in the near future.
  • Estimating software is very extensive. Their software is capable of handling the smallest estimate all the way to the largest joint venture estimate. It has advanced features that make it extremely useful for analyzing job materials, subcontractors etc.
  • HeavyJob is an extremely useful tool for the field to keep the office up to date with job costs. Everything is at the Foreman's fingertips on Tablets to allow the information from the field to get uploaded to HeavyJob manager which then can export to accounting. We are also able to give our Foreman the ability to deal with the Daily and weekly safety needs (Tailgate Meetings, incident Investigation, observations etc.) right on the Tablets thru HeavyJob.
  • Dispatcher is not offered in a mobile version which we have asked for several times. I think they just don't have enough users to make it worthwhile.
  • Heavybid needs to have the flexibility to add markup to add ons such as Bond and Small Tools etc.
  • HCSS needs to have an onscreen takeoff to allow seamless integration of takeoff from the screen to Heavybid without having additional manual input.
HCSS is well suited for the Heavy General Engineering Contractor of any size. HeavyJob needs more flexibility for tracking T & M and Change Order work. HeavyJob needs to have the ability to import Plans and specifications to tablets and make onscreen notes on plans so Foreman can better track job changes on one device.
Read Mike DeRousse's full review
January 08, 2018

User Review: "HCSS is great"

James Duncan
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HCSS programs are used across the board in our company. Our field guys use HCSS Mobile and Safety for their time cards. Our mechanics and drivers use Equipment 360 and eLogs. All our time cards are directly exported into a file for ease of import in accounting. We use Telematics and OEMLink to track equipment usage and location.
  • export to accounting
  • time card management, review, and consolidation of data for billing purposes
  • equipment maintenance and records
  • All their apps are on mobile devices. Although there is not a clear company policy on Android versus iPhone. Updates for features lag behind on Android. Some apps are exclusive to one platform making it hard to fully interconnect all programs.
HCSS is excellent for multiple job sites and locations across multiple states.
Read James Duncan's full review
January 08, 2018

"HCSS review from a long time user"

Doyle Potts
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We are daily and hourly users of HCSS products. Every facet of our business runs with and through HCSS products. We use Heavy Bid and Heavy Job to begin planning on jobs and to assist our payroll, we use Heavy Bid and dispatcher to track material and equipment through the progress of jobs. We use telematics to assist managers in controlling units and tracking their use. We use Safety on daily basis to track all of our daily huddles to weekly training and site inspections.
  • Customer Assistance is the first thing you will notice and appreciate about HCSS. Always courteous and knowledgeable about their business. Tech support is a backbone topic with them and it shows.
  • Software that flows with job information and needs is always present. I enjoy how smooth their products move with actual needs of our company.
  • Follow through with support and at the end of the day, they take pride in the work done by themselves and our work too.
  • OEM integration with GPS equipment would be nice if it was easier.
It is well suited for all aspects of construction and transportation fields. I cannot think of a single example of a job that couldn't be enhanced by one of the HCSS products.
Read Doyle Potts's full review
November 28, 2017

HCSS Review: "Now Trending... Make the software work for you, don't you work for the software!"

Julia Salgueiro
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source

We are using HCSS across multiple departments in our organization.

We initially purchased the HCSS software (HeavyJob, HeavyBid, and Dispatcher) to focus on resource management and project cost. The programs have their upsides and downsides. Basic functions of dispatched crews, field-generated time cards, to time card review/approval and minimized keystrokes for reduced errors in the payroll department are great. The hardest part, is getting full use of the program to be earning a ROI that the HCSS salespeople sell companies on.

As with most technology, the purchase is not the solution, and the new business problem created by purchasing HCSS, was that people were only using it for time cards (which makes for one expensive time card program). Prior to purchasing HCSS (or any technology for that matter), a company needs to take a long hard look at the company culture and establish a good implementation plan to ensure that your company utilizes HCSS to it's fullest potential. After all, you are paying for the fancy modules even if you are not using them. Commit to continual improvements and a training program.

HCSS is FANTASTIC at collecting and implementing customer feedback; they want to build a product that we heavy civil contractors want to use.

  • Customer service. I call them at least a couple times per week when I run into an issue. They resolve the issue or kick it up to the next level, and treat each one of my calls with proper urgency and concern.
  • Access to submit my recommendations for improvement. The HCSS Product Portal has really made it easy to enter my suggestions, review suggestions from others, and vote.
  • The HCSS Help website; it is so easy to access past webinars, and procedures. This is usually my first stop (now) before calling the support line.
  • The HeavyJob mobile has really been a great advancement for us. Our foremen are very happy after switching from the Field (laptop) version to Mobile (iPad) version of time cards. Some of them are even coming in and asking "what else can we do" with the program, to become more efficient in the field. It has been quite inspiring.
  • In HeavyJob, the system needs improvement for Change Management. In construction, a change in condition on the jobsite happens often, and as a project manager, I need to be able to confidently track any and all issues (regardless of status). Currently, HCSS does not have a solution for this. I have been working with them to improve the functionality, but they are not there yet.
  • In HeavyJob, the mobile features have improved functions in the field, but those mobile improvements have made for major drawbacks in the office. Specifically, the Multi Job time card function (MJ). Due to the outdated manager system, the approvers (PMs) are forced to log into HeavyJob Web, which is tremendously slow. Approving time cards has now become a big time consuming ordeal as we only have the ability to approve one time card at a time.
  • The Dispatcher program is too slow. The amount of data being processed is not an acceptable excuse. HCSS needs to get better compression to resolve the major bog-down for changes/updates to be made on the dashboard, as well as when printing reports/
  • The E360 program needs improvement on the purchase order process.
  • In general, there need to be more compatibility and function between all of the HCSS products. I want the information tracked in one module to be automatically synced with the other; I want to easily navigate in and out of all modules as well. This all needs creation and improvement.

For companies looking to responsibly manage their project financials with reliable* cost/revenue data, HCSS HeavyJob is a great option. For companies who own, fuel, and maintain their own equipment, the Dispatcher, E360, and FuelerPlus programs are useful addons and will provide reliable* cost data for forecasting company equipment costs and needs.

*The "less appropriate" scenario is when a company is ill-prepared to be culturally dedicated to the process of reviewing the data for accuracy and completion. The biggest downfall of HCSS is that if the data is bad, EVERYTHING else is garbage. I cannot stress enough the importance of identifying what kind of a culture your company has, then taking steps to modify and alter so that using the system will happen effectively. Lastly, commit to continuous quality control practices.

Read Julia Salgueiro's full review
November 13, 2017

HCSS Review: "HeavyBid for Industrial Estimating"

Michael Daughters
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HCSS Heavybid is being used as our estimating software. We use it to manage every proposal and estimate that is produced by Haskell. It is specifically used in our estimating department. The field uses HeavyJob to track and earn progress on projects as they work and progress through the jobs. HeavyBid interfaces with our accounting software, allowing us to dump a code of accounts to actual pay items and bill accordingly.
  • Organized estimates. Especially sub and material management.
  • Structured and consistent.
  • Technical Help. They are available 24 hrs a day for technical issues
  • No math errors. Using MS Excel to estimate always runs with the risk of formula errors.
  • Complicated for new users. The software is so expansive, it is difficult to bring new users up to speed quickly.
  • Expensive. Between the HCSS license and the Cloud service, it is very expensive.
  • Server Based, without the cloud you cannot use it remotely.
HCSS Heavybid is well suited in a heavy industrial estimating world. It is designed around heavy civil work, bridges, roadways, DOT type work. It even includes a DOT SOV import feature. It is not designed around the CSI code, around commercial or residential construction. The flexibilty in the bid form/SOV creation allows it to be extremely useful for heavy industrial or mechanical/civil work.
Read Michael Daughters's full review
November 03, 2017

Review: "HCSS Software = Successful Construction Management"

Joseph McElwee
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
At Anchor Construction, we use HCSS products for bidding, managing, and promoting safety for all of our projects. Our Estimators use Heavy Bid to price all possible projects. Heavy Bid makes it easier to get accurate cost projections and help us win competitive bids. Foremen use Heavy Job Mobile out in the field to track their labor and equipment hours, as well as their daily production. Our Safety Department used the HCSS Safety Application to help with inspections out in the field. Safety Observations are recorded while the work is taking place. Our shop uses Equipment 360 to manage our fleet of vehicles and equipment. Project Management uses Heavy Job Manager to verify our crews are meeting or beating their production goals. Heavy Job Manager helps us identify problems on jobs early so we have more time to address these problems. HCSS products are a vital part of the success of our company.
  • HCSS Technical Support has the best customer service of any company that I have ever seen. Phone calls into the help center are answered immediately and problems can usually be solved right over the phone. Their technical support staff is very knowledgeable.
  • HCSS provides thorough training to help you get the most out of their products. Their yearly User Group Meetings are an incredible opportunity to learn about new products and new features. Several people from our company attend the User Group Meetings every year.
  • HCSS listens to their clients when they have suggestions or requests on how to modify reports, or set-up new reports or features in the software. During the "Town Hall" meetings at the user group meetings, customers will request different changes to be made and often these changes end up being implemented shortly afterwards.
  • Would love to see HCSS develop a program for Project Management, where submittals, RFIs, change orders, subcontracts, etc. could be produced and tracked.
  • We would like to see HCSS enable a person in the field to e-mail a previously completed inspection to another person (Owner's rep, etc.) after it was already sent into the system. Can't do this currently.
The inspection forms in HCSS Safety are great for promoting safety throughout the field. All Foremen, Superintendents, Safety Officers, and Project Management personnel in our company have iPads and can perform safety inspections and observations quite easily. The number of safety inspections done by our personnel has increased over 200% since we stopped using paper forms and started using HCSS Safety on the iPad.
Read Joseph McElwee's full review
January 19, 2018

User Review: "HCSS Feedback"

Mildred Rodriguez
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source

Our foremen currently use the Field System to create and send timecards. We will begin our testing phase to transition to mobile devices in the near future. Our Office Managers are the final approval level for timecards sent in by the foremen. They track attendance to manage paid and unpaid time off from work. Engineers and Superintendents use the Manager System to review and approve the first two approval levels. They review labor hours, cost codes, quantities and equipment codes and hours. They use the Production Analysis and Planner as well as other reports available in the Manager System.

We recently upgraded to 2016, and we have had a few kinks that we are working through, with HCSS. Overall, I feel the upgrade went well with a lot of work from HCSS and our team. Our company uses Specialty Jobs which is a complex element to manage.

  • HCSS has established a team to assist our Company with any issue that arises. They respond timely and give us quality service.
  • HCSS works to accommodate our need in using Specialty Jobs, which tend to complicate our use of the product.
  • HCSS has created a very good process flow for Project Jobs with their product.
  • Some of the reports contain just the Foremen employee number, it would be great if they also contain the name.
  • Some of the reports are not compatible with running them in Excel, it would be great to be able to dump the data into an Excel spreadsheet.
  • I would like to be able to run User Accounts into an Excel spreadsheet.
Read Mildred Rodriguez's full review
January 10, 2018

User Review: "HCSS is a trusted go-to tool"

Drury Ellard
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We utilize the HCSS platform for estimating our construction projects. It is mostly used in the estimating department, but construction managers or project managers may also use it to evaluate costs for change orders or design refinements.
  • HCSS is a great system to organize the information required to make a detailed bid proposal and to make it an easily repeatable process within a set of users.
  • The Resources are easy to update and modify, if necessary. However a standard library of resources, equipment, labor, materials, crews etc allows you to maintain flexibility on an as-needed basis.
  • The Quote Folder system is an easy way to manage multiple proposals from materials suppliers and subcontractors and to keep those proposals compared to each other by using subcontractor scope adjustment tab, if necessary.
  • The whole system can be very quirky from time to time. It's very helpful to use the system for a while to get used to where to look for all of the buttons to press or boxes to check or reports to print.
  • I've had issues with the self perform analysis before. It was not showing the correct cost in the quote folders, but it was correct in the estimate. Got it resolved, but I'm glad I noticed it before bid-day.
Once you understand the basic concepts of estimating, you can begin using HCSS, adding layers of complexity as you learn and become more comfortable with the databases and information.
Read Drury Ellard's full review
January 09, 2018

"HCSS product review"

Dave Socci
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use Heavybid across our organization for all estimating, in both our NE and SE offices; this includes both our construction and paving divisions. Similarly, we use HeavyJob across all regions and divisions. For estimating, it provides a single system used by all estimators. In the field, HeavyJob provides payroll and labor/equipment cost information.
  • Support has always been very, very good.
  • Listens to the needs and desires of their customer base.
  • Provides a system geared specifically to the heavy/civil industry, and one that is intuitive, well-structured and efficient.
  • An "undo" button!
  • Writing custom reports, though I have to admit that I've not looked into that functionality lately.
  • While I don't use it personally much anymore, the self-performed comparison function can be a challenge for some to use effectively/correctly.
As noted previously, it is especially well suited to the heavy/civil industry. As all of my experience with HCSS has been within this industry, I've not had an opportunity to find an application where it did not perform well.
Read Dave Socci's full review
January 09, 2018

HCSS: "Heavybid Review from a Long time User."

Dave Luytjes
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use the heavybid product in 4 of 5 company subsidiaries. It is used for estimating bids, preparing budgets and preparing change orders. It helps bring consistency to our estimates and budgets and when set up properly and used by trained individuals is faster than any other methods. It also helps as a bridge between different subsidiaries.
  • Consistency is huge. Work activities can be set up and used easily. This makes for a better work product and can be reviewed by senior staff quickly.
  • Heavybid is recognized as a leader in the electronic estimating field. Because of this the Heavybid product is ahead of the curve when it comes to electronic bidding.
  • The HCSS support team is one of the best. I can always count on talking to a real person immediately that knows how to help me.
  • Everyone would like to have a custom system that meets their exact needs, but that's not realistic. So there are a few things that I as an individual would do differently, in that sense the system is not exactly like I would like it.
  • Occasionally there are missteps. A feature might be rushed into the product and has to be walked back. Also a feature might work well from a programming point of view, but not so well from a constructors view.
In the heavy civil arena, they are top of the line. A vertical contractor may struggle a bit to adapt the programs but I think this can be overcome with some adaptation by the contractor. An engineer or owner trying to use the program will have a difficult time, unless they have a contractor's background.
Read Dave Luytjes's full review
January 09, 2018

HCSS Review: "Awesome System"

Dave Steely
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We are a general contractor doing earthwork, utilities ( dry, water, sewer, storm ), gravel and asphalt placement. We do private, municipal, federal and state highway construction. We use HeavyBid for all of our cost estimating for our bids.
  • Ability to download project bid items from Excel and State DOT sites to eliminate manual entry.
  • Ability to set up crews and activities through Bid Item Codebooks and Library Estimates that reference bid items upon import from DOT sites which allows you to automatically build the framework of a bid upon import allowing great time savings as opposed to building the same work from scratch.
  • Quote Request system is still cumbersome
Their customer support and desire to implement changes / upgrades requested by the customer is outstanding!!
Read Dave Steely's full review
December 01, 2017

User Review: "You won't be disappointed with HCSS!"

Heather Gunzelmann
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use Heavy Job Mobile in the field, Heavy Job Manager in the office, Dispatcher in the office, and Equipment 360 in our fleet department. It is used across the whole organization. Heavy Job addresses the prior problems we had with: time sheets and information from the field, production reports and planning, forecasting, time and material reporting, true up with our accounting system and many others. Dispatcher has not been as effective as we would have liked and found some basic issues with its use. Equipment 360 has helped track maintenance and other issues.
  • Heavy Job is excellent for field to office communications. There are many valuable features and the program is very robust.
  • Heavy Job has been invaluable to me specifically on reporting production and performance in the field to ownership.
  • There are many different things you can use Heavy Job for, including tracking trucking costs with outside vendors. This has also been a huge benefit for our company.
  • Our biggest struggle is with Dispatcher. It does not truly help us with our needs and we resorted back to pen, paper, and excel spreadsheets when we hit our busiest time of the year in the fall.
  • Dispatcher does not seem to have had as much attention given to it as Heavy Job. Heavy Job far outweighs Dispatcher in many aspects. Dispatcher needs more versatility and better features.
  • Examples: we move crews around on a daily basis and that is difficult in Dispatcher. You need to be able to move job around fluidly as well as being able to keep track of them and see the projects on a weekly/monthly/extended view. The planner view is not beneficial and lacks many desired features. Dispatcher also does not have any proactive features, reminders, real tracking of projects to it.
  • If HCSS would give more focus to this program, then it could be used to target more subcontractor companies like us, as well as larger contractors. Most of the prime contractors that we work with use Heavy Bid and Heavy Job but not Dispatcher. I am going to bet because it isn't satisfying the needs of your contractors/customers.
Heavy Job and Heavy Bid are AMAZING! We can't describe how beneficial these two programs have been to our company and would HIGHLY recommend them both to everyone and have. I will be attending the user group meeting this year (2nd one) and focusing on Dispatcher. If we can't put Dispatcher to the use that we need, then we will probably discontinue the program. The Safety Program sounded amazing but the cost was too high. I've heard that the cost has come down so we may revisit that in the next 1-2 years. Equipment 360 seems to be working well and I've been pushing to implement the GPS system as well.
Side note: my boss keeps asking me if I'm selling HCSS program on the side since I've pushed hard for the products at our company. There are a lot of great programs and the implementation team is top notch.
Read Heather Gunzelmann's full review
December 01, 2017

User Review: "HCSS - Payroll Processing"

Bethanie Larson
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HCSS is used across the company. We use it to track time cards, equipment usage, material quantities, subsistence, and per diem, at least to my knowledge.
  • The program is designed to work well for our employees that travel, which is 80% of the company.
  • The exports that HCSS can create for us work well with our accounting program. It's great how they can create their data to work with another program.
  • We currently struggle with importing data from the outside. Our superintendents will send data to the cloud and we struggle at times to pull the data into our [management] system that we use at the corporate office. That could also be on our end.
HCSS is designed to work with construction firms, and I would say for any company that has employees that travel a lot. If you work with a crew of employees, the superintendent can report his own time, along with his crew members. He can also report who should receive per diem (over night stays), and how much material they went through in a day. Material reporting is important for future projects. It provides real data on how long it takes to conduct a particular activity along with how much material the crew went through to accomplish that particular activity.
Read Bethanie Larson's full review
November 10, 2017

User Review: "The HCSS Effect"

Matt Snow
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HCSS is used for our estimating department and management department. It is used in our field for daily reports and cost management. We are able to monitor jobs on a daily basis now with real-time costs. It allows our office to integrate with our field, and has empowered our foremen in the field to not only help the jobs they are currently on, but provide information needed for bids and future jobs. The whole organization uses the software in one way or another. The abundance of information we are able to gain from the software helps with documentation in the company, safety issues that we need to be aware of, and potential changes in scope on each job. The streamlined approach that Heavybid and Heavyjob have created in our company has helped with efficiency and quality control.
  • Streamlined approach for estimating that helps each estimator provide the needed detail, and allows our company to have expectations of what an estimate should contain
  • Heavyjob provides numerous options for documentation.
  • HCSS Cloud allows our estimators and project managers access from any location and any computer whether at the office, onsite, or at home.
  • HeavyJob could use more functions that make typing for the guys in the field a quicker operation.
HCSS is well-suited for a company that needs accurate cost reporting and standardization. It is also well-suited for a company that requires large amounts of documentation on a daily basis. It provides a one-stop shop for crews in the field for input.
Read Matt Snow's full review
November 06, 2017

HCSS Review: "Best on the Market"

Jim Murray
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HCSS is used throughout the whole company; [it] starts with estimating and goes to the field for job site management.
  • The estimating program is great, well organized, and manageable
  • Great tech support if needed
  • Tracks field operations easy and can be used by anyone of any caliber
  • Tracking cost and revenue where items overrun and under-run
  • In the estimating, there needs to be a function to determine wet and dry costs for equipment when reviewing a project
  • Easier interface with an accounting program
Its estimating can be done on any size project with multiple estimators. Its reporting in the field as to permanent materials needs to be addressed.
Read Jim Murray's full review
November 06, 2017

HCSS Review: "Long time satisfied user"

Michael Trotta
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use Heavybid in our estimating department and HeavyJob for our operations.
  • HeavyBid - organized and reproducible process for all estimates, works seamlessly with HeavyJob and accounting system to create budgets on successful bids
  • HeavyJob - great for production analysis and time card entry synchronization with accounting software
  • HeavyBid sub solicitation and quote collection system does not perform as well as other products such as ISQft
Integration with Salesforce, ISQft, and accounting software
Read Michael Trotta's full review
November 06, 2017

User Review: "HCSS -- A great business partner!"

Linda Pawlak
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HCSS is used across our organization as a tool to efficiently share information, improve efficiency and manage our operational businesses through an integrated suite of products.
  • HCSS is particularly good at listening to current business processes and translating them to an implementation plan using HCSS software that improves the business process with an attainable staged approach.
  • HCSS is a long term partner that grows with your over time, patient to wait for your growth and eager to have it customers give them feedback to facilitate HCSS growth and improvement.
  • HCSS listens to it's customers and continually finds new avenues to improve it's products.
  • HCSS grows and improves its individual products well, but the pace or improvement in integrating it's products with one another languishes in improvement.
  • Support for standardized questions is done well, but this support would be greatly improved if there was better escalation and integration of support with the client. For example, when the support call could be facilitated by better knowledge of the customers particular install, could support reach out to the client and then back out to the user? Or keep a better knowledge base internally for the clients use?
HCSS is well positioned to be the vendor for both large and small customers alike. For smaller customers, they provide a very valuable technical resource that is likely not staffed in house. In addition, they also have the expertise to support companies with larger infrastructures and the need for enterprise solutions.
Read Linda Pawlak's full review
November 06, 2017

User Review: "HCSS, YES, YES, YES"

Randy Gambrill
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
HCSS Heavy Job is being used by a couple of departments in our company. One of the problems it addresses is the seamless transformation over from Heavy Bid. One of our departments uses this now and is expanding into other departments. Another department just uses Heavy Job, because it's a unit based contract with fixed pricing. Both capture the work performed and the hours associated with getting the work done. This way we can quickly invoice the work and also get the payroll hours sent.
  • The HCSS system is very user-friendly. The field guys picked it up really quick.
  • In the managers system, the superintendents can quickly review the previous days work, which gets them back in the field sooner.
  • HCSS created a report for us, at our request, to work with our unit based contract. This made it easy to invoice weekly.
  • Heavy Job manager seems to run slow at times.
  • On the iPad, it seems to take a while for it to upload each time.
  • Occasionally, time cards have to be sent a few times before they pull from the cloud into the manager system.
I would recommend the product for several reasons. Firstly, the ease of use by all of the field users. We thought that training the field people, would be the toughest area due to the lack of technology, typically used in the field. Secondly, my superintendents can quickly review the previous day's time cards, to make sure nothing is missed, and get back in the field sooner.
Read Randy Gambrill's full review
October 25, 2017

HCSS Review: "Satisfied Customer"

Danny Stoppenhagen
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Review Source
We use HeavyBid for all of our estimating, and HeavyJob for handling payroll timecards and project diaries. Our company is relatively small, so we don't have "departments" per se.
  • The 800-number help line is probably the greatest feature of HCSS. The staff are always knowledgeable and have always been able to fix whatever problem we have encountered.
  • The various people of HCSS with whom I have interacted have always been professional, cordial, and knowledgeable. Having the "smarts" is good, but being personable is an added bonus.
  • The users group meetings are well done. In addition to the educational benefits, the management of the event itself is always top-notch.
  • While I occasionally encounter things that I would like to be able to do differently with HeavyBid, they nearly always are something peculiar to our situation and not necessarily feasible for HCSS to change.
  • HeavyJob, for me, is difficult to navigate. (I use it to review project diaries and occasionally time cards.) If I were to actually use it more, or go through training, I'm sure it would be easier for me to navigate.
  • Our field personnel use basic functions of HeavyJob (time card, diary, photographs) with no problems, but really use a small part of the capability.
HeavyBid is a very user-friendly estimating software. The import/export feature to DOT's and Excel is extremely useful.
Read Danny Stoppenhagen's full review

HCSS Scorecard Summary

Likelihood to Recommend (97)
9.1
Usability (1)
9.1
Support (33)
9.8
Implementation (31)
9.2

Feature Scorecard Summary

Plan distribution & viewing (8)
6.8
Plan markups & sharing (6)
6.5
Issue tracking & punchlists (11)
6.0
Photo documentation (23)
8.9
Jobsite reports (26)
7.9
Document sharing (17)
6.7
RFI tools (1)
3
Collaboration & approvals (17)
7.0
Mobile app (24)
8.3

About HCSS

HCSS is a construction software suite for estimating, operations, project management, safety, and equipment management used by the top contractors in transportation, oil & gas, power, industrial, telecom, and water/wastewater. Contractors use the software suite to win profitable work, keep projects on track and on budget, manage key assets, and then they integrate that information directly into their accounting system.

Suite components include:
  • HeavyBid (estimating)
  • HeavyJob (time cards, job costing, project management)
  • HCSS Safety
  • HCSS Plans
  • Equipment360
  • HCSS Telematics
  • HCSS Dispatcher
  • FuelerPlus
  • HCSS eLogs
  • HCSS Cloud
  • HCSS Skills
  • HCSS Forms

Categories:  Construction

HCSS Features

Construction Productivity Features
Has featurePlan distribution & viewing
Has featurePlan markups & sharing
Has featureDocument sharing
Has featureIssue tracking & punchlists
Has featurePhoto documentation
Has featureJobsite reports
Does not have featureRFI tools
Has featureCollaboration & approvals
Does not have featureAs-built drawings
Has featureMobile app
Additional Features
Has featureEstimating and bidding
Has featureInvitation to bid
Has featureQuote management
Has featureTimecards
Has featureDaily diaries
Has featureProduction quantities
Has featureT&M Reporting
Has featureEquipment Maintenance
Has featureEquipment Work Orders
Has featureAlerts & Notifications

HCSS Screenshots

HCSS Integrations

Microsoft Project, Vista by Viewpoint, Primavera P3, P6 Project Management, RSMeans

HCSS Competitors

ViewPoint ProContractor, B2W Software, InEight, Microsoft Excel, Predictive Solutions

Pricing

Does not have featureFree Trial Available?No
Does not have featureFree or Freemium Version Available?No
Has featurePremium Consulting/Integration Services Available?Yes
Entry-level set up fee?Required

HCSS Customer Size Distribution

Consumers
%
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)
30%
Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees)
55%
Enterprises (> 500 employees)
15%

HCSS Support Options

 Free VersionPaid Version
Email
Forum/Community
FAQ/Knowledgebase
Social Media
Video Tutorials / Webinar
Phone
Live Chat

HCSS Technical Details

Deployment Types:On-premise, SaaS
Operating Systems: Windows
Mobile Application:Apple iOS, Android
Supported Countries:United States, Canada