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HCSS offers a suite of construction software products that cater to various departments and needs within a construction company. These …
Overview
What is HCSS?
HCSS is a construction software suite. It includes functionality for bidding, time card and project management, safety, planning, scheduling, equipment management, and data warehousing and reporting. Each module can be purchased separately. The suite can be hosted in the cloud.
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Popular Features
- Photo documentation (25)10.0100%
- Jobsite reports (30)8.080%
- Mobile app (28)6.161%
- Collaboration & approvals (19)4.040%
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What is HCSS?
HCSS is a construction software suite. It includes functionality for bidding, time card and project management, safety, planning, scheduling, equipment management, and data warehousing and reporting. Each module can be purchased separately. The suite can be hosted in the cloud.
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What is Procore?
Procore is a project management software designed specifically for the construction industry. Procore is cloud-based and allows unlimited users per instance, so that construction team members and stakeholders can all access project information and documents.
What is Wrike?
Wrike is a project management and collaboration software. This solution connects tasks, discussions, and emails to the user’s project plan. Wrike is optimized for agile workflows and aims to help resolve data silos, poor visibility into work status, and missed deadlines and project failures.
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- Competitors
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- FAQs
What is 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:
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
HCSS Features
Construction Project & Field Management Features
- Supported: Plan distribution & viewing
- Supported: Plan markups & sharing
- Supported: Document sharing
- Supported: Issue tracking & punchlists
- Supported: Photo documentation
- Supported: Jobsite reports
- Supported: Collaboration & approvals
- Supported: Mobile app
Additional Features
- Supported: Estimating and bidding
- Supported: Invitation to bid
- Supported: Quote management
- Supported: Timecards
- Supported: Daily diaries
- Supported: Production quantities
- Supported: T&M Reporting
- Supported: Equipment Maintenance
- Supported: Equipment Work Orders
- Supported: Alerts & Notifications
HCSS Screenshots
HCSS Video
Construction Software Development Company - Estimating, Bidding, & More | HCSS
HCSS Integrations
- Microsoft Project
- Viewpoint Vista
- Primavera P3
- P6 Project Management
- RSMeans
HCSS Competitors
- Viewpoint ProContractor
- InEight
- Microsoft Excel
- B2W Software
- Predictive Solutions
HCSS Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows |
| Mobile Application | Apple iOS, Android |
| Supported Countries | United States, Canada |
Frequently Asked Questions
HCSS is a construction software suite. It includes functionality for bidding, time card and project management, safety, planning, scheduling, equipment management, and data warehousing and reporting. Each module can be purchased separately. The suite can be hosted in the cloud.
Reviewers rate Photo documentation highest, with a score of 10.
The most common users of HCSS are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
HCSS Customer Size Distribution
| Consumers | 0% |
|---|---|
| Small Businesses (1-50 employees) | 30% |
| Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees) | 55% |
| Enterprises (more than 500 employees) | 15% |
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Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
HCSS offers a suite of construction software products that cater to various departments and needs within a construction company. These products, including HeavyBid, HeavyJob, Dispatcher, Equipment 360, and more, have been widely utilized across different organizations to streamline operations and enhance efficiency. For example, the estimating department relies on HeavyBid to manage proposals and estimates, ensuring accurate cost projections and competitive bidding. By compiling historic data for current bids, estimators are able to price projects effectively and improve the chances of winning bids. Similarly, HeavyJob is an indispensable tool for field workers to track progress on projects, including labor and equipment hours as well as daily production. This real-time tracking capability enables project managers and foremen to monitor costs and make informed decisions based on up-to-date information.
Furthermore, HCSS software products facilitate seamless integration with accounting systems and other software applications used in the construction industry. HeavyBid's interface with accounting software allows for the conversion of codes to actual pay items, simplifying billing processes and ensuring accuracy. The coordination between HeavyBid and HeavyJob enables smooth transformation from estimates to production tracking, capturing work performed and hours for invoicing and payroll purposes. The use of HCSS products extends beyond project management tasks; they are also employed by safety departments for inspections and recording safety observations during work. In addition, equipment managers rely on Equipment 360 to efficiently manage the fleet of vehicles and equipment by tracking maintenance and repairs electronically.
Overall, HCSS products play a vital role in every facet of the construction business. From estimating to project management, payroll to safety tracking, these software solutions offer comprehensive functionalities that enhance productivity and collaboration among different departments. Users praise the consistency brought by HeavyBid in estimates and budgets while highlighting its efficiency when properly set up. Likewise, foremen in the field find HeavyJob empowering as it allows them to contribute valuable information for bids and future jobs, improving efficiency and quality control. Dispatchers value the visibility provided by Dispatcher, enabling them to have real-time knowledge of equipment location and resource availability. With its broad range of applications and extensive usage throughout the organization, HCSS software is an essential asset in the construction industry.
Availability of 24/7 technical help: Users appreciate the fact that HCSS provides round-the-clock technical support for any issues they encounter. Many reviewers have mentioned that this availability has been invaluable to them, allowing them to get immediate assistance whenever they need it.
Highly knowledgeable and prompt technical support staff: The technical support team at HCSS is highly regarded by users. They are praised for their expertise and ability to solve problems quickly over the phone. Several reviewers have mentioned that they were impressed with how knowledgeable and efficient the support staff was in resolving their issues.
Thorough training provided by HCSS: Users value the comprehensive training offered by HCSS, as it helps them maximize the benefits of using their products. Many reviewers have mentioned that the training sessions provided by HCSS have been instrumental in helping them understand and effectively use the software.
Less Performant: Users have consistently reported that ISQft is slower and less performant compared to other products they have used. Several reviewers mentioned difficulty exporting to Excel, attaching documents to bids, and experiencing slow performance on the iPad with Heavy Job manager. Some users also found uploading on the iPad to be slower than expected. These performance issues were a common complaint among reviewers.
Lack of Versatility in Dispatcher: Many users expressed dissatisfaction with the Dispatcher feature in ISQft, stating that it lacked versatility and desired features. Reviewers found it difficult to move crews around on a daily basis and felt that the planner view was not beneficial. They also mentioned that Dispatcher lacked proactive features, reminders, and real tracking of projects. Multiple reviewers believed that if HCSS focused more on improving Dispatcher, it could attract more subcontractor companies and larger contractors.
Difficulties in Integration: Integration with other programs was not seamless according to user feedback. Some reviewers had trouble integrating ISQft with their existing systems or found it challenging to import data from outside sources. There were also difficulties in pulling data into the management system used at corporate offices. Users expressed a need for easier integration with accounting programs and suggested that HCSS should focus on improving the integration of its products with each other.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
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April 29, 2021
The only one for heavy civil construction
The company utilizes HCSS HeavyJob to track and analyze daily costs and production quantities. It is provided companywide; however, adoption and use of the product to full capacity is definitely not reflected in the data.
- Production costs
- Production tracking
- Equipment allocations
- Appears complicated at initial onset; messy interface
- Not very user friendly, even after training
- Cumbersome when used in conjunction with other platforms
March 18, 2020
A Leader in the Construction World
HCSS is used by various departments. Mostly in the field for timecards, cost controls, and engineering/bidding.
Timecards are kept in HeavyJob, which correlates and feeds info into JDE. The field uses these applications which are then analyzed and approved by cost controls.
HeavyBid is used by our engineering/bidding department. All major bids use this HeavyBid and we find it to be an extraordinary program. Allows us to compile a lot of historic data to be used in current bids. Truly a blessing.
Timecards are kept in HeavyJob, which correlates and feeds info into JDE. The field uses these applications which are then analyzed and approved by cost controls.
HeavyBid is used by our engineering/bidding department. All major bids use this HeavyBid and we find it to be an extraordinary program. Allows us to compile a lot of historic data to be used in current bids. Truly a blessing.
- HCSS works wonderfully as a timecard. Using the application is very easy and it speaks very well to our data systems.
- HCSS is the pinnacle of estimating tools. It allows multiple analytics and set-ups for estimators. In addition, conversions of your bid into budgets are extremely easy once exported.
- Within HeavyJob, once you enter in manhours and production data they run all the data analysis for you, providing graphs and figures from your inputs.
- The software itself seems to be a bit outdated as far as user interface
- I'm not sure if this is a result of too much data or what, but the programs tend to be on the slower side when importing and exporting data.
January 15, 2020
The Cadillac Software
HCSS is being used in our Earthwork/Utility division as our bidding and project management software. Heavybid allows for consistent bidding while allowing us to pull bids together quickly. Heavyjob is being used for electronic time cards, quantity tracking, and labor/equipment tracking.
- Customer support.
- Easy to use.
- I can't think of any!
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.
January 29, 2018
HCSS HeavyBid Review
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.
January 29, 2018
HCSS saves us time and wins us jobs.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.
January 23, 2018
What's so HEAVY about HCSS
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.
January 19, 2018
HCSS Feedback
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.
January 10, 2018
HCSS is a trusted go-to tool
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.
January 09, 2018
From a Paper Notepad to a Sofeware Program, what an upgrade.
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
January 09, 2018
HCSS product review
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.
January 09, 2018
Heavybid Review from a Long time User.
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.
January 09, 2018
Awesome System
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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
January 09, 2018
Spot on estimating and Field Management software!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.
January 08, 2018
HCSS review from a long time user
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.
December 01, 2017
You won't be disappointed with HCSS!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.
November 21, 2017
Great Estimating Software
HCSS HeavyBid is used across the estimating department.
- Mass changes and updates to the estimate.
- Retrieves data quickly.
- The system tends to run very slow on large jobs with multiple users, especially subsystems such as quote comparisons.
- The system loses margin with some combinations of spread over-rides.
- Common windows features like dragging, dropping, copy/paste are cumbersome.
November 13, 2017
HeavyBid for Industrial Estimating
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.
November 08, 2017
HCSS Suite
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use HCSS across our organization for bidding with HeavyBid, collecting field data with HeavyJob manager and mobile (time, equipment, production quantities, change tracking), E360 for equipment maintenance, E360 Fueler for off-road fueling and Dispatcher for our heavy equipment hauls.
- The customer service at HCSS is outstanding. You can always get a person on the phone and the expertise provided with all products is above expectations.
- The HCSS user conferences are great for all skill levels and applications. There's something for everybody and the presenters have the knowledge and willingness to address your needs and concerns.
- Their implementation process is well organized and executed. Going to their office for implementation is highly recommended.
- Their mobile offerings vary too widely between iOS and Android where Android is available. We are a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) company and have many users split between iOS and Android products. This causes issues as HCSS is iOS only for E360, and on HeavyJob they are typically a year behind in parity between iOS and Android with the former the most up to date. Would like to see a cross platform app that mirrors where they are heading with their web app offerings.
- Their mobile applications do not always send data two ways. For example, jobs, cost codes, employees and equipment lists update to the HCSS field app but you can not see other time statistics from other foremen unless you are a manager on the iOS manager app, manager web app or desktop app. Only what is in the local tablet's database is what the foreman can see. This also causes issues when a tablet fails without a backup and restore made to the local database. In this instance, though all data sent in is stored in the main system, the foreman loses any history they may have had on the tablet.
- HeavyJob serves as our timekeeping system for our field crews. As such it would be nice to be able to apply time entry rules and workflow routing to ensure data is keyed in a timely fashion and routed to the correct individuals. All approvals work on a filter basis requiring each manager to seek and find unapproved time. It is nearly impossible to enforce time entry deadlines without custom built alerts and followup reporting for zero time and missing time cards.
November 06, 2017
Long time satisfied user
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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
November 06, 2017
HCSS -- A great business partner!
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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?
November 06, 2017
HCSS, YES, YES, YES
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.
November 03, 2017
HCSS Power User
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use HCSS products from Bidding to Job management, safety to shop. I like that they listen to customers on suggestions for product changes, they are not stuck in what they have as a product. Our company is connected from the labor in the field doing the work, to the foreman, to the manager, to accounting and back to estimating all tied together and speaking the same language.
- Listens to customers
- Product support after the sale is the best in the industry
- Always refining what the product is, it never stops, always updating and getting better.
- Coordination with national vendors for a material product list that is uniform through out HCSS Products
- GPS System could be improved for idle time monitoring and reports
November 03, 2017
HCSS HeavyBid Delivers
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We are using HCSS Heavy Bid across the company for all of our estimating efforts. It helps with us stay consistent across the company , and our business processes.
- HCSS' support is great for all its products.
- HCSS HeavyBid is a great tool for analyzing costs, man power, equipment and resource needs for a project prior to a bid.
- HCSS HeavyBid does well a listening to its client's needs and improves and modifies it products to meet its clients expectations.
- I would like to see HeavyBid's quote system be updated looking at features such as spreading mob for a subcontractor across folders. making the notes field more user friendly...
- Allow pass through cost to be bonded
November 03, 2017
HCSS Software = Successful Construction Management
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.