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PlanSwift is a versatile software that caters to the needs of various departments within an organization. The primary use case revolves …
Starting at $1,595 per installation
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What is PlanSwift, by ConstructConnect?
PlanSwift is a quantity takeoff software for construction estimating. It features a drag-and-drop interface and automatically calculates material and labor estimations in exportable formats. PlanSwift was acquired by ConstructConnect in the middle of 2018.
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What is PlanSwift, by ConstructConnect?
PlanSwift is a quantity takeoff software for construction. It provides a drag-and-drop interface that utilizes assembly templates for quantity counts and measurements. PlanSwift automatically calculates material and labor calculations and exports the information via built-in reports or as raw data to 3rd party software like Excel. The tool provides trade-specific features for general contractors, concrete, drywall, electrical, flooring, framing, HVAC, landscaping, painting, plumbing, and other specialties. It is priced at $1595 for the first year, then $300/year per license in subsequent years.
PlanSwift, by ConstructConnect Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows |
| Mobile Application | No |
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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
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PlanSwift is a versatile software that caters to the needs of various departments within an organization. The primary use case revolves around the pre-construction department, where team members utilize the software for take-off and pricing of intricate plans. With PlanSwift, the process becomes easier, quicker, and clearer, ensuring smooth collaboration among team members. Additionally, the Project Management team relies on the software to confirm take-off items, while former members of the estimating department occasionally use it for quantity takeoffs on project sites. However, most estimators now prefer Bluebeam for this task.
Contractors across different trades have expressed their satisfaction with PlanSwift's accuracy and ability to provide marked up drawings. This feature enables them to easily identify variations, saving time and effort during project execution. In terms of compatibility, users value PlanSwift's integration with Excel, allowing them to present schedules in their preferred format for clients. The software's impact on productivity cannot be underestimated, as it significantly reduces the time and paperwork required for measuring jobs.
Customer service is another aspect that receives praise from users. The responsiveness and support offered by the customer service department have been appreciated by customers. With its availability on both mobile devices and desktop computers, PlanSwift offers accessibility and flexibility to users.
Overall, PlanSwift functions as a central hub for construction businesses, serving as the primary quantity take-off software for Project Managers and Estimators in organizations like Benchmark Construction. It streamlines workflow across departments by providing accurate quantities and valuable information for trade partners and project managers alike. Furthermore, it replaces paper copies of drawings and saves time and expenses in proposal building in the estimation department. Lastly, PlanSwift finds application in determining product quantities required by Territory Managers across the country in the Project Development department.
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Convenient Single Click/Hover-over Feature: Several users have found the single click/hover-over functionality in PlanSwift to be extremely convenient for quickly obtaining various attributes of a take-off. According to their feedback, this feature proves particularly helpful when determining the length of slab edge form for multiple types of slabs in different areas.
Highly Praised Browsing Feature: The browsing capability in PlanSwift has received high praise from many users. They appreciate how it simplifies file and image sharing with colleagues by allowing them to easily add any file or image from across their network.
Major Advantage of Integration with MS Excel: Many users consider the seamless integration between PlanSwift and MS Excel as one of its major advantages. It significantly streamlines the process of creating and evaluating reports during or at the end of a project.
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Lack of user-friendly features beyond linear and square foot takeoffs: Some users have expressed that the software becomes outdated and less intuitive when using functions beyond linear foot and square foot takeoffs, making it difficult for them to perform more complex tasks efficiently.
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Difficulty in accessing technical support: Several users have found it challenging to schedule technical support sessions and have reported limited availability, leading to dissatisfaction with the assistance provided by the company.
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Limited training resources: Users have mentioned that the training videos offered by the software are limited in scope and hard to follow, hindering their ability to effectively learn how to use the program.
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November 29, 2021
PlanSwift Review
We use PlanSwift in our estimation department to build proposals.
- Accuracy
- Speed
- If it had more industry specific tools. Such as for drywall, ceilings, etc.
August 07, 2021
PlanSwift - The Best Take-Off Software Around
All of our estimators and project managers use it for our project take offs. It provides a central hub for our entire team to work from which is crucial. We also have all of our projects saved through SharePoint, making all of the information accessible anytime, anywhere. The main use is blueprint take offs and all of the information trickles down to all departments.
- Easy to use and intuitive.
- Accurate data to use for projects, allowing for a central hub for all teams to work from.
- It's a central stop from take off and plan review all the way to plugging numbers into our estimating.
- The ability to link through SharePoint, which always access from any user and location.
- It could be more intuitive / easy to use on some of the more in depth areas like saving pricing per item.
- I think it would be great to have more 1:1 virtual training, especially with COVID times.
- If there was a way to easily track and save some of your frequent costs, as to create a type of estimating database.
May 25, 2021
Upload and view your drawings with ease.
PlanSwift is the main source of drawings for our company. This replaces the paper copy of drawings saving paper, time, and expense. PlanSwift is available on mobile devices and on desktop computers. This software has made a huge difference in how we do business.
- PlanSwift drawing uploads are fast and easy. It recognizes the pages and titles with very little error.
- Drawing can be viewed offline including older versions for comparison. You can select which drawings you want to download to save room on your device.
- Submittals are not user friendly in PlanGrid. In fact, this is the one feature we would like to see improved.
- Billing is based on how many users you have. It would be very nice if they would do it based on revenue or other factors such as other programs do.
June 09, 2019
PlanSwift -- Necessary, but not the best
PlanSwift is used by all of our Project Managers and Estimators. It is our primary quantity take-off software. Every contractor needs some form of quantity take-off software, unless it is performed by hand. PlanSwift does not address any unique problems, it just fills the need for a QTO software.
- PlanSwift can be used in basic functions (LF & SF takeoffs) very easily.
- Has a quick interface for browsing and viewing.
- Provides easy export to excel functions.
- If you go beyond the basic functions (linear foot & square foot takeoffs) it becomes very antiquated and not user-friendly. It's not intuitive whatsoever for users lacking backing computer knowledge.
- The technical support is lacking in my opinion. The software feels dead, and the support team is hard to schedule. Also, if you do not pay for support per hour, it is impossible to get help.
- Their training videos are limited and hard to follow. This software is unnecessarily hard to be proficient at. There should be more simplistic ways to utilize this software.
October 25, 2017
PlanSwift Review
Planswift is being used by the Project Development department, mostly by the Estimators to determine product quantities required by Territory Managers on site, across the country.
- Maintains the files internally allowing us to work on projects anywhere.
- With a great UX, it is easy to use. Easy to train on and learn.
- Professional product output is appreciated by customers.
- Issues with transferring files between computers, would be ideal if files were also backed on a network file.
- Files can take a long time to upload, sometimes overnight if the files are big enough.
- Program often hangs and needs restarting.
October 23, 2017
PlanSwiftly To Accurate Take Offs
It is only used by the estimating department. Some former members of estimating that currently work on project sites occasionally still use it. but most now use Bluebeam for the quantity takeoffs they need.
- We use PlanSwift for quantity takeoffs. We are a general contractor.
- We use some of the plug-ins including the Earthwork module.
- I occasionally have to load drawings at a very low DPI or I get error messages. The resulting poor resolution makes the drawing difficult to read.
August 29, 2017
PlanSwift - Leading the industry of Digital Quantity Takeoff
Benchmark Construction uses PlanSwift as our primary take off software. Every estimator here uses the program to do quantity take-off of drawings provided by industry professionals. Mainly only the Estimating team uses this program. Estimators provide their takeoff to Project managers for work that is self preformed. The program allows us to check the quantities that are shared with us by our trade partners.
- Auto Scaling
- Ability to scale drawings that have no scale
- Freedom to customize
- More Plumbing, HVAC and Electrical friendly
- Ductwork take off tool
- Rise and fall ability for piping and ductwork
December 16, 2016
Quantifying made super easy!
The pre-construction department of our organization is the primary user of PlanSwift. However, from time to time, the Project Management team finds itself browsing through this software for confirming take-off items. It makes the take-off and pricing for intricate plans easier, quicker, and clearer for all team members to understand the work.
- It has this really convenient single click/hover-over feature where it tells various attributes of a take-off. For example, if an area has multiple types of slabs, and we need to find the length of slab edge form for all of those, we just need to hover over each area and it gives us the quantities.
- It has a great browsing feature - you can add any file/image from across your network thus making it easier to share with colleagues.
- It integrates directly with MS Excel thus making it easier to create and evaluate reports during or at the end of a project.
- It has good tools for editing as well - for instance you take off a slab on grade as floating but later find out that it sits on top of the foundation walls - you don't need to redo the take off, you can merely double-click, add extra points and move them around to modify your work.
- If there was a way to break a take-off line, that would be very helpful. At times I find myself taking the curbs off for the site work, and when I need to separate the straight curbs with the integrated curbs with sidewalks, I need to just redo the work. It would have been good if PlanSwift gave an option of breaking down lines the way it does for deducting parts from an area.
March 18, 2016
Plan. Swift. Takeoff - does what it says on the tin
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I've looked at quite a few takeoff packages, but settled on PlanSwift for a) value for money, b) compatibility with Excel. I provide takeoffs for contractors across many trades, and for main contractors, and all have been impressed with he accuracy and the marked up drawings showing what's been measured enables them to easily identify variations. As I have many clients operating with different internal management software the fact that PlanSwift is so compatible with Excel means I can provide schedules in whatever format works best for them. From my own perspective, I can measure jobs in a few hours that would have taken me 2-3 days using the old school scale rule and takeoff sheets. Productivity has increased dramatically, I have virtually zero paperwork cluttering my desk where in past I would have stacks of drawings and specs. I have had a few problems in my time using it, but the customer service department has been brilliant. Being in very different timezone has it's drawbacks, but if I email them my issue at the end of the day I will have a reply in my inbox the next morning.
- Great interface with other software. Excel reports make it a breeze for my clients to interface with their own management software.
- Easy to set up different components and pricing structures. Time spent setting these up properly will save hundreds of hours down the line.
- Very simple to learn, with videos to walk you through each task.
- There are some great plug-ins, but you only get them for free if you pay the annual "maintenance" fee of $200.
- All of the preset items are in imperial measurements, Hey America - the rest of the world is metric. please come join us in this century!
- Licence is only good for 1 machine at a time (unless you purchase multiples). It's a bit annoying having remove it from my desktop when I want to take my tablet to visit a client. A licence that's good for 1x desktop and 1x tablet/portable would be great.