Item: SmartBid
Rating: 7
Author: Matthew Smith

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Currently, we use SmartBid to manage multiple estimating projects. My responsibilities fall more towards an administrative role with some estimating. As a subcontractor, we receive a high volume of invites from multiple contractors. Having access to this program allows multiple estimators to be involved across our different office locations.

Pros and Cons

Email alerts for invites, withdraws, addendum and special notes.
Quickly respond bidding/unsure/not bidding.

Ability to download all without having to be a zip file.
Provide a submittal board for questions and answers.

Return on Investment

SmartBid helps eliminate jumping all over the place, all your invites are on one system.
It allows us to see who and how many general contractors are bidding, let’s us know if it’s a job worth spending time on.

Alternatives Considered

BuildingConnected

SmartBid is used by more of the contractors that we happen to do lots of work with. It has basically the same features. However, SmartBid will let subcontractors view all the jobs a general contractor is bidding, even ones we were never invited to. So it has the potential to bring more opportunities.

Support Rating

We’ve never had any issues. But we’ve never had to contact support either.

Key Insights

Do you think SmartBid delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with SmartBid's feature set?

Yes

Did SmartBid live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of SmartBid go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy SmartBid again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Bluebeam Revu, BuildingConnected, Microsoft 365 Business, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Flow, WeTransfer, Microsoft Publisher

Likelihood to Recommend

I can’t speak for a general contractor, but I can say the general contractors that send invites to us (who use this program) tend to win a good number of jobs. I believe there are other features for general contractors that we do not have access to as a subcontractor. However, it is free for us to use once we’ve been invited and it does help us manage estimates from multiple contractors.

SmartBid is a smart choice

Overall Satisfaction with SmartBid