Item: Procore
Rating: 10
Author: Dean Blakeman

Ease of Integration

Like any new technology, there is always going to be a learning curve, but Procore has simplified the learning curve with their awesome customer support and training videos. They offer so many options when it comes to customer support, and they are always friendly and knowledgeable. They have a good system put in place when they start you out with Procore as well. First, you will deal with a team that will get you set up. Then you will deal with a team that will provide follow up calls for around 6 weeks and finally you have unlimited customer support included in your package.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are currently using Procore to manage larger commercial projects. Only the commercial department is using Procore within our company. Procore has helped us keep our projects organized and on task. It has allowed us to expand our workforce in the field without taking on more office staff. There are so many things that Procore does that it is impossible to list them all.

Pros and Cons

Procore does an excellent job of collaborating with the whole team. By not limiting the amount of users they allow everyone to be involved and share information even if they are not a Procore user.
Procore is good at keeping you focused on where you should be on a project. Once you have a project set up, Procore will send you reminders/prompts on the things that you should be focusing on. For example, if you have a submittal that is overdue, Procore will send you reminders daily until it is complete. This allows you to be confident that as long as you follow the Procore prompts, you are devoting your attention to the most important tasks within each project and nothing is going to be forgotten.
Procore has done a good job with sharing information between office and field within our company. If new drawings are issued due to a CO, we can upload them to the office and they are automatically distributed to the field. This ensures that the guys doing the actual work have the latest drawings and information necessary to complete the project.
Procore has a very active team that is constantly working to make their product better. If you have a problem with something or think that they should change something, you can make a suggestion. They are constantly reviewing suggestions and make the necessary changes so that their product is offering the users what is best for them.
Procore's support is second to none. From how to videos, to live chat, to calling in, Procore is always available to help you in whatever way is convenient for you. I value customer support and Procore's customer support has been phenomenal for our company.

It seems like Procore is built primarily for the General Contractor. As a Subcontractor, it would be nice to see Procore adapt in the future to accommodate subcontractors better.
We have had issues when we are doing a project where the General Contractor has their own Procore account. It creates extra work due to the fact that our account and their account can't collaborate. We end up having to enter things twice, once to their account and once to our account.

Alternatives Considered

ComputerEase Construction Software

We used ComputerEase Construction Software for our project management software prior to Procore. In my opinion ComputerEase in not even in the same conversation as Procore. There were so many things that ComputerEase couldn't do that Procore can do. We still use ComputerEase as our accounting software, but we dropped the project management modules and went to Procore.

Collaboration Benefits

We have definitely benefited from the collaboration of Procore. If we get a new set of plans and upload them to Procore they are automatically distributed to the guys working in the field. Another feature that is nice is tracking items such as RFI's. You can see at any point in time who's "ball in court" the RFI is in and make sure that it keeps moving swiftly.

Return on Investment

We have noticed big-time savings with Procore. For example, you are not spending the time necessary to print and bind specs for a project. All you simply need to do is upload them Procore and they can be viewed as necessary.
We have noticed savings in office expense, primarily paper and ink. We no longer print items such as Plans, submittals, specs, RFI's, and CO's.

Goals with Procore

Ensure information is accessible and up to date
Report on incidents and inspections
Identify job site risks
Simplify employee time tracking

Procore allows you to get the most up to date information to the field personnel to ensure that they are using the up to date plans etc. Procore also allows the personnel in the field to document incidents and inspections easily. These can range from safety incidents to tests and inspections on piping systems. They can also identify and track certain job site risks. We also use Procore to track the employees time for payroll and it has simplified our payroll process. Each week the Payroll manager can simply review and approve the time for payment.

Likelihood to Recommend

Procore works very well for a General Contractor who is trying to keep everything organized and keep the whole team informed, from the subs up to the Architect. It also works well to keep things organized within a company from the office to the field. Procore is more designed for larger commercial projects and therefore it might not be cost-effective for residential or smaller projects.

Procore is worth looking into!

Modules Used

Overall Satisfaction with Procore