Procore Potential - a Novice User's Opinion
May 14, 2018
Procore Potential - a Novice User's Opinion
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Modules Used
- Project Management
Overall Satisfaction with Procore
Our company uses Procore as a project database for each construction project we are responsible for. We have used it to allow access for the owner, design team and their consultants, our own subcontractors, and others to have controlled access to the ongoing project information. It was the first site we found that allowed for all aspects of the construction management portion of a project to be captured in one location. We have not yet used it for integration into our accounting department but are not opposed to it at a future time.
- We have found Procore does a good job of allowing controlled access to various aspects of the project so the different team members can see only the types of information (RFIs, Contracts, submittals, etc.) that are relevant to them.
- Once you understand how certain tools work, Procore does a good job of organizing the information in a good way. By understanding I mean that the first time I tried to populate a template for a submittal log, many items were presented incorrect because I was not familiar with what certain topics/fields were looking for. Once I became familiar, it made it very easy to create a submittal log.
- Procore is very receptive to feedback for how to improve, or modify for your specific needs. Some items cannot be manipulated, but they do their best to find a way to provide you with what you need.
- I avoid using the Change Event portion at all costs. I found that creating Proposed Change Orders for owner changes is 1000% easier than going through additional, unnecessary layers of work in the Change Event process. I also was very upset to find that as soon as you click on a change event for a project it can NEVER be removed. I was forced to use it for the entire project. I will never use Change Events again.
- I find that creating custom reports for the various logs (RFI, submittals, proposed change orders, etc) seems to be much more difficult than it should be and is very inconsistent. The reports tool does not seem to provide as much opportunity to manipulate or customize the reports as you would like. Especially given that each project has a different owner, owner rep. and clerk. They all like to see things done a certain way so that changes job to job for us.
- Its a shame there is no schedule feature. We still need to complete schedules in another program and can only upload a PDF file to present as a schedule for a project for all to see.
- It would be great to have arrows on the photo feature. When you pin a photo to a construction plan page saved on Procore, it would help to be able to show a direction in which you were facing when the photo was taken. Especially if you have multiple photos from the same general place.
We used to use Primavera until it was bought out by Oracle. The system we had been using was becoming old and antiquated. Not knowing what changes or improvements were coming from Oracle, we sought another program to use; one that incorporated more features and information organizing. Procore has performed adequately.
As previously mentioned, the fact that all members of the construction team can have access to one point has been very important and valuable. It is very beneficial to have unlimited users be able to access a single project and the fact that there is controllable restrictions is key. For example, on most projects, it is not the owner's business how much we bought out a line item for with a subcontractor. If our bid had $50,000 and we saved money by buying out that item for $48,000. You can restrict what each person is able to see and its not their business that we saved $2,000 during buy-out. But Procore still allows us to manage those subcontractors in the same place as the full project set of info.
- Efficiency has definitely been increased with Procore. our onsite project managers have instant access to information they did not before.
- We have different people in the office working on different projects and it helps to have all projects using the same program so everyone has a knowledge of how to navigate and process information on any given project.
- The photo feature has actually allowed us to save money to satisfy certain project requirements versus the web based photography companies that charge large fees to produce the same photographic info, but wind up only maintaining that database for a short time frame.
- Ensure information is accessible and up to date
- Document job site conditions
- Report on incidents and inspections
- Track cost impacts from the field
Submittal logs and RFI logs are key for day to day information to be immediately accessible in the field. The change order system also helps to track changes, both requested by the design team and items that occur in the field as work progresses. And finally, the document section acts as a shared hard drive for all people associated with the project to document reports, inspections, etc.