ConstructionOnline

Pros

I am a new user of this kind of software. A few months ago I did not even know that something like this existed. It has opened a whole new world for me and I am blown away by what this software can do. We demo'ed a few competing products before making a choice and it was the wide range of features at the most competitive price that sold us on ConstructionOnline. I especially like the messaging feature which is basically an email system dedicated to one specific project.

Cons

There is nothing I really dislike about ConstructionOnline, there are just some features I do not use as they do not meet my needs as a commercial general contractor. For example, I do not use Estimating and Change Orders as they seem to be less robust than some of the other software products. These features seem to be geared more towards the residential market. However, I realize it is hard to be everything for everyone.

A feature, I think, that would be nice would be the ability to sign documents electronically. Maybe one can do it through Redline; if so, I have not been able to figure it out yet.

As a general contractor one has to collect submittal packages from vendors and subcontractors, review them, and then attach a separate sheet to the package, that contains your stamp of approval/comments/signature on it, before you forward the submittal package on to the architect/engineer for review. On this submittal sheet there is space for the different reviewers to add their stamps as well. It would be nice if ConstructionOnline could generate this submittal sheet that you can attach to submittal packages sent to you. Currently, I generate the submittal sheet in another project management program, print it, place my stamp on it, sign it, scan it back into my computer, upload it to a pdf editor, add it to the submittal package file, and then upload the combined file to ConstructionOnline. It would be nice if you could do it all in ConstructionOnline.

Pros

installation was as simple as clicking a link. Very user friendly and easy to install. Technical support is available but I never used it because I had no issues. I was able to do everything myself.

Cons

I have not identified any issues. I am able to manage my projects from beginning to end. This is exactly what I needed.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to ConstructionOnline

Pros

Estimation portion is good. Job costing is fair.

Cons

It does not have the ability to provide clients with add/alternate pricing. Seems like a very basic feature that most construction companies are asked to provide. This one slipped by us through all the demo's and we have been frustrated for over a year with this. Have to manually do work arounds.

Also we are a commercial construction company that does about 300 jobs a year. The software does not even have the ability to assign each project a job #. With as many jobs going on, we have to be able to cost every purchase and we do that using job #'s and PO#'s. We are manually assigning each job a number.

These are just two of the larger misses on this software.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing ConstructionOnline

Reasons for Switching to ConstructionOnline

Pros

Our primarily use for Construction Online is estimating, scheduling and job costing, and these features have been integral to our success as a company. We can easily build budgets for our clients, schedule projects and then track the job costing throughout the duration of the project. Everything can be built with templates which saves numerous hours and the real time job costing helps guides decisions throughout the build. The scheduling has allowed our project managers to plan well in advance which has created a smooth construction process.

Cons

The documents which can be autogenerated are great but I have found it quite tough to customize them to a format which can be sent directly to our clients or trade partners. This is more of just a personal preference rather than a drawback to the product.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing ConstructionOnline

Switched From

Reasons for Switching to ConstructionOnline

Pros

Organization, flexibility, ease in creating catalogues, ease in entering estimates

Cons

Finding a clients phone number when in the opportunity is frustrating. Also, there are not enough fields to enter phone numbers and emails.