Contractors are no strangers to software, but a lot of traditional tools are outdated and not designed for the unique challenges we face in an era of remote and flexible work. Within the past few years, some powerful cloud-based platforms have emerged as clear leaders. Check out our top picks to keep your team competitive.
Invitation to Bid Platforms
PlanHub
PlanHub connects GCs and subcontractors in one place. As a subcontractor, you can view project invites by trade and coverage area – making it easy to see the most relevant projects for your business. If a GC invites you to bid on a job, you can do so through PlanHub for free, and partner solutions make submitting bids simple – learn how the PlanHub/STACK partnership helps you follow bidding best practices.
Project News & Market Analytics
Construction Journal
Construction Journal provides detailed job information including key contacts, bid dates and pre-bid meetings, and plans and specs so you can make an informed, quick decision on which projects to bid. See projects in the conception phase so you know what’s coming up and track projects and companies so you can receive alerts when there are updates – even from competitors.
Dodge
Find early stage construction projects for your team to bid on with Dodge Data & Analytics. You can connect with stakeholders, get alerts for project and firm changes, and keep an accurate log of documents with archiving and version control so you can focus on growing your project pipeline and your business.
Takeoff and Estimating
STACK
The leader for takeoff and estimating, STACK does everything you need in one easy-to-use tool – saving you time and mitigating risk by eliminating the need to transfer data between systems. Integrations with a variety of online plan rooms and ITB tools allow you to seamlessly sync plans, perform quick and accurate takeoffs, and then create a detailed estimate that accounts for material, labor, and even non-measured items. Add tax, overhead, and markup to ensure your bid is in line with your ideal profit margin. Then, generate a professional, branded proposal to submit your bid.
Project Management
Procore
With Procore your team has access to mobile collaboration tools they can use for real-time communication and instant information updates during the building phase. The project overview allows you to stay on top of any issues so you can see outstanding items, track steps, and speed up approvals. You can keep a directory of everyone involved in the project, manage specs, and integrate other tools like scheduling and takeoff software.
eSub
eSUB offers cloud-based project management with the ability to track and manage costs, deadlines, deliverables, and correspondence. Your team can access daily reports, RFIs, and integrate email, calendars. The platform is fully searchable with unlimited storage and role-based security levels. eSUB tracks your data and provides project intelligence your team can use to reflect and improve processes.
Production and Time Tracking
Raken
Raken allows teams to record material quantities in the field, assign cost codes, and add photos, notes, and attachments. Real-time collaboration means colleagues located anywhere can access the data immediately, so your team can set targets and monitor progress right away. Raken’s time tracking functionality lets you bulk upload crews, allocate hours to teams, and edit individual time cards.
Payment Solutions
Billd
Billd is a payment solution that eases the cash flow burden for contractors and suppliers. Contractors can order materials, suppliers receive payment when required, and contractors get 120-day payment terms that fit with their repayment cycle. You can bid more work confidently, knowing that materials can be paid off over time, reducing the pressure of cash flow challenges.
Accounting Software
Foundation Software
Foundation Software offers integrated construction job costing, and you can easily create detailed budgets and reports. Handle payroll, including prevailing wage rates, union fringes, and different trades or tax jurisdictions. Foundation is cloud-based and mobile-friendly and provides your team with graphs and charts for high-level overviews of business data.
These are just a few of the many solutions out there that can help your business get ahead of the competition. When evaluating software, be sure to look into integration options to see which platforms seamlessly connect with others to avoid introducing risk and duplicating your work.
If you’re evaluating cloud-based software for your remote team, take a look at this complete guide for remote preconstruction teams.