Buildertrend Erfahrungen

Buildertrend is great--I love using the Activity Calendar and Lead Report to keep track of my follow up with my customers. I can use activity notes to remember what I discussed with customers when we last spoke, and this helps me engage in better dialogue when I follow up with customers. Our installation team loves using the project management feature to keep track of our installs and provide an easy transition from sales to installation.

The user interface is kind of clunky, especially on the app. Sometimes it is difficult to find stuff and the filters can get annoying.

Buildertrend (BT) is PM software for construction, especially residential. I used this software for project tracking, cost, and communication with the customer. This software has many different features and levels to us it. You have PO's , Change Orders, Invoicing, Blueprints, Selections, etc. Having everything you need in one place makes it easy to have a high level overview of the project and see any detail needed. BT also sync's with Quickbooks making accounting a breeze!

Setting up BT can take quite sometime and training is needed for the software. If you are tech savvy, you can probably get away without training but will be missing alot of the features that BT offers that makes it worth it. Also, when syncing with quickbooks, you can get errors and everything must match 100%. It is best if you build everything in quickbooks and then import it into BT when setting up so that you know everything is correct and the accounts are linked.

I didn't really like anything about Buildertrend except for their promises for usefulness.

That they repeatedly told me that the software could do something that it could not in fact do. After I was thousands of dollars into it with subscription fees and set up labor including countless hours on the phone with their support - we discovered that it could not in fact do what the salesperson said it could. Major waste of my time.

Clients and Sub-Contractors love it, and it nails-it with respect to the execution of task scheduling and overall project management, the most essential functions.

It feels more complicated than it needs to be. Perhaps it's a reflection of their broad and deep capabilities, but I sense and suspect that we're missing out on easily-accessible value-creation potential merely because adoption & utilization is slower than it could/should be due to not focusing on the most high-impact essentials.

The best feature in this program is communication and scheduling. Also, where other programs have to borrow from many 3rd party programs to achieve their functions, this program is able to incorporate all in one. We are using it for every step of the construction process, from sales to estimates, to job management and scheduling and invoicing. Other neat features include requesting bids to subs and vendors within the program, financing for customers, interactive and customize-able selections for customers within the program. There are other features not mentioned in this review as well. The main point is that this program offers all management needs for builders and contractors, and the software team continues to update and add features according to the requests and needs of those who are using the program.
Also, where competitors charge extra for each user, this company includes unlimited users in their package, as well as unlimited subs and vendors. Some of the functions you would have to pay extra for in other programs like scheduling for crew etc. are included in their main package. Therefore the price, and what you get for your money is way better.

This software is a little more difficult to learn than other competing programs, due to it's complexity and depth of features. At times it's a bit overwhelming, though that is to be expected with the level of depth. Also some other programs have a general appearance which makes the program more inviting and user friendly. That being said, we still moved forward with this program because of the need for more features without having to pay all the extra money.
One feature they really need to improve is their proposal builder. They have good formatting options and cost codes/ item catalogs where you can build price lists within the system, but when you add items into the estimate or create a big template, when you want to go and edit info like quantities etc. you have to go through an ocean of items that are not clearly formatted (they have a worksheet tab for editing items, and a format tab for grouping and changing layout for final appearance, but the worksheet portion is unformatted, and in the format section you cannot delete items or change them at all. Therefore I found the proposal functions to be a bit rocky to deal with. However, buildertrend users can vote on improvements for the program and so there is at least light at the end of the tunnel.

The scheduling feature is what we use most. Its nice to have all the info to our trades and managers so they are fully aware of the project, can see pictures, and have a full scope of work prior to start date. We use the estimating part of the software as well I do wish the contract section had more detail in it which I think it could if we took some extra time to develop that.

Very happy now I can have as many job starts as I would like instead of being limited. Little unhappy that I can have only 3 users and have to pay for more than 3. As the owner who does estimates I want access as a user. I also have a designer who does estimates and she needs access. I also have 2 project managers/carpenters that need access to it as well so I will be looking at having to pay for additional users on top of the price increase I have already incurred but making it unlimited job starts.

Haven't fully used BT to its full potential but we will at some point. The software is top notch I don't have really any complaints that I can think of at this time.

Buildertrend is a wonderful way to keep track of what is going on. This includes scheduling; creating, recording and sending documentation; organizing projects neatly; and staying aware of finances. It also has a very helpful Leads section, which helps me keep track of prospects from the earliest stage of when I become aware of them. In a word, I would say I appreciate most the organization which Buildertrend offers.

To be succinct, the user interface (UI) is decent but could use some improvement. The Files section in particular could use some work. I would like it to be versatile and able to navigate easily. An example of improved versatility is being able to access information in a simpler and faster way, such as Windows Explorer offers in how I see and can analyze various folders and files. An example of easy navigation is being able to tile multiple view windows so I can compare file locations across multiple Jobs to keep similar file types in the same locations, and so I could ensure my folders all have identical names across multiple Jobs

- Time tracking with overtime automatically calculated.
- Job costing with custom jobs/types. Can generate reports so you can see effectiveness of employees.
- Different views for job schedule which can be nice - calendar, agenda, gantt.
- Can store unlimited photos, videos, and documents. All are organized in folders and can be shared with the client easily.
- Can assign multiple employees to jobs as well as subcontractors and their prices and information.
- It will show your current costs, so you can see how much the job is costing the client in real time.
- Most everything is customizable and template based.
- You are assigned a specific rep from BT that will answer all questions and do live training with you - Very helpful.
- There are a fair amount of videos available online from other users who are also using the software.
- Effective for companies that deal with large jobs with many moving parts and subcontractors.
- Client portal for each job that includes notes, pictures, videos, progress, invoices, etc. This all can be hidden from clients as well and customized to how much information you are wanting to share.

- Calendar feature doesn't allow you to drag and drop jobs or scheduled items and also allow clients to view it. You can either drag and drop or have it be viewable to clients. This is fairly simple to switch back and forth, but it adds extra steps.
- App is not user friendly for employees or technicians. There are too many buttons to press.
- This software only works well for companies that handle large jobs that are long term with many elements.
- To-do's are fairly simple and not well designed. Great that you can add photos, videos, docs to each checklist item. But there's only 1 checkbox per item, no title for the item, and no way to make the to-do list required for employees.
- If you don't press "save" after uploading photos/videos or writing notes, they will disappear and you can easily erase notes. No window that reminds you to save work before moving on.
- Extremely job-based. You must chose the job and then you can view schedule, clock in, add notes, complete checklist, etc. Not easy to view all jobs at same time.
- No line items for invoices.
- Client portal is set up to be job-based and not client-based. That means every job will have to have a different username for the client to log into.
- Overtime that is automatically calculated doesn't automatically calculate a higher rate on the client's budget.
- Learning curve is overall fairly steep. As a fast learner and pretty technically able, it took me a while to figure out how the software worked. Not super intuitive.
- Not a very updated or attractive look.

Buildertrend simplifies the way to access project information data or the projects you're working on so you can view it, share it with colleagues, update it and save it, using your PC or mobile app. It has increased the organizational capabilities of the institution and enabled us to work on more than one job at the same time.

I did not find any technical problems during use, and all the information I needed was easily obtained, and they have an excellent and quick response support team that answers your inquiries politely and helps you solve your problem within a short time.