UDA ConstructionSuite

Like any system that has the level of functionality that Construction Suite has there are always going to be occasional "niggles". Customer Support are always extremely polite & professional and today, when I called a couple of times to discuss some minor and one not so minor issue customer, rep was extremely helpful and contrary to what is often the case with support these days, she actually took the time to listen and understand the issues & then helped to resolve every one of them in a timely manner. The most serious of these issues was actually a limitation of QuickBooks and not a Construction Suite issue but all the same this was given the same level of attention and resolved quickly. It makes life so much easier when speaking to someone who genuinely understands the product and is not just reading off a customer service script. UDA provides a fast track to feed issues directly to their development staff.

We have been using Construction Suite for several years now and although obviously, it is not a software solution built just for us, it often feels as if it is as it is so versatile. Technology is a huge aspect of our company and a big selling feature to our clients. We could not do what we do without it.

I would have rated ease of use as 5 stars; the only reason for giving it 4 is that due to the level of functionality it can take some time to grow in to and learn how best to use the functionality ... but if it were very very easy to use that would probably man a much lower score for features & functionality.

I give it a 4 for features as one can always want more.

Pros

Reliability (up time) and functionality are extremely important as well as mirroring how we do business in terms of our estimating & scheduling model.

Cons

Some times the built in application used for creating proposals and other documents can be a bit tricky ... it's kind of like Microsoft Word but the formatting can be a little buggy at times (or perhaps fairer to say a little more prone to user error).

Advice to Others

If you have an issue call and speak to support ... they are for the most part willing and able to assist resolving most issues and they do listen to their customers in terms of incorporating extra functionality. For us, we will be staying with Construction Suite as our main back-office system and using Construction Online on a more limited basis (project logging, change orders, and product selections are the main aspects of Construction Online we use on a daily basis). These are features that are easier to work with in the Online system as well as being able to convey details to clients that way more easily ... estimating & scheduling are features we find to be less cumbersome in the desktop application (ie. Construction Suite) and we create work orders and other reports out of Construction Suite. The online reports functionality is very limited.

They might tell you that these things work, but, after spending MONTHS with UDA, I found out that these problems are deal breakers.

Within their customer service department, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. They do not use a structure such as Zendesk that so many other great companies use. Even though I was paying for priority support, there were often days going by where I could not get a call or email back to assist me with a support request or provide a tutorial on how to do something. Had I not paid extra for support, this would be acceptable. But when paying for "TotalCare" priority support, there are times when the software had me stuck, and I was stuck for a day at a time waiting for an answer. Sometimes no answer ever arrived.

I hope this helps someone avoid the pain I went through!

Pros

The beautiful user interface. It looks good. Their videos are professional. But, BEWARE: When you start using it, you'll be unpleasantly surprised... buyer beware!

Cons

It does not do what it promises to, and there are dozens of annoying quirks.
If your decision hasn't been made, let me say: DON'T DO IT! I made a serious mistake when I bought UDA. While they have a beautiful user interface, there are some serious flaws under the hood. Some are major things, and some are very minor annoyances that will drive you nuts. "You mean, I can't do THAT with UDA, but I can do it with any other basic software out there?" was a common comment running through my head.

Some examples.

1. Their spell checker creates a squiggly line to tell you that you have a misspelled word, but, doens't allow you to correct it.
2. The spell checker lets you add custom words to a dictionary, but, it can only use one dictionary at a time to check spelling. So the default dictionary gets used, and your custom words still show up as being spelled wrong!
3. You can't select-copy addresses, in order to paste them somewhere else.
4. Using duplexing on my printer doesn't work right. It works for every other software I own, but not in UDA.
5. There is a bug in the WIP date range that doesn't pull accurate data.
6. "Options" in the estimate show only cost, not margin. So if you show your customer that report, you are revealing cost info, not selling price!!
7. You can't import a PDF into bid notes, even though the premise of UDA is to try to make it a single repository for all your information.

Advice to Others

8. You can't use the arrow key to browse photos in UDA. You need to close, and click into the next one. No inuitive functionality.
9. The estimating module separates material and labor, in ways that create a very confusing Scope of Work. You need to select the labor item from your database, then separately select the material from your database. You end up with two line items in your Scope of WOrk for the same thing. Instead of writing, "Supply and Install a new window" you have "Supply a new window" and then "Install a new window." It's hard for my estimator, and confusing for my client.
10. UDA will WREAK HAVOC on your contacts in Outlook.
11. It does a terrible job of managing husband/wife or partner/partner situations. You can't mail merge them properly, or, you get forced into combining their contact into into a single contact-- and then how do you know whether the cell phone is his or hers???
12. There is no good way to credit design fees against the construction contract, if you happen to use that paradigm for your contracts.
13. There is no way to filter contracts by their date created. So, how do you find your newest contacts for entering them into something such as Constant Contact?
14. If you try to use integration of Quickbooks and UDA, your ITEMS list in QB will either get expanded to hundreds or even THOUSANDS of items... or, your PO's in QB will get created in a summary form such that they are virtually meaningless.