CoConstruct, from Buildertrend since the November 2021 acquisition, is a custom builder & remodeler software. It allows users to enter data once and have that information flow through the estimate, specs, selections, bids, proposals, change orders, and budgets, including to and from QuickBooks. In addition, CoConstruct includes scheduling and 3-way communication between builder, client, and trade partners. Everything is captured via email and texting. Login isn't required for…
$49
per month
e-automate
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
ECI Software Solutions offers e-automate, an ERP for office technology companies to automate business workflows and increase contract profitability.
N/A
Pricing
CoConstruct
e-automate
Editions & Modules
Ramp
$49
per month
Plus 5
$299
per month
Plus 10
$399
per month
Plus 15
$499
per month
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Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CoConstruct
e-automate
Free Trial
No
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
CoConstruct pricing is based on active job sites that have client access online, which means it is adaptable to builders & remodelers businesses. This means that there are an unlimited amount of projects available for estimates and proposals, so that customers only pay when they win a contract. Also built into the pricing are a myriad of services: a dedicated implementation coach, free estimate & scheduling templates based on industry best practices from successful builders and the NAHB, unlimited storage and users, software branded with the customer's logo, unlimited amount of warranty projects, and unlimited phone & email support. The vendor offers a money-back guarantee that is good for the first 90 days of service.
CoConstruct is a great program for small to mid-size residential and commercial projects. It still has a ways to go with subcontractor engagement but the groundwork is there for this to be a good program. The needs and requirements for a residential or remodel project always are different and unique, but CoConstruct is very well suited to address these needs.
If you need a system to place and track sales quotes, sales orders, purchase orders, and service calls then E-Automate is perfect. However, if you want to be able to easily bulk upload customers and contracts or if you want to be able to quickly and easily track contract profitability, customer costs, etc, then you'll likely want/need a secondary or different system to do so.
The integration of all aspects needed to run a remodeling company efficiently: project scheduling and management, financial planning and customer service. Since it’s an all-in-one suite and cloud-based, it enables our team to keep track of all our projects in real-time. Communication breakdown is the last thing we want, so being on the same page is not only desirable but makes for the best possible relationship with our clients.
Product education - We like how CoConstruct helps new users and get them to start using the tool right away. The dashboard resource materials are incredibly useful. We don’t have to spend a lot of time training new hires on the system and onboarding new clients.
I like the way I can create a sales order and right click and instantly create a purchase order for that sales order, and the process continues when I clear the PO, it releases the items on the Sales order for shipment.
Estimating is still done on third party software and pulled into the program. If you do manual takeoffs and work on a spreadsheet, this is relatively simple to do - and you could probably enter it straight into Co-Construct. However, if you use automatic takeoffs for accuracy and speed, you will end up doing a bit of double handling as you re-enter the output into Co-Construct. Ideally, you would be able to do the takeoffs within the program, entering the data only once.
Make sales invoices not require serial numbers, or be more flexible with it.
Make contract invoices have some sort of flexibility in terms of editing. Our end users complain that QuickBooks made it very easy to edit invoices, and in e-automate, for them, it is practically impossible. (I do personally understand why it has to be as it is myself, I'm just forwarding their observation.)
Make the API actually useful. I spent days looking at the functions and the functions available are not really useful.
Its really the only option for the industry that does enough of what we need for it to function . I'm not sure if there were better options out there if we would have to renew our subscription. With the addition of AI, hopefully something will be able to become more useful.
Reports are the struggle the most with the information being extracted in a way that you need to copy and paste it into a new document so some of the information is not covered
The customer support for CoConstruct is hands down the best I have ever experienced from a software company. Any time I send a support request through the help center, my questions are either acknowledged or answered and solved within 20-30 minutes. For more complicated items, they will keep in touch with me as the team works through the problem.
I often offer enhancement requests which they take seriously, and over the years, some of the changes that I have wanted to see have been implemented.
Sometimes when you need answers quickly, a voice on the phone is far better than having to wait for email support or a callback. I have found this to have delays and feel ECI e-automate should invest more in its support infrastructure.
CoConstruct has a lot of similar functionality as comopared to Buildertrend and when it came down to selecting one over the other, CoConstruct won our business because of this fact. The fact that it does almost all of the same things at a fraction of the cost of Buildertrend was ultimately the reason why we selected CoConstruct for our business needs.
I actually liked Microsoft 365 better than e-automate. The "flaws" that I identified in e-Automate did not exist in Microsoft 365. I did not select e-Automate - the software was selected several years before I started here. E-Automate does a few things better than Microsoft Dynamics - Bank Account Reconciliations and Sales Tax reporting are 2 that stand out.
E-automate has allowed us to trim down our internal workforce by not re-hiring departures. Our employees are able to do more with their time.
E-automate allows us to maintain optimal inventory levels, decreasing our inventory value by 50%. This is accomplished by using the rich analytics and reporting.
E-automates contract billing has allowed us to fine tune how we bill our customers and increase the accuracy by 30%.
