InEight

Connected Data and Open API. Flexibility and customization. Sorting, organizing, filtering, views. All the things that drive me nuts about HeavyBid, InEight can do.

The vast amount of customization can be overwhelming for some. Not me though. Chief estimators simply need to create relevant views and workflows to help estimators who want a more simplistic platform.

I have been working with Hard Dollar for 10 years and it has been a very good tool to procure work in my industry. The software works great for large complicated projects, I believe we have been successful due to the Hard Dollar system. The corporation I work for is very pleased with the work we have procured using the software over the last two and a half years.

It takes a long time to learn the program and get familiar with the actions when putting an estimate together. Because of the complexity of the system our firm was hesitant about continuing to use it shortly after I started working here. Once they saw the rewards of the work we procured they have since changed their minds. I believe smaller firms would be more apt to using the software if there was a less complex version that could be offered.
Last thing I would say, the customer support was lacking two and a half years ago when I purchased the product. I used you-tube videos to help get the software set up properly but some of my questions could not be answered. it took some time but I ended up figuring it out well enough to bid work. Since I came aboard, the company has grown from roughly 33 million to 45 million in gross revenue per year.

the free form CBS structure that allows the estimate to be re-configured easily on the fly when a scope or idea changes

it allows modification in fields/cells that should not be able to be changed in that location. You should have to go to a setup screen to make these type modifications

A good amount of well integrated features that interface with many different products such as SAP, Excel, P6 etc.

Use of the plan feature in a large scale project causes the quantity tracking feature to slow down and not work as intended with certain commands

The thing that I like most is the ability to utilize the bid wizard for new job setup that allows copying resources, cost breakdown, account codes, etc. from an existing job to the new job. This cuts down substantially on the time it takes to set up a new estimate. Also, love the ability to export to scheduling and accounting software. Again, it substantially cuts down on the time to do it from scratch.

I don't think that the customer support is as responsive as it was years ago. Often times the question is one that needs an immediate answer and sometimes it takes hours to get a response.