Fieldwire vs. HCSS

Fieldwire is excellent for anyone who needs to view and consult drawings as part of their job. Anyone on a construction site can benefit from using Fieldwire.

Incentivized

Our operation uses several pieces of what we call specialty equipment (not used every day on every job). The foreman when finished will give a location of where this equipment is left, this many times can be very vague and lead to a lowboy driver trying to block around to find the piece or driving down a street he cannot get turned around in. With the GPS devices, the driver can pinpoint exactly where the unit is and if he has room to turn around at that location.

Incentivized

• Quality control, tagging a picture on the drawings is particularly helpful.
• Assigning tasks to field personnel.
• Having all pertinent files instantly accessible for review from the field.

Incentivized

• #1 is support! HCSS is by far the best software support of any product we have ever used. Unlike most software companies HCSS utilizes their support calls to help upgrade their software. When you here them tell you that they will write down a particular issue you come across during a support call if they can't help you then and there they will research and get an answer to you extremely fast. If the software will not do it, you can bet there is a good chance it will be on the list of enhancements you will see come out in the near future.
• Estimating software is very extensive. Their software is capable of handling the smallest estimate all the way to the largest joint venture estimate. It has advanced features that make it extremely useful for analyzing job materials, subcontractors etc.
• HeavyJob is an extremely useful tool for the field to keep the office up to date with job costs. Everything is at the Foreman's fingertips on Tablets to allow the information from the field to get uploaded to HeavyJob manager which then can export to accounting. We are also able to give our Foreman the ability to deal with the Daily and weekly safety needs (Tailgate Meetings, incident Investigation, observations etc.) right on the Tablets thru HeavyJob.

• The software can freeze sometimes.
• The mobile app does not work well when you have low cell service.
• No option to export old versions of prints.

Incentivized

• All their apps are on mobile devices. Although there is not a clear company policy on Android versus iPhone. Updates for features lag behind on Android. Some apps are exclusive to one platform making it hard to fully interconnect all programs.

I use this all the time for my field measurements. But sometimes when I am working offline and upload it to cloud after coming to office, the tags get messed up. Some lines I drew at plan gets missing

Incentivized

As mentioned, user interface appears messy and complicated at initial onset. Training is necessary but becomes easy to maneuver through after solid daily use.

Incentivized

They have always been very responsive to any changes that we have asked for. We have never had a technical issue.

Incentivized

The people at HCSS who I interact with, whether it is a support technician, product manager, or the HCSS President, Mike Rydin, are as passionate at making construction management for heavy civil contractors a valuable experience as I am. They want to get us emphatic, project management addicted people in to tell them why their product is not working, and work with us to design the software to work for us. HCSS is good for the heavy civil contractor; it is going to help us to manage our projects with precision, accuracy, and accountability.

It is critical to select the right team to take to HCSS for implementation. They take very good care of you and your team and listen to all of your concerns. During implantation we often discuss wants and needs with VPs and Officers as they pass through to check on our progress.

Fieldwire for sure has better mobile usage, however, Smartsheet has better organization and charts. Ideally using both software together would help us achieve our goals and what we needed but the cost to run both software will cost you more than what other larger project management software competitors would charge for the same service.

Incentivized

We researched other software companies but none provided the depth of support and knowledge that HCSS brought to the table. HCSS is also always growing and listening to its customers. Customer support seems to remain the backbone of the company that is always striving to grow with the industry.

• We have been able to save our team so much time during the data organization and download phase, allowing more time for technical analysis.
• We have saved our clients a lot of money by efficiently documenting deficiencies and seamlessly moving from one phase to the next without doubling work or losing data.

Incentivized

• The biggest ROI for us was the ease of adoption by field personnel.

Incentivized