SmartBid Reviews & Insights

Score8.3 out of 10

16 Reviews and Ratings

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for SmartBid are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

Efficient Document Management: Users have praised SmartBid for its excellent document management capabilities. Many reviewers have found it convenient to store and manage project-related documents using the software. They appreciate how it provides a centralized location for all their documentation needs, making it easy to control the exchange of documents with customers and subcontractors.

Streamlined Bid Process: SmartBid offers a streamlined bid process that users find valuable. Multiple reviewers have mentioned that they can easily set up and manage job solicitations, determining who receives invitations to bid. The software allows them to keep detailed notes on contacts made and track if recipients have downloaded and reviewed the documents. Additionally, users appreciate being able to add a confidentiality agreement clause within SmartBid, eliminating the need for separate NDA forms.

Effective Communication: Users highly value SmartBid's communication features. Several reviewers have highlighted the ability to distribute bid documents easily through SmartBid as a significant advantage. They find it beneficial in simplifying the communication process with subcontractors during bidding processes. Furthermore, users appreciate being able to communicate with a large number of people at once through SmartBid's email system, ensuring efficient and timely communication.

Reviews

6 Reviews

SmartBid: speeding up and increasing the efficiency of projects

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

November 19, 2022

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use SmartBid both for educational purposes in Management engineering courses at the University where I work and in managing complex restoration works for historic buildings. In particular, SmartBid is very useful in managing complex construction sites in all the different phases of intervention (from diagnostics to conservation). We use the free version of the software with our students. SmartBid helps us to save precious time. It is also handy software to store working documents and share them with all workers.

Pros

SmartBid is awesome in storing documents.
Managing the different intervention phases.
It allows you to easily control the exchange of all the documentation with all customers and sub-contractors.

Cons

The graphical interface needs improvements to make it easier to use.
Some operations are not fully automated.
Currently, it is impossible to track what all users modify. User monitoring is the key, considering that we work with complex historic buildings.

Likelihood to Recommend

SmartBid is also very useful for conducting sub-contracting analysis and management simulations in the didactic field. The procedures for sharing documents are helpful, but the graphic can be improved. Many forms can be pre-filled. This helps a lot in saving time and money! SmartBid is great for exporting and/or sending single or mass emails. However, as mentioned, it would be useful to simplify some pre-construction processes and improve the overall communication

Verified User

Professional (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

SmartBid is True to the Name!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

February 7, 2020

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SmartBid is used by our estimators, project managers, and general superintendents. As an estimator, I use SmartBid to view new opportunities and track my current open bids. Our project managers and superintendents use the software to view change orders, punch lists, and other tasks after we've been awarded a project from the general contractor.

Pros

Extremely User-Friendly
Constant Reminders

Cons

New Opportunities
GC Correspondence

Likelihood to Recommend

SmartBid is excellent for any subcontractor that is receiving and all of their information from an awarded general contractor. It does a great job of posting addenda, RFI responses, and other changes throughout the bid process, so you are never out of the loop. It might not be as useful to a subcontractor that hasn't been invited to bid on a project yet.

Verified User

Analyst (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

SmartBid is a smart choice

Rating: 7 out of 10

Incentivized

December 27, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Currently, we use SmartBid to manage multiple estimating projects. My responsibilities fall more towards an administrative role with some estimating. As a subcontractor, we receive a high volume of invites from multiple contractors. Having access to this program allows multiple estimators to be involved across our different office locations.

Pros

Email alerts for invites, withdraws, addendum and special notes.
Quickly respond bidding/unsure/not bidding.

Cons

Ability to download all without having to be a zip file.
Provide a submittal board for questions and answers.

Likelihood to Recommend

I can’t speak for a general contractor, but I can say the general contractors that send invites to us (who use this program) tend to win a good number of jobs. I believe there are other features for general contractors that we do not have access to as a subcontractor. However, it is free for us to use once we’ve been invited and it does help us manage estimates from multiple contractors.

Matthew Smith

Estimator and Project Manager in Corporate at Century Exteriors Inc. (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

View profile

SmartBid is the best tool (and only one I've used) for bid distribution

Rating: 7 out of 10

Incentivized

April 17, 2018

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

It is primarily used by our estimating department to send out invitations to bidders.

Pros

It stores the bid documents all in one place.
Easy way to effectively communicate with a large number of people at once.
The emails are pretty instantaneous when they get sent out.

Cons

The interface seems dated.
Most subcontractors can figure out how to get the documents, but very few actually respond to the emails as to whether or not they will be bidding.

Likelihood to Recommend

For a publicly bid project, it is a great way to issue documents and scope sheets to all of the bidders in our database.

Verified User

Project Manager in Professional Services (51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

SmartBid is Smart

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

December 13, 2016

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

It is being used across the whole organization by all of the estimating departments.

It is a great way to manage bid solicitations. It is very easy to send large amounts of data (in the form of drawings and specs) to a large audience, and then to manage and oversee what that audience does with the data. Are they looking at the drawings? Are they even opening your emails? Etc.

Pros

It's very easy to set up a job and manage who receives solicitations. You can also keep detailed notes on who've you contacted and see if they're actually downloading and reviewing the documents.
You can add a confidentiality agreement clause which they must accept before accessing the documents. It then stores this information if it ever needs to be accessed. This is much cleaner and easier then sending out a NDA form and having the subcontractor return it before actually sending drawings/docs.
You can send Invitations to Bid and set it up to continue sending these ITB's until the subcontractor responds. However, this can also be a negative point because once you set up a delayed ITB, it doesn't update as the subcontractors view and respond to the ITB's. So if a sub is "Not Responded" and you set up a delayed ITB to fire off every day for 5 days, and the sub responds after day 2, that sub will continue to receive ITB's for all 5 days.
Uploading drawings is quick and easy. It's especially convenient if you link to one of your cloud services such as Egnyte, Google Drive, etc.
The search tools are quick and easy and often very accessible from any page.

Cons

REPORTING REPORTING REPORTING!!! The reporting functions in SmartBidNet are its weakest link. I just had a co-worker ask how to get a certain report (I get this question often) and I simply laughed as I've been trying to resolve this issue with SmartBidNet for years. After numerous requests for a feature enhancement regarding reporting (and I'm very detailed in what needs to change), I have seen ZERO progress. I finally just created my own Excel workbook which creates a usable report after extracting info from worthless report put out by the current system.
Once you set up a delayed ITB, it doesn't update as the subcontractors view and respond to the ITBs. So if a sub is "Not Responded" and you set up a delayed ITB to fire off every day for 5 days, and the sub responds after day 2, that sub will continue to receive ITBs for all 5 days.
The file size limit to upload is about 350 MB. If I ever want to upload a model, they are often larger than 350 MB and it requires that I contact the SmartBidNet support staff and SOMETIMES they will make an exception to upload these larger files. With SmartBidNet being all about technology, it seems strange that they wouldn't cater to 3D models being uploaded as this is the future of the construction industry.

Likelihood to Recommend

As mentioned before in some of the previous questions, the confidentiality agreement feature is extremely helpful. I have worked on several projects where it's so early in the design phase that the documents are considered confidential and we are required to get a signed NDA from every person who sees the documents. This feature makes it extremely painless. SmartBidNet is less appropriate if you're just doing a quick cost exercise where you might not need to contact several subs. It's easier to just use email and a cloud sharing program like Box or Egnyte.

Verified User

Professional (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

SmartBidNet for easier bidding process

Rating: 7 out of 10

Incentivized

August 31, 2016

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

SmartBidNet is used by my employer to solicit bids from subcontractors. We use it to distribute plans and specs, track accepted/declined to bid and subcontractor ratings. We record notes for every conversation which makes it easy to see what I or another employee discussed with a subcontractor.

Pros

Tracking accepted/declined subcontractors.
Easily distribute bid documents to subcontractors.
Take and track notes for conversations with subcontractors during the bidding process.
Track notes on company performance and past bidding record.

Cons

We have seen intermittent problems with notes disappearing.
Ability to have more than one project bidding open at the same time/on multiple windows.
Mobile apps.

Likelihood to Recommend

It's a great tool for bidding but that is all. There is no project management integration so you need a separate program.

Verified User

Project Manager in Product Management (51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

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SmartBid is Smart

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

December 13, 2016

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros

It's very easy to set up a job and manage who receives solicitations. You can also keep detailed notes on who've you contacted and see if they're actually downloading and reviewing the documents.
You can add a confidentiality agreement clause which they must accept before accessing the documents. It then stores this information if it ever needs to be accessed. This is much cleaner and easier then sending out a NDA form and having the subcontractor return it before actually sending drawings/docs.
You can send Invitations to Bid and set it up to continue sending these ITB's until the subcontractor responds. However, this can also be a negative point because once you set up a delayed ITB, it doesn't update as the subcontractors view and respond to the ITB's. So if a sub is "Not Responded" and you set up a delayed ITB to fire off every day for 5 days, and the sub responds after day 2, that sub will continue to receive ITB's for all 5 days.
Uploading drawings is quick and easy. It's especially convenient if you link to one of your cloud services such as Egnyte, Google Drive, etc.
The search tools are quick and easy and often very accessible from any page.

Cons

REPORTING REPORTING REPORTING!!! The reporting functions in SmartBidNet are its weakest link. I just had a co-worker ask how to get a certain report (I get this question often) and I simply laughed as I've been trying to resolve this issue with SmartBidNet for years. After numerous requests for a feature enhancement regarding reporting (and I'm very detailed in what needs to change), I have seen ZERO progress. I finally just created my own Excel workbook which creates a usable report after extracting info from worthless report put out by the current system.
Once you set up a delayed ITB, it doesn't update as the subcontractors view and respond to the ITBs. So if a sub is "Not Responded" and you set up a delayed ITB to fire off every day for 5 days, and the sub responds after day 2, that sub will continue to receive ITBs for all 5 days.
The file size limit to upload is about 350 MB. If I ever want to upload a model, they are often larger than 350 MB and it requires that I contact the SmartBidNet support staff and SOMETIMES they will make an exception to upload these larger files. With SmartBidNet being all about technology, it seems strange that they wouldn't cater to 3D models being uploaded as this is the future of the construction industry.

Likelihood to Recommend

Verified User

Professional (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience