10 The Best Construction PM Software Shortlist
Here's my pick of the 10 best software from the 33 tools reviewed.
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With so many different construction project management solutions available, figuring out which is right for you is tough. You know you want to move from a desktop-based software program to an online project management software but need to figure out which tool is best. I've got you! In this post I'll help make your choice easy, sharing my personal experiences on dozens of different construction-related projects with large teams, with my picks of the best online construction project management software.
What is online construction project management software?
Online construction project management software is a specialized cloud-based tool to help contractors, developers, engineering firms, and facilities management firms, unify their models and data from a project's very beginnings through to the ongoing maintenance of the building system. It incorporates various features to assist construction project managers and teams such as resource management, project scheduling, budget management, document control, collaboration, and resource allocation to help you deliver construction projects on time, within budget, and in compliance with quality standards and regulatory requirements.
The software allows for better coordination among different teams and subcontractors, reducing the risk of errors and delays, and ultimately enhancing collaboration, communication, and overall project control.
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Smartsheet
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.4 -
Wrike
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.2 -
monday.com
This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.6
Overviews Of The 10 Best Online Construction Project Management Software
Here’s my take on each online PM tool and why it’s useful. I focused mostly on its use case for construction management companies and general contractors, but these are often in use among developers, renovators, and specialty contractors, too.
Wrike is a versatile work management platform designed to facilitate collaboration and project management across various teams and industries. Its unique selling point is the comprehensive range of features and integrations it offers, including customizable workspaces, live editing for real-time collaboration, built-in proofing and approval features, and dynamic reporting for project performance insights. These capabilities position Wrike as a suitable tool for teams seeking to manage projects effectively, collaborate efficiently, and maintain control over data security and resource allocation.
I selected Wrike as the online construction project management software due to its comprehensive suite of project management tools and its user-friendly interface that facilitates real-time collaboration. What distinguishes Wrike is its centralized approach to project management, which allows for enhanced visibility and efficient management of project portfolios through various views, including Gantt charts, Kanban boards, and customizable dashboards.
One standout feature is the customizability of the platform. If categories like 'task' and 'project' don't quite fit your team's workflow, you can update it to a custom work type. Another great feature is the depth of detail with which you can outline projects and tasks. Task lists, subtasks, in-task discussions, and more ensure no detail goes undocumented.
Integrations include Microsoft Suite, Google Workspace, Asana, Basecamp, Dropbox, Salesforce, HubSpot, Jira, Slack, Shopify, and hundreds more.
Smartsheet is a cloud-based platform that helps you manage projects, automate workflows, and collaborate with your team. It's designed to simplify work processes across various industries, including construction.
Smartsheet offers customizable templates tailored for construction projects, allowing you to efficiently plan and schedule tasks specific to your needs. These templates help you manage timelines, assign responsibilities, and monitor progress, ensuring your projects stay on track.
Additionally, Smartsheet's centralized document management system lets you store and access all project-related files in one place. This feature ensures that your team can easily find and share important documents, reducing the risk of miscommunication and keeping everyone aligned.
Other features include automated workflows that help you set up rules to handle repetitive tasks, saving time and reducing errors. The platform also offers robust reporting tools. Integrations include Power BI, Tableau, Adobe Creative Cloud, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365, ServiceNow, Jira, Slack, Microsoft Teams, DocuSign, Zapier, and UiPath.
Contractor Foreman is a comprehensive online construction management software that streamlines the workflows of construction project managers, contractors, site supervisors, and team members. It's a cloud-based platform that offers a range of tools including scheduling, budget tracking, and time tracking to manage both projects and teams.
Team management tools include time tracking, scheduling, GPS location tracking, and reporting. Project managers and company leaders can keep track of the time spent on each project and task, and send field teams out to sites based on availability and proximity. The software also has document management capabilities, so users can create, share, and store project-related documents like drawings, plans, and contracts. Its search function allows users to filter through documents by category, title, or keyword, helping them find what they're looking for quickly.
Safety management tools are included to help construction managers ensure that their job sites comply with safety regulations and minimize the risks of accidents or injuries. Inspection forms, checklists, and incident reports can all be managed in the software. The software also manages equipment rentals, tracks inventory, and schedules digital work orders.
Integrations with other apps like QuickBooks, WePay, Outlook 365, Google Calendar, CompanyCam, Gusto, and Angi Leads are available. You can also use a paid Zapier account to unlock additional software integrations. A free 30-day trial is available, and paid plans start at $49 per month, billed annually.
Hub Planner software is a project and resource management software with employee scheduling, time tracking, and financial tracking tools. It allows you to not only plan your projects, but also allocate the best resources according to skills, capacity, and schedules. Team members can also track their time in the software, helping you keep clear records of hours worked and forecast future resource needs.
In addition to managing your people and projects, you can also keep track of project financials in the platform. Real-time costs are displayed alongside your projects, helping you track progress and avoid overspending. The software's reporting tools let you monitor things like resource utilization, individual projects, and budgets.
You can integrate the platform with other tools either via the API or with a paid Zapier account.
Pricing starts at $7 per user per month when billed annually, and a 14-day free trial is available.
One of the biggest challenges faced by construction companies is to have everybody reading from the same page. JobNimbus is designed to mitigate this challenge and ensure that all teams have a central place where they can discuss and determine the details of any project. With the correct information, teams can move faster because they don’t have to wait for someone to clarify something.
The best thing about JobNimbus is that the software is designed specifically for the construction industry. But aren’t they all? If you look at most of the software targeting the construction industry, you will notice that they are made to work in all sectors. This means that you have to do much tweaking and compromising to get the software to work for your construction business. With JobNimbus, you don’t have this problem.
JobNimbus integrates with Quickbooks, Beacon, EagleView, SalesRabbit, CompanyCam, Google Calendar, Accurence, naturalForms, Podium, and Xactware. You can also connect to hundreds of apps with a paid plan through Zapier. This makes them an excellent choice for integrations.
JobNimbus offers customized packages and a 14-day free trial.
Anyone who doubts the developers of Procore when they say that their software is a great construction management software possibly hasn’t seen the tool’s various modules. The software has specific modules designed for the construction company owner, general contractor, or specialty contractor. This means that the tool doesn’t attempt to lump everyone into the same group hoping that they would find some features that work for them.
Procore is an excellent online construction management solution because it comes with tools covering every aspect of the construction business. These tools include project management, project financials, quality and safety, design coordination, invoice management, and bid management.
Procore integrates with Bluebeam, Microsoft Project, Oracle Primavera, Sage 100, Smartsheets, Smartvid.io, Zoom, and another 300 apps.
Procore offers an unlimited user plan based on your company profile. You can contact the company for a free demo.
The developers of TopBuilder indicate that their software solution is designed for home builders, real estate professionals, new home sales agents, and general contractors. TopBuilder helps these professionals to accomplish preconstruction, sales, and marketing tasks by taking care of the repetitive admin tasks.
One of the best TopBuilder features is that it allows you to track your bids. This makes the software an excellent tool for subcontractors who want to ensure that they keep tabs on the projects they are bidding for, meet project scheduling requirements, and keep job costs low, in the process improving the bottom line. Another feature that makes this an excellent tool for subcontractors is that it provides monthly revenue cash projections.
TopBuilder integrates with BDX, Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, Mark Systems, and AtlasRTX.
TopBuilder costs from $35/user/month and offers a free demo.
CrewTracks helps teams in the construction industry manage field crews digitally. Its scheduling and dispatch features make it possible to communicate with teams in the field and collect administrative data. Using this tool, you can also assign jobs to team leaders and crews.
One feature that I find extremely useful with this tool is the mobile app that facilitates information sharing. Using the app, crews can clock in for work and report injuries. If you have tasks that need to be monitored, you can use the app’s GPS feature. Added to this, the application provides details like the weather and stores job photos and notes.
CrewTracks integrates with accounting software tools, including QuickBooks, and other software such as CompuEase, Foundation, and Sage 300cloud.
CrewTracks costs from $10-25/person/month, depending on the features you need. They offer a free demo to help you decide.
It’s easy for a software provider to promise “solutions for every project.” The challenge comes in living up to this promise. When you look at the various modules available with 123Worx, it’s clear that the software lives up to the promise. It provides a complete suite of modules for a construction business, including business management, project management, collaboration management, and productivity and management tools.
123Worx deserves to be on any top list because it is a comprehensive tool. The tool helps teams accomplish any task in the construction industry you can think of: request for information (RFI), submittals, estimating, punch lists, change order management, CRM, and project management. Users can fully customize the software to meet the specific needs of any business.
123Worx integrates with Microsoft 365, Gmail, Quickbooks Accountant, Calendly, SendGrid, and Google Maps. 123Worx Enterprise boasts integration with your company’s existing ERP system using industry-standard API as well as other off-the-shelf apps, making it a competitive choice between their offerings.
123Worx offers multiple pricing plans, and you will need to contact the company to find out what each plan costs. You can also request a free demo.
When you look at Yookkan’s ease of use, it becomes clear that the tool is designed for individuals that are new to construction project management. The tool’s automated Gantt chart allows you to view key actions, dates, and milestones. The automated project summary dashboards help you determine how much progress individuals and groups have made, and track time allocated, costs, and risks.
One of the most useful Yookkan features is multiple tracking, available on the multitracking dashboard. The multitracking dashboard makes it easier to place each project within the context of the bigger picture and determine what needs to be prioritized. Added to this, you can use this tool for planning meetings and managing risks.
Yookkan integrates with Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, and iCal.
Yookkan costs from $6/user/month and offers a free version as well as a free trial of all the paid plans.
Summary Chart
You can use the following chart to find the best online construction PM tool for your needs:
Tool | Best For | Trial Info | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Best for custom workflows | Freemium version available | From $10/user/month (min of 2 seats) | Website | |
2 | Best for customizable project templates | 30-day free trial | From $9/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
3 | Best with team and document management tools | 30-day free trial available | From $49/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
4 | Best for project and resource management in one place | 14-day free trial + free demo available | From $7/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
5 | Best for integrations | 14-day free trial | From $25/user/month (billed annually) | Website | |
6 | Best for connecting stakeholders with the project owner | Free demo available | Pricing upon request | Website | |
7 | Best for subcontractors | Free demo | From $35/user/month | Website | |
8 | Best for construction project human resources management | Free demo | From $10-25/person/month | Website | |
9 | Best enterprise-grade construction management tool | Free demo | Website | ||
10 | Best free construction project management software | Free trial available | From $6/user/month | Website |
Other Online Construction PM Software Options
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list, but they’re still great tool, so I included them here for you to check out:
- The Power Tools
For connecting the construction accounting team with other project teams
- Neo Intelligence
Digital construction site diary
- Fieldwire
For generating construction project reports
- monday.com
For project timeline visualizations
- ProjectManager
For real-time project tracking
- Jobber
For simplifying construction-related administrative tasks
- Projectworks
For its robust reporting features
- Bridgit Bench
For construction project workforce planning
- InEight
For improving construction project staff utilization
- BuildBook
For construction business sales and marketing teams
- Vizzn
For construction project dispatch and schedulin
- Revizto
For construction project issue tracking
- ServiceTitan
For HVAC, plumbing, and electrical firms
- Buildertrend
For managing complex construction projects
- Houzz Pro
For remodelers
- Autodesk Construction Cloud
IOs and Android apps
- CoConstruct
For home builders
- eSUB
For field reporting and tracking
- ProjectSight
For job costing, budget, and cost management
- Spectrum
For document and drawing management
- Bosch RefinemySite
For teams following the lean principle
- RedTeam
For managing construction documents and contracts
- LaborChart
For managing the employee database
Selection Criteria For Online Construction PM Tools
Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria:
Usability: I looked for PM software that's not only useful for construction but also available on multiple devices and through mobile apps. This is because PM software is increasingly being used around site, with project managers and coordinators bringing a tablet to different areas of the site to compare the build progress with the plan and make notes.
Integrations: Is it easy to connect with other tools? Any pre-built integrations? Integrations ensure that I can incorporate the tool that I have selected into other tools I already use, like accounting software, in case the tool doesn’t have all the features I need.
Value for $: How appropriate is the price for the features, capabilities, and use case? Is pricing clear, transparent, and flexible? I look for a product that assists construction companies in achieving more while doing less.
Key Features
When looking for construction management software, these are the features I consider a must:
- Document management and storage: Every construction project involves a massive collection of documents shared by the project owner, preconstruction teams, field teams, and other interested parties. Therefore, I need a tool that can help me store and retrieve documents pertaining to the entire project easily.
- Submittals: An architect always wants to ensure that the construction process uses the correct products and materials. Consequently, contractors submit information about materials and equipment they will use before purchasing them. A good tool would have functionality facilitating these submittals.
- Workload Assignments: In the project life cycle, it’s vital to be clear about who is doing what and who did what. This ensures that when I meet challenges or issues that need to be addressed, I know whom to go to. Thus, I need a task management feature that helps me manage workflows.
- Tracking: I want a tool that provides daily logs to track project progress in real-time.
- Change orders requests: This function allows various parties involved in the project to submit proposed changes to the latest project plan.
- Reporting: This ensures that I have a summary of what is happening in different parts of the project. A tool with this feature can assist you in determining where resources are being used and where they are needed most.
- Team Collaboration: In construction projects, various stakeholders need to communicate and request information or additional details. I am looking for a tool that facilitates collaboration in a single place.
What Do You Think?
Have you used any of the construction project management software we feature above in your construction project? If so, how did the tool improve your processes, or what did you feel was lacking?
Please share your thoughts in the comments so other PMs can learn from your experience.