Currently, the share of cloud-based operational services (64%) in the overall market for construction management software ($10.62 billion) is on course to continue growing at a rapid rate.
Unfortunately, the majority of users of the various systems in this category who do not carefully evaluate their options based on features alone will experience failure and suffer large hidden costs as a result.
Our analysis of the leading SaaS construction management software options contains an overview of the actual pricing structures for each software option, measures of how widely each option has been adopted in the field, and a comparison of how well each option integrates with other software applications in order to identify the real operational returns on investment offered by each of the products.
SaaS Construction Management Software Pricing: Annual Contract Values (ACVs) vs. Flat-Rate Models
While it is true that the majority of software vendors will create a false sense of confidence by presenting a sales call as a way to showcase their pricing model(s), the truth is that the marketplace has become saturated with three different pricing models: annual contract value, per-user billing, and flat-rate.
The primary conditions for selecting the correct pricing model for your company's size are to ensure that you are not choosing the wrong one for your specific business needs, which will lead to financial loss due to overpaying compared to your competition.
The pricing model associated with an ACV is directly linked to the total volume of construction that your company has completed during the previous year, whereas the pricing model associated with a per-user billing system is based on how many active users are currently using the software application within your organization.
For example, a significant number of market leaders will charge an ACV ranging from 0.1% to as much as 0.2% of your total hard project costs, while this formula will consistently increase as your business expands in size relative to your ACV.
Therefore, for example, an ACV formula of 0.1% will result in a significantly larger payment to access the exact same piece of SaaS construction management software for a $25 million commercial general contractor than would be the case for a $5 million firm.
The per-user pricing model presents a fixed fee for each active user with access to the software during any given month (this appears easy to predict when creating your project budget), however, the cost can become very expensive if you need to add hundreds of external subcontractors to your system due to a large number of subcontracts required for your project.
If you are required to pay between $50.00 and $140.00 for each subcontractor who will require access to review a single document, your budget will quickly run out.
The flat-rate system pricing model offers you a fixed fee each month regardless of the size of the project or how many users will be using the software. However, the flat-rate system is becoming increasingly popular with mid-sized builders and will allow mid-sized builders to create a more predictable expense associated with using this type of software.
Hidden Costs and Getting Your Team on Board
The buyer's determination of the total cost of ownership must take into account the expenses related to migrating existing data, training employees on how to use the software, and the fact that the price of the software will rise annually between 5% and 14% when a contract is renewed.
Software will provide value to a construction company only if the field personnel are using the software while doing their jobs. The speed at which personnel can access a daily log, mark up a plan, or use a punch list is very important to how successfully they will adopt the software.
Today, most workers are using a mobile device to access those applications. Studies have shown that when mobile applications are complicated and do not have offline capabilities, the percentage of personnel adopting those applications drops significantly within the first 90 days of using the applications. When the software slows down superintendents, they will revert back to paper and text.
The integration of accounting systems and software platforms is equally essential to avoid double data entry into each system. Some accounting software platforms integrate seamlessly with QuickBooks (for smaller firms), while larger companies often require an in-depth connection to the Sage, Oracle, or SAP systems.
All economics will be lost when accounting systems do not share data accurately with project management systems, and as a result, a company cannot track the job costs of job-related projects and ultimately their profit margin.
Top SaaS Construction Management Software Options
1. Procore
To date, Procore is one of the leading software platforms that focus on commercial general contractors.
Procore operates using an annual contract value (ACV) model, charging approximately 0.1% to 0.2% of hard costs from the work done for commercial general contractors.
Customer costs range from approximately $10,000 to more than $60,000 annually. Procore currently has over two million users worldwide and is managing over $1 trillion in volume. With the exception of clients who have received a request for information (RFI) submission, all other clients should be aware of the potential for an annual renewal increase between 5% and 14%.
2. Autodesk Construction Cloud (Build)
As a leader in connecting design and building information (BIM) via mobile devices or the cloud, Autodesk Construction Cloud (Build) has an average monthly pricing of $50 to $140 per user based on the size of the client's door count and the level of access provided.
Because it provides robust integration capabilities with Revit and Navisworks, Autodesk Construction Cloud (Build) is best suited for clients that are already using Autodesk's design platform.
3. Buildertrend
Designed specifically for residential builders and remodelers, Buildertrend offers an average monthly subscription price of between $199 and $1,099 depending on the client's use of unlimited users under a single license.
Buildertrend offers exceptional client communication tools and the ability to create selection sheets and warranty tracking documents. Due to Buildertrend's dominance in the custom home market, Buildertrend is not equipped to provide the extensive project control that is often required on large commercial projects.
4. CoConstruct
CoConstruct has been designed specifically for custom home builders. CoConstruct offers a monthly price range of $399 to $999 based on the tiered plan selected.
CoConstruct provides comprehensive tracking of specifications and financials on custom builds that require extreme detail. As a result of its acquisition by Buildertrend, CoConstruct continues to focus exclusively on complex custom builds.
5. Fieldwire
Fieldwire was purchased by Hilti. Fieldwire focuses solely on coordinating all field-level work before executing it. Fieldwire has three subscription plans, but to determine your subscription plan you must contact Fieldwire directly.
Currently, there are over 1 million projects worldwide that have used Fieldwire for punch listing, marking up plans, and task assignment on construction teams in the marketplace today. Fieldwire functions well as a field application that integrates with a primary office system such as Sage or Procore.
6. JobTread
JobTread has been created for contractors in the mid-market who generate between $1 million and $20 million annually and maintains a consistent subscription price of $199 per month.
It offers a complete package of project management, estimating, and job costing; it stands out as the only company to not raise its price for 4 straight years. This is extremely attractive to cost-conscious contractors who are tired of the ever-changing price models provided by ACV companies.
7. Contractor Foreman
It is designed for smaller contractors with annual revenues below $5 million and offers pricing beginning at $49 a month with no project size increases.
It provides a very low cost for the vast amount of core management features and is highly affordable for contractors shifting away from the use of simple spreadsheets.
8. INGENIOUS.BUILD
It is intended as an all-in-one package in comparison to ACV systems. It uses transparency to offer fixed pricing with fixed fees for plan changes, making scaling much more predictable.
This SaaS construction management software allows for the integration of plans, budgets, RFIs, and schedules in a single location, making initial onboarding a much quicker process.
9. Planera
Planera is the only tool to focus exclusively on visual scheduling and collaboration in the field. This tool simplifies the complex and lengthy learning curve associated with traditional scheduling tools by providing contractor-grade scheduling at the contractor's convenience.
This platform has managed over 25 million days of schedules, providing the contractor with an easy method of checking for schedule quality and risk assessment.
10. Oracle Primavera P6
It is developed for managing enterprise-level resources across multiple heavy projects simultaneously (20 or more) with the requirement of an enterprise-specific quote for pricing.
This platform is considered the gold standard for the industry regarding complex scheduling and integrates into many of the larger enterprise resource planning software programs, but due to its complexity and learning curve, it is typically used by large contractors with significant resources.
11. Sage Intacct Construction
It is an accounting-focused business management solution that concentrates on understanding the cost of construction work and financial reporting of the builder. The annual costs of utilizing the software can be anywhere from $12,000 to $35,000+.
Many feature-rich accounting solutions can be integrated with your current systems to provide you with accurate data for managing accounts, invoices, and expenses. All of these systems use cloud technology to help ensure that you have access to all your accounting information from anywhere at any time.
12. Sage 300
Sage 300 provides a full suite of apps focused on contractor financial management. It is designed to meet the most demanding financial requirements of large construction companies with multiple project activities.
13. Unanet
Unanet supports contractors with growth and complexity levels.
Unanet provides many specialized applications for contractors that allow them to have total control over project budgets while providing users the ability to track revenue, profitability, inventory, labor, equipment, and expenses in one solution.
14. Indus
Indus offers two distinct solutions — whether you need to manage a large number of smaller projects (Indus Construction) or a large number of large projects (Indus Full Time Architect).
Indus Construction provides you with a cloud solution for tracking and sending invoices to clients after each completed phase of construction, while Indus Full Time Architect offers you cloud-computed financial forecasting and reporting as well as an automated dashboard view of all project activities.
15. Union
Union is designed specifically for large construction companies with multiple construction sites and departments to manage.
Union uses an integrated architecture that integrates invoicing, project tracking, employee timekeeping, and expense reimbursement to manage large construction companies' operations from one location.
16. Esub
This application has been designed with commercial subcontractors in mind. It offers a mobile-first approach to field management, labor tracking, and payroll integration.
The system allows companies to connect their field data directly to payroll in order to minimize duplicate entries of data and give employers highly accurate labor cost reports.
17. Projul
Small contractors that are looking for a straightforward project management system will find this tool useful. It allows users to manage leads, jobs, and invoices in one location.
The platform also places great importance on ease of use. The integrated communication tools and flexible workflows found in the Projul software make it ideal for smaller teams with minimal technical requirements.
18. Houzz Pro
Created for small remodelers and design-build firms, this platform is an affordable entry point into project management software.
The program provides users with project management capabilities along with client-facing tools, such as proposals and payment processing. It excels at managing small residential jobs, but does not provide enough depth for commercial projects.
19. Atser
This software solution caters to mid-market general contractors and provides budget tracking, document management, and project controls.
It is an extremely economical option that offers managers a full complement of tools necessary to provide custom workflows and reliable reporting tools to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
How to Set Up and Keep Using the Software
Acquisition of the software is only the first step. The next challenge of implementing a new software program will be the setup phase and ensuring the adoption of the software by the users on a long-term basis.
To effectively complete the setup phase, businesses will need to create a plan for migrating data from an existing database and will need to establish the necessary hours of training for both office employees and field workers.
If a company does not have a 30, 60, and 90-day adoption plan, usage will drop off quickly, and users will fall back into pre-adoption behaviours.
Important Technical Trends for SaaS Construction Management Software
Important technical trends shaping how construction management software (CMS) is used include:
Artificial Intelligence: 61% of all construction companies are investing in artificial intelligence (AI) tools for schedule risk analysis, cost forecasting, and document sorting, among other applications.
Efficiency Metrics: Implementing SaaS construction management software has been shown to reduce project timelines by up to 15% and improve on-time material delivery and reduce waste by approximately 10% to 12%.
System Unification: Firms are increasingly trying to unify separate project management (PM), human resource (HR), and enterprise accounting (EA) systems into a single integrated PM, HR, and EA solution visible to executives via real-time dashboards.
Although software vendors often boast about AI in their products, the value in using AI solutions currently is still found in their basic automation capabilities.
While being able to automatically classify documents and to automate cost overrun forecasting is helpful, there is still a necessity for field personnel to consistently use the CMS software on a daily basis.
Final Review and Vendor Analysis
Based on the data, there is no single SaaS CMS solution suitable for all companies. The process of selecting the right software solution requires that a company line their annual dollar value line (AVC) against the exact vendor pricing structure based on the company's business type.
For example, general contractors in the commercial building sector tend to have more success with the AVC pricing models but experience a higher renewal fee because of the amount of submittals and RFI processed by each respective contractor's team and because the software supports their submittal process and RFI workflow through larger teams.
In contrast, residential builders and mid-sized specialty contractors have to focus more on flat-rate and offline mobile solutions since a flat-rate pricing model gives these types of contractors the ability to create an adoption plan that will ensure adoption of the CMS software in the field without impacting their profit margins.
What to Ask Before You Sign the Contract
Finally, if the field personnel do not use the SaaS construction management software daily, the anticipated return on investment (ROI) on the software will not be achieved.
It is imperative that companies request specific answers from vendors about the total costs for the first year and details about the vendor's integration with accounting systems like QuickBooks and Sage along with the anticipated timeline for migration prior to signing the contract.
Ultimately, for CMS software to be successfully deployed, hard operational restrictions, accurate financial syncing, and consistent daily use of the software by superintendents in the field will drive the success of the deployment.
