LOVE Praesto!

Pros

The staff at BaseBuilders have been so easy to work with! After spending 16 months unsuccessfully trying to implement a different software, we were leery of investing a lot of time and money into yet another product. I made an online query about price and within an hour we got a phone call. We were able to schedule a webinar for the next day and a second the following week for our owners. We were already using QuickBooks (QB) prior to the unsuccessful launch so Praesto seemed to be a natural fit for us. I created a new QB file so it would be easy to track how Praesto integrated with QB. With BaseBuilders support and the tools they have available, I was ready to go live in less than 6 weeks. It would have taken less time if I started the process before the 1st of the year and not 6 weeks after. That 6 weeks included the time it took to create the new QB file with all year-to-date transactions. The software is easy and almost fun to use, the data it provides is very useful and it all just makes sense! If we have questions or problems, the staff at BaseBuilders is super responsive! They regularly reach out to us if they haven't heard from us to make sure we are happy with the program. A huge selling point to this program was that we got all of the features WITH unlimited technical support for one very affordable price.

Cons

After 5 months, I haven't found anything I don't like about BaseBuilders or Praesto. I might be a little biased after the experience with the product we were unsuccessful in implementing, but any issues we've had have been quickly and successfully addressed.

We have been using Project Management software on the Macintosh for the last twelve years and this is simply the program "You Must Have" if you are in the A/E community. Not only is this a robust solution to Digital Project Management, but it also runs on the Macintosh by using Filemaker as the database. We have been working with BaseBuilders for over a year now and have watched this program blossom into a very robust solution that covers every aspect of a project's life from proposal to closeout. Implementation was straightforward. We where running ArchiOffice and the data generated from that program was easily transferred to the new system. BaseBuilders to this day have always been simply a phone call away and the Owner actually calls you to help you resolve problems. The program allows you to develop proposals, track time and cost and then convert that proposal into a live project. Forecasting of cash flow and the project tracking of payables and receivables has been an invaluable tool for our firm. We recently installed the latest upgrade and where happy to see a few of the upgrades we had requested from BaseBuilders to handle administrative duties during construction. Simply stated, software is only as good as the customer support behind it, and everyone writing and selling software should take a lesson or two from these guys.

I have been using the program for over a year. Admittedly, I do not have an accounting background, but it has taken me this long to feel like I am starting to understand how the program works. There are no contextual help notes; you just have to figure things out on your own as you go. For example, you just have to know somehow that you have to add and refresh any new billable rates and/or staff to each job; why should you have to do that in the first place? Seems like that database would be available automatically. It would be great to have some cancel buttons when you start to set up a job, or an invoice. If you change your mind, you have to delete it, or allow it to be created and then go back and delete it. I almost always get a quick response when I e-mail a question. Doug has been great to get on-line and show us how things work. Some training videos would be nice. We have devoted many, many hours to get the Proposal and Invoice modules to work pretty well, but we still have to remember to check every box, fill in every line, etc., or we get unpredictable results.

LOVE PRAESTO!!

Pros

I found the software to be logical and easy to use (after a learning curve, of course!). We replaced software we had used for 28 years with Praesto and Quick Books. Moving the necessary data to Quick Books is very easy - even more so after this last update. I have called for technical support several times and the attitude is always "I can help you with that." We were able to get our data imported in easily and began to use the program for basic functions. We have used it for several months now and are beginning to utilize more of the functions as we become more familiar with the software

Cons

I don't have any complaints about the product or the vendor.

Good software to track time, mileage, and project billing

Pros

It is easy to set up projects and have multiple people log their hours. Far easier than doing it manually. Makes end of the month timekeeping and billing much easier. Being able to link Praesto with Quickbooks is a huge plus.

Cons

The program tends to slow my computer down when using the software. It would be nice if the software was cloud-based rather than server-based