good learning experience

Good need a nerd to help with it I'm computer savvy myself but hold up..

Pros

Fast software no bugs it seems. Ready to from the box easy setup . Booted all old info from hard drive USB stick.esy.

Cons

Little cosly not for the beginner it seems hard trouble reading instructions following the screen. Help

We are a commercial Plumbing Firm specializing in heavy industrial piping, hydronic and water/wastewater treatment plants. We offer in-house design CAD work and dedicated staff. Maxwell is the only estimating software in use at this facility. There are others out there, but thus far, Maxwell appears to be the best value for the dollar. I have worked for two (2) previous plumbing/heating firms, both used Maxwell, although earlier versions. We are currently using Version 9.3.0.2334, Service Pack 3. This was obtained the last time we upgraded - last year, I believe. The upgrade usually goes quickly, a couple hours at most unless issues are encountered. I would have to state that most upgrades have some type of issue that either requires a "patch" or technical support. Customer support is for the most part, excellent - response time(s) could be improved. As with all products, there are some technical support people that are much better than others. I feel that past versions of Maxwell are more concerned w/keeping up with the competition than what the actual users want. My personal opinion is that the Maxwell product is an excellent product for it's purpose - a quick, accurate way to obtain a bid. Just stick with this ideology, and you will be just fine. Trying to make Maxwell into something else is a waste of time and effort. I learned Maxwell some years ago while working for Western Mechanical Service, Inc. - in just a day or two I was up and running. I have trained a number of personnel over the years - the same can be said today. If anything, Maxwell is a little more straightforward and easier to use than back in 2001. For the most part, customer support is excellent. As with any product, there are some support staff that are more knowledgeable than others. There have been issues that have taken more time to address than others - however, if one is willing to work together the problems can be solved. One particular issue that was causing us "section corrupted" errors was solved by virtue of just watching how the program responded and was finally traced to the copying of "takeoff notes"; once this practice was eliminated, the "corruption" issue disappeared. I was instrumental in this discovery and was happy to help in this regard. Since the offering of On-Screen Takeoff, quick, accurate takeoff's can be done w/o hard-copy drawings. There are situations where this is most advantageous, as some projects require a "quick-turn" to achieve the bid in time. Although "phantom" pick points still plague OST, it is still a viable option in these situations or when printas are "unscaled" or hard copy prints are not feasable.

Wasn't fast enough for me

Pros

I feel like this product was straightforward. It wasn't too difficult to follow the path of where and what you should be doing.

Cons

The product I was using was on a VPN so it was beyond slow. I didn't get all the functionality out of it I should have.

Collaborative Software Works Great for RFIs and Submittals

Pros

We've been using Team for over a year now for RFIs, submittals and daily reports. As a project manager/project engineer for the general contractor, I think Team is a huge improvement from using Vista in the past. We have several subcontractors that are uploading submittals and inputting RFIs directly into Team, but I've found that most subs will still use email to transmit these documents. Even if the subcontractor does not use Team for uploading, I like the Team email reminders that are sent out to subcontractors for submittals coming due or late. Design team's use of Team has been more involved. I will upload a submittal or input a RFI and notification is immediately sent out to the design team for review. The design team will then upload the reviewed submittal or the RFI response and notification is sent back to me. I have found that notification from Team may not be sent immediately to me but usually by the end of the day.

Cons

Submittal and RFI markups cannot be made directly in Team. The submittal or RFI must be downloaded to Bluebeam, edited/marked up with review comments or responses, and then uploaded to Team again. It would be helpful to have editing features in Team so there isn't an extra step.

Decent ERP System for the Construction Industry

Viewpoint is our ERP system for better or worse. The functionality is there for just about everything needed in the construction industry; however, it's not always the most user-friendly. When Viewpoint introduces updates and there are bugs, it can take months for Viewpoint to fix them in a new release. If it's something you need to be fixed now, be prepared to pay Viewpoint to fix the problem.

Pros

Covers almost all aspects needed in the construction industry Highly customizable Easy to create custom reports Database isn't locked down

Cons

Viewpoint will find every way possible to charge you for support They have a bad habit of pushing out updates without thoroughly testing them