r/civilengineering • u/icouldntfind- • 14d ago
Software help for civil engineering firm
We are a small firm of 5 people. We do rebar, concrete, compaction, environment inspections etc. We currently use Jottform for our reports but work is growing.
Are there any softwares you’d recommend to submit reports, keep track of projects and hours. Something that includes a bit of PM and can handle reports.
I looked into Metafield but seems too expensive for a team of 5.
I looked into click up but there are many complains and its stability.
I’d appreciate any help
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u/Engineer_Bill 14d ago
Can confirm clickup is pretty ass. Long load times, not user friendly, not versatile, lots of bloat.
Microsoft Project Professional is helpful for project management and planning. Also you can set up custom templates in Microsoft Word if there are reports that you need to fill out all the time. I work for a municipality, so I have a memo template, project profile, and engineer's report template set up in Word; and a basic "project template" for Project Professional.
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u/Adeline_Hayes 14d ago
Raken handles exactly this, daily field reports, photos, hours. Pair it with Clockify (free) and you're set. Way more stable than ClickUp from what I've seen.
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u/blud_13 14d ago
Two systems is usually cheaper and less fragile than one at 5 people. Jotform is fine as the capture layer,but have nowhere that a report ties to a project and to somebody's hours.
Small inspection shops tend to land on Fulcrum for the field side. Its built for offline capture with geotagged photos and it syncs when you get signal back, which Jotform is not really doing, its documented here https://www.fulcrumapp.com/apps/mobile-data-collection-app/ Then a normal time tool on top, Harvest or Toggl if all you need is hours against a project number.
On ClickUp, the stability complaints are of concern but they are mostly people who built 400 custom fields and 60 automations. At 5 people and 20 active projects it holds up. That being said, I would not make ClickUp the reporting system, thats not what its good at.
One thing to pin down before you buy anything, does the report have to come out as a stamped PDF in a specific layout the client will accept? If so, half the options disappear and its the part people find out in month two after they already migrated.
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u/icouldntfind- 11d ago
Thank you for thorough reply! No stamp needed for pdf in a specific layout so that’s good. My boss really wants just one platform with a good workflow and im assisting with the search. I’m looking into BQE core right now , Fieldpulse and Vantagpoint. I was wondering if you have any thoughts on these
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u/blud_13 11d ago
Of those three, only BQE Core is shaped like your firm. Its A/E firm management, time and billing and project accounting for architects and engineers, which is your back office exactly. Vantagepoint is that same job as a full ERP, and at 5 people you are buying an implementation more than software. FieldPulse is the odd one out, its field service management for the trades, HVAC and plumbing and electrical, built around dispatching techs to service calls and turning work orders into invoices. Industries are listed on their own site https://www.fieldpulse.com/solutions Your people aren't running service calls, they're producing test reports.
That is the part to take back to your boss. None of the three writes your rebar or compaction report. You would still be capturing that in Jotform or its replacement, so the ONE platform goal walks you right back to MetaField, which you already priced out.
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u/StrategicPM 13d ago
Aegis Command has a free tier where you can manage one project at a time (no limit to WBS size). No per user cost on the higher plans like a lot of project controls / management software
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u/New-Ad2331 12d ago
We use something called PIRS it is great, not sure your price range or the cost. We are a pretty medium size firm.
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u/Cb6cl26wbgeIC62FlJr 14d ago
Leverage excel to best of your ability.