Sage Construction Suite Reviews

Pros

What I like is the face that sage helps me to boost my project productivity, limiting errors, improving correspondence among parties,and creating adjustible reports

Cons

I have been using this software for a while now and my only issues us that I still cant remove some dormant account.that is my only issues

Pros

One of the best things about Sage SQL Estimating is the ability to breakdown an estimate into an unbelievable number of different ways allowing both company standard breakdowns and complex bid form breakdowns at the same time. This also allows standard estimate formatting across all different divisions of our company while working together to complete very large estimates.

Cons

The two most limiting drawbacks of this software is the inability to create a specification driven takeoff system. The second drawback is the ability to error check the takeoff against a specification to make sure the entry is conforming to the specification and/or is correctly entered. Some of this can be done through assemblies, but not all of this can be done and is why this is very limited for the use of Process Piping System.

Pros

It's easy to use and there is wide generation of email.

Cons

It needs a remote desktop connection to function.

Pros

It is really great to have a software that multiple departments in our construction company can use from payroll to estimating. Implementation and training was pretty seamless. The Info Assistant module is really helpful too as you can run reports for any module there without occupying a license.

Cons

Running inquiries and reports can sometimes be tricky to find exactly what you are looking for. Regarding inquiries, the printouts always look like they came from a typewriter in the 80's. It would also be nice if the software was cloud based.

Pros

Integration of accounting information with project management information; Real time information/status of the job; Ease of using drop-down to source; Ability to export information to excel and third party reports.

Cons

When the vendor is shown on a report or screen and the vendor number isn't. The reports section is missing a comprehensive (in detail) project manager report that captures and compares budget, contracts, change orders, purchase orders and costs to date. Learning how to use change orders as they impacted reports was difficult.

Alternatives Considered

Sectona Security Platform

Reasons for Choosing Sage Construction Suite

Execudata was a single user software that became inadequate due to growth of the company. It was bought by another company who made it windows based software but that occurred after we purchased Masterbuilder .

Reasons for Switching to Sage Construction Suite

We thought the integration of project management with job cost accounting was significant for us and it was from a reputable company (Intuit).

Pros

When we first purchased Timberline Property Management Software 19 years ago, we felt it was the best Property Management Software on the market. It had all the modules we needed at the time and they were tightly integrated to each other. The report designer module made it easy to produce both "canned" and "custom" reports. Bottom line, it fit almost all of our Property Management needs with minimal reliance on third-party software.

Cons

Timberline Property Management Software was acquired by Sage Software and in my opinion over the years since acquisition, became Sage 300 Construction Software. If you look at the focus of the software today, it seems to be over 95% focused on the Construction industry and only 5% on the Real Estate industry.

Alternatives Considered

SKYLINE and Yardi Voyager

Reasons for Choosing Sage Construction Suite

Centra didn't have the functionality or capabilities that we needed.

Reasons for Switching to Sage Construction Suite

We thought it would better serve our needs both at the time of purchase and in the future.

Pros

I love the interconnectivity of this software. It really does a great job of tying everything together and it makes pulling union reports, workers compensation reports, etc easier than the spreadsheets that I was having to keep previously. After the long and difficult process of learning how to use the software, I am now seeing all of its benefits.

Cons

Learning how to use this software was not a good experience. I would love to be able to pull up videos on the internet and have someone walk me through the different screens. We used a company with live help for Sage 100 Contractor and it was expensive and I felt that I was often waiting for our schedules to align to get a simple question answered. It made me hate the software in the beginning and it was very frustrating. I am just happy to be past that!

Pros

There is a lot of versatility in this software that I know we don't even tap into.

Cons

You can post, or rather the software allows for, negative debit and credit postings. For me it is fine but when you have someone on staff who maybe doesn't understand it can make things tricky.

Alternatives Considered

FOUNDATION

Reasons for Switching to Sage Construction Suite

When I began working at DC they had already been a long time established Sage product user. At previous employers I have either switched from other software (Hardhat) to Sage or began fresh with Sage. I like the software and find it easy to use and train employees to use. I have even recommended it to other companies to purchase. I wish they had a better solution for remote access and that their customer services was more responsive personally. When you call you get routed and routed and routed (through voice mail) and then typically told to access a web based article on how to fix the problem. I do not like that at all and it leaves me lacking in giving them 10 stars.

Pros

That it worked well with Procore and gave us a more detailed accounting system.

Cons

The double entry with using Procore and Sage 100. I also don't like that it isn't very user friendly. Lots of clicks to accomplish a simple task. I will use looking at the checkbook register as an example. I should just be able to click and look at at it. It should take 5 or 6 clicks to get there.

Alternatives Considered

OpenGov Permitting & Licensing and FOUNDATION

Reasons for Choosing Sage Construction Suite

Quickbooks wasn't able to handle everything with Procore

Switched From

OpenGov Permitting & Licensing and FOUNDATION

Reasons for Switching to Sage Construction Suite

Sage's ability to work with Procore. However, as I said above, there is way to much double entry.

Pros

What I really like in Sage 100 Contractor is when we start setting up the software it was very quick to go live after short period, The annual revenue for the company I was working for is 35+ million. we shifted from old software to Sage 100 Contractor within two months, I did few demonstrations for my colleague about how to use Sage 100 Contractor and all of them they found Sage 100 Contractor easy to use and very helpful for our business, and reporting in Sage 100 Contractor is great.

Cons

I didn't face any issue or something I didn't like in Sage 100 Contractor. but the developing in Sage 100 Contractor is impossible.

Alternatives Considered

SAP Business One

Reasons for Switching to Sage Construction Suite

Sage 100 Contractor is less expensive from SAP Business One.

Pros

We liked the fact that Sage 100 has Accounting, Service (work order management), and New Construction (Job management) in one package. Our goal was to make sure all programs are seamlessly communicating by having the same platform. None of these products really standout as special, but have the basic functions.

Cons

Basic functions in Accounting were set up strange and go against GAPP principles. Payroll is cumbersome to manage and Sage does not have a really good field time capture solution. SSO is basic and inconsistent. Basic navigation to look up customers and manage service contracts are not streamlined. It takes to many steps to access information and no easy wildcard "look up" functions.

Alternatives Considered

ServiceTitan and Viewpoint Team

Reasons for Choosing Sage Construction Suite

CUC Soft was purchased by Service Titan and shut down.

Reasons for Switching to Sage Construction Suite

The ablity to have all three components of our business in one platform.

Pros

The software is very very customizable as far as formulas and detailing to your way of estimating. Links with other sage softwares and streamlines a lot of the process

Cons

Some of the reports could be improved. And also a way to better customize reports and it would be nice to have customizable proposal report from within sage estimating. Also, some kind of bid manangement or request for bid within sage estimating would be useful.

Pros

It is easy to input invoices and do most of payroll. The certified payroll still needs a little work for those of us not doing it electronically. I have never had an issue with the quarterly or end of yea tax reports. Archiving previous years and locking down transactions prior to archiving has become much simpler. I do customized reports from time to time and generally they are rather easy to do.

Cons

I would like to see a tab in the jobs that has all the information needed for the A1-131 top section report.

I would like to see date added when it notifies you in accounts payable that you have a duplicate invoice number.

Lately I have had to install the program onto new computers. The install was not as smooth due to Microsoft. I wish I had a updated list that said you also will need to download these applications as they are no longer automatically provided by Microsoft - ie Framework, SQL 2014.

Pros

My boss has a lot of money going out; with that in mind, I start my bank reconciliation early and keep it going until month end.
Sage far surpasses all other accounting software in this particular process.

Cons

Searching for an item could be improved dramatically!
Also, if I issue a check by copying an old one issued to the same person. It becomes a journal entry and if I ask the computer for all payments issued to that person that journal entry is not always included. I need to be careful and check job costs, not just payments made.
One other item, when issuing a check, I appreciate the manual check choice being added, I would suggest a small tweak, I wonder if you offered the verbiage "Debit Card", as well.
I would be curious to attend short 15 minutes or so, info meetings- that would focus on educating users on particular features, for example in estimating and scheduling.
Something that would have visual aids not just reading in the Sage Help.
Maybe a recording in Zoom or YouTube a meeting accessible through your help site.
I am a visual learner reading does not help me as much as a visual coach.

One last item I would like to see implemented, I doubt it can be but here goes.

If possible when I need to start a help ticket, sometimes what I need say is complicated. I need to type 2-3 paragraphs. I wish there was a streamlined way to get a person to talk to.
Using the chat box is great unless it is a complicated issue, I wish I could type ## or something and that would direct me to the call back Que.
Thank You so much for asking.

Pros

I did not do the integration, that was done by IT and they do not use the same day to day features that most users deal with. I'm sure the system is much easier for the IT people, but it needs to be easy or have instructions available for the every day majority of the users in the office. It seems very easy for day to day use for the majority of the work done in the office, there are just a few reports and features that would be nice to have. Possibly they are available but I'm not sure where to get instructions.

Cons

We were not provided with any sort of ongoing instructions or help for specific issues that we encountered after we fully implemented and starting using the software. Sometimes it will take a while to get use to something to realize you need other types of reports/information or functions, we had to just learn by trial and error. There is limited space when adding Vendors and no way (at least not know to us) to get rid of a vendor once it is added. We ended up with MANY double entry vendors. Additionally, making a vendor inactive in AP does not stop that vendor from being used in the SM module which creates issues importing. One of the biggest problems we have had is that the PO field allows users to accidentally type in random various characters, such as a / or lower case letters, which causes an error in the program importing. The system does not recognize the random characters which has cause a never ending loop posting. The system should not even allow someone to put in a character it will later not recognize, as we now have no way to get rid of these errors. Even customer service cannot fix the problem. We have POs that now have 492 lines as they are stuck in a loop and every day that we post another line gets added. Also we could use a reference guide on how to run specific reports we desire.

Pros

Accounting is great. The level of personalization for each user, being able to lock down per line what each user sees and use of PO/SO takes us to the next level of what we were looking for. Also personalization of reports and ability to change things how we need them is excellent. Have been using as our CRM as well. That there are constant improvements and ability to request them. Love the dashboard and how I can customize it. I feel much more informed about our numbers and the auto-reports are very helpful.

Cons

So much to learn and implement. Our onboarding was less than impressive (trainer distracted and taking another phone call while I'm paying for her time) Also very expensive. There was no information as to the set up of the computers required, or even how to go about implementing the program until we were involved with the trainers and they didn't cover that first part. Had to learn by trial and error. We felt like there was very little help and a lot of miscommunications. We need more field access (online) but that is not on the accounting side...all project management. Also, when exporting to word or excel it is in tables and not easy to manipulate.

Pros

On par with some other offerings, but does not excel in any specific area, hence no one are where it really excels.

Cons

The overall accounting approach to how information is presented is lagging, in my opinion. Various inquiries need to be made in order to retrieve specific vendor, or client information, instead of making the reports and inquiries available through either the A/P, or A/R modules - all of them. The software also needlessly complicates interaction with the GL through the Cash Management and the Register feature(s), all this in my opinion should be centered around and through the GL module. Certain options under Agings are also puzzling, offering various reports that have little to do with actual aging(s), such as presenting the outstanding amounts in aged-buckets. When one is also more used to dealing with Debits and Credits, Sage presents some of these as 'Additions' or 'Subtractions'... which takes away the purely accounting approach to dealing with transfers, and debit and credit activity within various GL accounts, while a non-accountant might find the 'Additions' and 'Subtractions' easier to work with when it comes to dealing with actual bank accounts, the layout becomes more puzzling when dealing with other, non-cash accounts, where straight up Debit and Credit columns would be a lot more appropriate - for any entries. The 'Register' module mitigates this to some extent by a pop-up box, where some of this is automatically pre-filled, but in my opinion it's just an extra step that adds to the confusion and easiness of entries through GL only.

Pros

We integrate other estimating and purchasing software for our home building division and that works fairly well. As a database repository, it works well. It is easy to get information in the system and you have a lot of ability to customize and create fields.

Cons

The reporting tools in Sage 300 CRE are not good. Getting information out of the system has always been our challenge. We end up extracting the data via other tools and creating our own reports in other tools (i.e. excel). The financial statement and other report writing tools are not easy to work with, and frequently have issues that need to be corrected (or acknowledged... still not sure why Sage can not figure out how to round properly to make a balance sheet balance)...

Pros

It does integrate with many other programs. With the right knowledge, it can be very flexible in reporting. The support is also much better than most programs.

Cons

Constant and repetitive data entry. Just a few examples... To record payment of multiple POs electronically, the Sage requires individual acceptance for each PO. So when paying 45 POs with one ACH transaction, Sage requires over 100 individual clicks of the mouse as well in addition to keyboard input. Data entry often requires both mouse and keyboard input, making it slower.

If you make a mistake on a date entry, (like accidentally entering Dec 45th) there is no indication. No popup, no change of color on the field, nothing. You eventually just have to realize what happened. With acct #s or Job #s, there is a pop up to say it didn't recognize the input.

With general ledger entry, Sage does not automatically fill in an amount to balance the transaction. You have enter each line. Seems silly, but that one feature would save many hours over a year. Every other accounting program I have ever used in over 30 years will default to the amount needed to balance the entry, and you merely type over it as you go, but its right there for that last line when you do need it. Just simple, easy, things that could be done that in many years of development have never been fixed.

Pros

Software is basically user friendly. I like how System Menu is set up and payroll is very functional.

Cons

Reports in this software are the worst part of it.
It needs to be updated and make it easier to build and customize reports to suit company use.
Also need to have an easier T&M workup system and reports.

Pros

Sage 300 cre is robust. It can be all encompassing with “modules”. From Estimating (which is an excellent product) through the accounting modules to project management, the workflow is pretty seamless.

Cons

The annual maintenance cost for a product that is not SAS is pretty high. It is not clouds accessible and project management modules has fallen behind the times, especially compared to a product like procore.

Pros

It is one of the best tools for estimating the business value and managing project finances. Sega300 enables construction companies of all sizes organize and track tasks. In short, the Sega300 tells project managers what they need to do, and owners what their firm is actually about. The Sega300 eliminates duplicate entries by integrating and updating modules in real time. The Sega300 protects data transmission by limiting access to authorized individuals only. It will guard against changing financial data or losing jobs. The sequential and traffic order of customers and vendors helps integrate monthly accounting surveys for settlements and retrieve invoices accurately and efficiently.

Cons

There is nothing undesirable, it just needs some training to learn how to work correctly, and after completing the training, you will find it easy and quick to implement the required operations and extract reports.

Pros

There is nothing I like about this platform.

Cons

The developer has created a platform on the most narrow and arcane perspective of construction contracting and management. Nothing about this platform is congruent with industry standards and methodology, particularly if you work in the government sector. It is like someone took shortcuts in the SQL database development rather than truly thinking though the numerous permutations of the business processes associated with construction management. Every GUI for every module forces you to follow the developer's narrow methodology which frankly exposes their inexperience and poor understanding of construction management. You will find it takes far too many incongruent steps through too many screens creating cognitive disconnect just to perform the simplest tasks. You will likely find yourself developing workarounds just to get by..... only to find they don't work either. Just wait till you try to enter a contact's company title only to realize that you're forced to select from a drop down that can only be edited at the Contact Management Settings module! Utterly Stupid! And every element of every module is constructed this way. The canned reports are mediocre and tools to build custom reports harken back the old SQL and Access crap report builders. Don't even bother with the Excel import tools: besides having to downgrade files to 97/03 formats you have to use their canned spreadsheets only find numerous manual steps are still required to complete entries. I could go on......

Pros

One of the best things about the software is that the core applications were designed together, unlike other software that tries to integrate applications from several sources. So, Job Cost, Payroll, AP, AR GL and CM flow together very well. Also, the software was originally designed specific to the construction industry so it really incorporates most of the financial needs of our industry.

Cons

We are running into issues in payroll due to the size of our current file. We are subject to job audits and we have many large projects so we like to keep several years' data in one file. However, Aatrix is not able to generate quarterly reports without archiving some payroll data.

Also, it's really nice to have the ability to post to future GL periods. It would be even nicer to be able to roll FORWARD for financial statement the way we can roll back.

Pros

I started to use Sage 300 back when it was called Timberline. I implemented it at the Drywall company I was working at. The software is very user friendly and is very easy for anyone to use. I perfected the software use when I went to a General Contractor that was already using the software. When I first interviewed for my current position, in my interview I couldn't stop talking about Sage. That was the reason I was hired. I have once again implemented Sage from a manual system.

Cons

I don't like the was the Job Cost module changed and would love it to go back to the old set-up screen. I used to use the condition button for looking for set up mistakes and not I literally need to go thru each job looking at the set-up.

Also in the Payroll module I wish the reports and generating accruals would be able to use the daily entry grid instead of have to enter the date for each entry. I went for one entry per employee week to forty. That's not cost effective to get the work done.