For a General Contractor, project management software is an overhead expense. Like insurance or office rent, it is a cost of doing business that must be justified by the value it provides to the bottom line.
However, in the current market, many GCs are over-paying for “High-End” software that provides more complexity than utility. If you are paying $500 to $800 a month for a platform but still find yourself searching your Gmail for subcontractor bids, your software is not an asset—it is a drain on your project margins.
The “sticker price” of high-end software is only part of the equation. There are two other clinical costs to consider:
If your software is difficult to use, it takes your team longer to complete basic tasks. If it takes 20 minutes to enter a bid into your software but 5 minutes to enter it into Excel, the software is costing you 15 minutes of labor per bid. Over the course of a year, that adds up to dozens of hours of high-value project management time.
Many high-end platforms require “Onboarding Fees” or “Implementation Consultants.” These are upfront costs that can run into the thousands of dollars. Unless the software significantly increases your efficiency or win rate, it may take years to recoup that initial investment.
To determine if your software is a net positive for your firm, ask three clinical questions:
Another way high-end software eats your margin is through “Per-User” pricing models.
Many platforms charge you a base fee, plus an additional $50 or $100 per month for every “seat” (user) you add. This creates a psychological barrier to growth. When you are considering hiring a new Project Manager or a part-time admin, you have to factor in not just their salary, but the $1,200 annual “Software Tax” required just for them to do their job.
This model essentially punishes you for scaling your team. Professional tools for the mid-market should encourage collaboration, not tax it. When evaluating software, look for flat-fee or project-based pricing that allows you to add as many team members as you need without a linear increase in your software bill. You want your software to be a fixed utility, like your office electricity, not a variable expense that scales with your headcount.
The alternative to high-end bloat is Point Solutions. These are tools designed to solve specific, high-value problems at a much lower price point.
Bid Bench focuses on the most critical financial phase of a project: the transition from bid to budget. By focusing on this core workflow, we can offer professional-grade organization at a fraction of the price of an enterprise ERP.
Stop over-paying for software.
Get the organization you need without the features you don’t. Start your free trial at app.bidbench.com/signup.