STACK

Great product. Customer support right in app and always quick to respond.

Pros:

This product is incredibly simple to use, but a very powerful tool. The calendar makes organizing projects by due date easy. You can quickly see what's coming up and space them out when a larger project takes more time. The search function to find past projects is imperative. Doing takeoffs is much easier now. I can export final dwgs and reports so that my sales rep can go back and see exactly what I quoted and where. All the work is saved so I can back and reference it or change it if plans change. The lines and symbols are easy to read and quick to set up. You can dimension the plans when needed and add call outs. The cloud tool is useful for items I have a question about. I can even copy and paste a line several times instead of having to draw it out each time. Being able to add labels to the takeoff is crucial. It makes my quotes much more powerful when I say exactly where I found each product. It also helps if there is a change to the plan later. I can easily remove one section by using the Geometric Report instead of having to dig through all the plans. The ability to use two screens is awesome! When I find a particular detail and have to match it to the plan, it is much easier to have one screen with the detail and one with the plan.

Cons:

Some things are not customizable. I can't change the default dimension color or size. But once you set it, it remembers the changes for that page only. I can't rearrange the sheets with the tabs on top. I have to open them in the order I need. So if I find a detail on another sheet, I may have to close some tabs and them reopen them in the order I need. It does integrate with Excel reports, but Excel charges a monthly subscription for that. I am also waiting for the symbol search tool.

Streamline our Estimating

Comments: I have zero complaints with the program or customer service.

Pros:

As a fire protection estimator it is hard to find a program that allows me to do a design build electronically. I could use a Autocad style program to do the base design, but in our world of fast paced turnaround I simply do not have the time to use a program like Autocad. With StackCT I can use the linear drop function to place our sprinkler heads with proper spacing.

Cons:

The autocount symbol function is good, but there are times when I get only a single count instead of hundreds needed. It has gotten better, but if there was a way to edit the background noise for the selection it would be nearly perfect.

Reality vs Perception & Potential

Comments: Not any of our problems yet. Not any reason we bought it, has it created a solution for, but I still see how it can and hopefully will over time, and that is why I am still here. Well that and probably because I don't want to admit that maybe we should have waited till they had a finished product with the kinks worked out. while this may cause eye rolls... Put yourselves in our shoes. If a customer purchases up front, 100% of a roof from me because I showed them a picture of a finished roof and told them it was a complete ready to go finished roof, yet only put on 50-75% of it and then said well I will be back next year to finish the rest, sorry about the inconvenience in the mean time. Would that be ethical? No! It would not, yet that is exactly what stack ct did to us and that is what iroof did to us, and that is what roofsnap did to us, and that is what adobe does to us, and, and ,and, and it is wrong. These are not the things employees doing the work decide, it is the work of those in charge and investors. So I don't and won't blame the workers, but I do blame the rest of you. Please consider what I have taken the time to share and please be motivated intrinsically to do better!

Pros:

I liked the super awesome sales and teaching staff when they can be reached. the support staff excluding 1 that are available and pretty much only by email do not in any way provide the same level of connection, community, support, or personal touch the others do.

Cons:

Since all the soft ware companies we reviewed over the last year follow the same pattern of, promise the moon before we buy, show us what it will look like when its finished, but cannot deliver what they promised when they were courting us, because they sell an incomplete project knowing we roped in for a year, it must be ok right? NO! IT'S NOT OK! I had to promise a kidney to get the [SENSITIVE CONTENT] to purchase this product, I showed the perceived time savings, the better product, and etc. Yet when we bought it I was able to show him anything but a prettier product. Do I think we will get there and do I think its a good program? Yes and Yes but it may be as much because I want to believe it is without the actual proof there to definitely say it is. I just hope I can Convince him to let me renew the subscription next year cause it is going to take me all of a year to learn this system well enough to make it pay. Between how much slower i am at turning out these estimates even though they are better, and how many important and promised functions are either not actually functional or they are at not user friendly without 1 on1 help if they are functional etc.

Cloud Takeoff

Comments: Stack was a significant upgrade to our takeoff process. The speed and being able to natively use it on Mac make this software great. The development team continues to add great features, some of which bring feature parity with competitors, but others are unique and now classified as "can't live without" around our office.

Pros:

The ability to log in and pull up all of our project drawings on any computer. The fact that this software is web based is great and makes this platform agnostic. As we are primarily a Mac based office, this is great and does not require virtualization to run windows based software. Stack is also incredibly fast to navigate and bring up projects. Even though our older software was on computer and not web based, it required long waits to open a project and switch between projects. With stack this is almost instantaneous and it allows multiple projects to be open at once in multiple tabs or windows.

Cons:

It still lacks some functionality of our previous takeoff software, especially when we first started using it. Much of that functionality has been added since we started using it, and there are a few additional items they currently show as in the pipeline. Once those are released, all of the features we need will be here.

Time Saver

Pros:

STACK essentially eliminated a step in my takeoff and pricing process. Having a takeoff software with a well-integrated "spread sheet" has drastically reduced the time needed for bidding. STACK seems to truly value customer feedback, and routinely releases new features. I was able to build out a completely custom library of items and assemblies within the first week of use, and have been quite satisfied with the takeoff process ever since.

Cons:

There is still room for improvement:Once items or assemblies are created, there is no ability to move them to a new location. I currently use the "linear with drop" takeoff as a means to count corners/miters for linear foot takeoffs, which is not it's intended use. I have to enter a "drop length" every time, which is not applicable for these takeoffs. A "linear with point count" takeoff would be great.