The rising popularity of open-source software has started to impact the construction industry, as information about free construction software is increasingly popping up on the Internet.

The obvious appeal of free construction software is the “free” part — when budgets are tight, a free software package very well could be just what the doctor ordered. Plus, something like free project management software might present an opportunity for you and your team to learn what project management software can do without having to spend any money or sign a contract.

However, as Pi Software notes in a short article on its site, there are a few things to keep in mind if you are considering free construction software.

One is product support — if a program was built by a handful of developers, or literally one man in his basement, then what sort of customer support can you expect? Another is scalability — if you download an application and save it to your computer, then the amount of data it can store and process, not to mention the number of users, is rather limited. A third is functionality — many free software applications are designed for a very particular purpose and thus don’t work well on other functions.

If you are apprehensive about using free construction software from an unfamiliar source, there are other options available. Some companies, including Procore, Kappix and Timebridge, offer free software packages free with support. Also, don’t forget that many software vendors give you the option to try before you buy with demo versions of their products.

The moral of the story? There is nothing wrong with using free construction software — just do so cautiously.

Over on the BuildTopia blog, Erik Cofield recently put together a rather thorough post called 101 Questions to Ask When Buying Construction Management Software. The list is quite comprehensive, covering construction and sales functionality as well as setup and warranty information. (Cofield is the national accounts manager for BuildTopia, so it’s a safe bet that he has heard all those questions at one time or another.)

Now, you very well may be thinking, “Am I seriously going to ask all 101 questions when I’m meeting with a vendor? That will take days!” Of course not — even the most basic construction management software demonstration will (or should) cover stuff like purchase order management, scheduling and CRM, not to mention support and training.

Rather, think of the 101 questions as a checklist. As the vendor demo progresses, take plenty of notes, and be sure to ask any questions that are not covered. If the sales rep does not have an immediate answer, grab a business card and get in touch with the rep after the demo. Be sure to read through all the material the sales rep provides, too.

When all is said and done, go back to the 101 questions and, now, answers. Focus on what the software cannot do at all or can only do if you acquire an add-on or module. How are important are those functions to your business now? What about four or five years from now, when you have more staff and more construction projects to manage? If a particular piece of software cannot perform the tasks that matter most to your business, then you need to keep shopping.

As we note in our own Construction Project Management Software Buyers Guide, a software package is an investment. That means it can take several months to find the software that suits your company best, not to mention several more months to acclimate yourself to the software. However, if you do your homework, and arm yourself with a checklist of 101 (or more) questions at the outset, then your investment in construction management software should pay for itself — many, many times over.

Having established the core functionality of Prolog, Meridian Systems aimed to improve usability when it developed Prolog 2008. The latest version of the company’s flagship construction project management software, first previewed at a user conference in April, was officially released on June 4.

This focus on ease of use suggests that the construction software industry is beginning to mature, Sue Watkins, Meridian’s director of marketing, said in a recent interview.

[The construction] industry has very specific work processes and business processes that need to be followed. The early [software] products…focused on that capability. Now companies are changing the way they do business — from spreadsheets and pie charts that are faxed in to a more formal system — and it’s all about ease of use.

One way to make software easier to use is to model it after something users already know. Meridian thus modeled Prolog 2008 after Microsoft Outlook. Gone is the Switchboard-style interface for choosing modules. In its place is the collapsible folder system familiar to Outlook users.

Prolog 2008 also adds drag-and-drop functionality to the key process of adding file attachments to RFIs (requests for information). The concept of drag-and-drop is taken for granted in many types of software, but Watkins deemed it a relatively new concept for construction software.

Other Prolog enhancements include the ability to limit who revises PCOs (purchase change orders), the use of the 3D capabilities of Rasterex 9 for redlining, and support for Master Format 2004 cost codes. (A full list of new features is available in the PDF file What’s new in Prolog 2008.)

Prolog 2008 supports Microsoft SQL Server. On the interoperability front, Primavera software and Microsoft Project management software can be integrated with Prolog 2008, and SDKs (software development kits) are available for integration with Sage Timberline Office and JD Edwards accounting software, Watkins said.

Additional information on Meridian Systems and Prolog is available from ConstructionSoftwareReview.com’s Meridian Prolog software overview and Meridian Prolog user reviews.

*** Editor’s note: If you are a construction software vendor and you have a press release about a new product, send it to me for inclusion in a future article.

In a previous entry I highlighted how construction software reviews can be useful when you are thinking about buying software. Another point to consider, albeit with a grain of salt, is the case study.

When contemplating a major purchase, the opinion of other people who have made the same investment can be quite useful. Sometimes this can be quite simple — find someone in a parking lot who drives the make and model of the car you covet and chat for a few minutes, and you’ll learn a lot about that automobile. Sometimes, though, it can be difficult — after all, it’s hard to ask a fellow runner what he or she thinks about a certain brand of shoe in the middle of a road race.

For this reason vendors of all types, including construction software companies, put together case studies. A case study essentially discusses the “before” and “after” for a vendor’s customer — how that customer struggled to get by before buying construction software compared to how life became much easier after the customer started using the software. (When you go to a vendor’s website, look for pages marked “Success Stories” or “Testimonials” or “What Customers Say” and that will likely bring you to the case studies.)

One of our writers was recently doing some research and came across a couple compelling Maxwell Systems case studies. Residential builder K. Alan Co., for example, described how it used Maxwell’s estimating software. Said Rocky McCampbell, K. Alan’s estimator, builder and general operator:

Before I began using Maxwell Systems software products, my bid information was compiled on many, many pages of legal note pads. Viewing or capturing that information was a frustrating exercise in page flipping. Now the pricing information I need is categorically listed in my database and I can easily transfer the information and work I generate during the course of creating a [construction] estimate from Estimators Notepad to my estimate.

As you can see, information like this can helpful if you have seen a construction software vendor’s list of product features and benefits but want to know how that all can be put into action.

Of course, there is a major caveat — few case studies will say anything unflattering about a product. If a customer had trouble with implementation, say, or training end users or migrating data, you may be hard pressed to find that out from the case study.

To learn about a construction software package’s pain points, you’ll have to go straight to who is using the construction software — whether it’s over the phone, over a business lunch or in between sessions of an industry conference. It is an extra step, but it will help put the vendor’s case study into a proper context.

The first software that most contractors buy is not construction software. The first purchase tends to be a general purpose application — Microsoft Project as construction management software, for example, or Intuit QuickBooks as construction accounting software.

By and large, starting with general purpose software is a sensible decision. Such software is easy to obtain — one QuickBooks 2008 review on our site comes from a kitchen and bathroom remodeler who bought the software on eBay. In addition, general purpose software tends to be less expensive than construction software; in the case of Microsoft Excel, a favorite tool among many a construction estimator, it comes with your laptop or desktop. Finally, these applications tend to have a familiar user interface, which means contractors need not devote much time to training.

It is no surprise, therefore, that general purpose software remains popular among construction firms. According to the latest CFMA technology survey, 14% of contractors use Microsoft Excel for managing construction estimates. The same survey indicates that 4% of contractors use QuickBooks software and that 7% use Microsoft Project management software.

Just as one outgrows a favorite T-shirt, though, a construction firm can outgrow its general purpose software. It’s not uncommon to need job costing software that can handle material billing and inventory or to need construction estimating software that works with a digitizer.

Now, there are many reasons for a firm to postpone an upgrade to construction software. Money is one reason. Scale is another. A third reason is the fear that adopting a new solution will, for formatting reasons, render all of a firm’s old data useless.

Not surprisingly, software vendors recognize this apprehension and tout the ways their construction software can accommodate a firm’s old data.

Some vendors will transfer old data into their applications. Sage Software, for example, offers a QuickBooks to Sage Master Builder Data Conversion. (If other vendors will perform such a data conversion, we would love to know.)

Others make sure they play well with others. Primavera offers a Value Impact Program to help customers integrate Primavera software with existing solutions. In addition, many construction estimating and job costing applications let users import and export data in formats compatible with Excel, QuickBooks, Peachtree or Adobe Reader.

Features like these are important to consider if your firm is ready for specialized construction software but has made significant investments in general purpose software. If you keep these needs in mind as you shop around for construction software and participate in vendor demonstrations, you will be able to find a package that works with your old software and also offers a nice return on your investment.

No major purchase should be undertaken without significant research. That’s true for, say, a car or a flat-panel TV. Why? By and large, it’s because such purchases represent an investment. Odds are you’ll drive your car for many years and watch your TV for many hours.

Construction software, really, is no different. It’s an investment. You and your colleagues are going to use it every day. It needs to be reliable, easy to use and a boost to your productivity. Most of all, it needs to fit your company just right.

How do you know it will fit your company just right? Think back to those other major purchases. When you’re looking for a car, you want to hear from people who have the car you want before you make that down payment, so you look for reviews that will let you know what owners of that car like, don’t like and wish they could have done differently.

Thus, it makes perfect sense to peruse construction software reviews before you make an investment. Reviewers will tell you things that you don’t hear in sales pitches, like how the software installation process goes, how the software works with the documents you already have and how much training employees will need before they can get started. Reviewers will also tell you how they use the software, and how often, which will help you determine if that particular product would fit your company just right.

Now, obviously these construction software reviews have to come from somewhere. If you are veteran of the software purchasing process, and you have some expertise to share, then we would appreciate it if you send us an email and we can tell us more about how to fill out a construction software review.

If, on the other hand, you yourself are currently in the market for software, you can read the more than 60 construction software reviews that we have already posted. We have divided the products into three categories — estimating software, job cost accounting software and construction project management software. Give them a look and, please, let us know what you think. Your feedback will help us make this site even better.