Vision Electrical Bid Mgr-Who Uses?

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cdslotz

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We've been using EBM for years now. The earlier version 2000 was cheap, stable and worked for our size work. I still like the quote report formats it uses, especially the way it prints a switchgear BOM. That said, the newer version EBM3K has been problematic since it's release over 3 yrs ago. The original release was too slow, so they completely re-wrote the program using SQL database. And re-released it. We have it on our server with six licence users on it. I have finally got my boss, who had no confidence in the program to start using it. Until now, he has been using the old V2K. I have been diligent in working with Vision to run down bugs as they appear, thinking that one day, this will be a stable program. But, every time they fix one thing, they will mess up something else. Usually major functions of the program, such as, recently the program would not remember the bid summaries you extended and set up. So they rushed out a repair, now only one person at a time in my office can log on. This is nuts! They still havn't fixed little bugs that prevent some basic functions from working. We are one of their charter subscribers, but I told a tech yesterday, shhhh.....hear that noise? It's Accubid sneaking up on you.
Vision FIX YOUR STINKING PROGRAM OR IT's ADIOS!!
 
Re: Vision Electrical Bid Mgr-Who Uses?

I'm using it also. I have run into a few bugs. I'm not very proficient at the program because it's really for new work. We do a lot of service work.
The database with prices is unrealistic!

I had a BIG job and needed something right away and they were the most accomodating.
The others were BIG priced!
 
Re: Vision Electrical Bid Mgr-Who Uses?

Hey guy?s I like Vision as a ?cute? simple program but I would not waste my time with it much more if your trying to network it and grow your business. Checkout Conest and see :D what the industry is using to grow their business. No one else has the powerful tools like them including Accubid, Estimation and or McCormick. We just sent our Accubid back and were very dissatisfied with it. Just is not the same as Conest.
 
Re: Vision Electrical Bid Mgr-Who Uses?

Tried Accubid, hated it. Went to Jaffe love it. It is easy and they have great tech support. 5 bids out and 4 contracts. Last week summited a bid for a county project. A contractor that has been around for 30 years and myself were the only 2 to bid the job. His price $80,100 my price $79,900. You can't do much better then that. But remember no matter what you use it all comes down to reading all the details and double checking everything.
 
Re: Vision Electrical Bid Mgr-Who Uses?

Man, Accubid seems to get a thumbs down here. In my area (Dallas), almost everyone I know uses it. I tried Conest when it first came out, didn't like it then, but maybe I should revisit them. The one thing about Vision I have had a hard time finding in other programs, is the way it prints a detailed switchgear bill of material for quotes. How does Accubid or Conest do in that area? I know that's not a good reason to stay with this program, with all of it's other flaws, but it's important to me because I have my vendors "trained" to bid MY bill of material. I correct engineer mistakes, re-design, don't trust factory rep or distributor takeoffs, etc...
 
Re: Vision Electrical Bid Mgr-Who Uses?

I've been using Vision for nearly 4 years now, while working for 2 different contractors. The help is hit and miss, it depends on who calls you back. It's still terribly unstable, and I agree with y'all about how they fix one thing, only to muck up another. It won't run hardly at all if you have other programs running in the background, it's kinda fussy.

While the reports are easy to read, it's difficult to get it to report if you're editing a job as things come in (setting up a bid summary before you're 100% done with takeoff is hard, think of what happens with last minute addendum releases)

I could rattle on for hours about problems with the program, and glitches in it, but that won't change the fact that I have to use it every day...

Other systems I've used are Timberline and Accubid. Vision is a lot like Timberline, just smaller and simpler (and less stable). I started using Timberline back when it was still a DOS based program.

Accubid made me pretty happy, but building assmblies on the fly was a bit cumbersome, and reports are a little troubling, but so far, it's my favorite one.
 
Re: Vision Electrical Bid Mgr-Who Uses?

Accubid has some nice programs. Trouble is I can't justify the cost.
I might take a look at Jaffe.
Most of my work is service work so doing take-offs is impractical.
 
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