In this guide 6 sections
Make each vendor show your work. A demo project proves little, so test BOQ tracking against actual quantities, subcontractor bill certification, RFI and variation order trails, and whether site staff can record progress offline. Ask about exit terms and data export.
Make them demo your project, not theirs
Send each vendor a real bill of quantities and one subcontractor package before the call, because a demo built on their sample villa says nothing about your trade mix.
Watch for the steps they skip. If importing your BOQ from Excel needs a consultant, you will pay that cost on every project, so ask how rate revisions and item additions are handled mid-project.
Keep a written scorecard. Rate every answer as shown live, promised or not available, because a promised feature is a different thing from a working one when the foreman needs it on site.
BOQ, budget and cost control questions
Start with the budget. The tool should compare BOQ quantity, quantity certified and quantity billed for each item, with no manual reconciliation step between site measurement and the accounts team.
Ask about cost-to-complete too. A foreman’s report that the slab pour and brickwork are done should move the forecast the same day, instead of waiting for the accountant to open the measurement book.
- Can I import a BOQ from Excel with item codes and units intact?
- How are rate changes and additional items versioned?
- Does progress measured on site update the cost forecast?
- Can one BOQ item be split across several work packages?
- Which reports show committed cost versus actual cost?
Subcontractor bills, RFIs and variation orders
Subcontractor billing is where most disputes begin. Ask to see a running account bill raised, measured, certified and approved, with retention, advance recovery and material recoveries applied by the system rather than a calculator.
Every RFI needs an audit trail. Each RFI and variation order should show who raised it, which drawing it refers to, who answered, and whether cost and time impact was recorded before work began.
Check whether an approved variation order reaches the budget and the next running bill without anyone retyping it, because every retyped figure is where the leakage returns.
- Retention, advance recovery and material recoveries on each bill
- RFI log linked to the drawing and revision
- Variation orders carrying cost, time and approval status
- Measurement sheets attached to each certified quantity
Offline use, photos and site reality
Site connectivity is patchy. Ask the vendor to switch off the network and record a progress entry, a photo and a labour count, then reconnect and show what happens to sync conflicts.
Check the phone experience for a foreman and not a manager, because big buttons and a short form decide whether a mason’s supervisor ever opens it.
Ask who can see what. Plumbing, shuttering and tiling subcontractors should see only their own bills, measurements and recoveries, never a rival’s rates or another package’s running balance.
Contract, data and exit terms
Ask who owns the records. A full export of BOQs, bills, drawings and logs as CSV and PDF files is the minimum, and you should ask what happens to history when the contract ends.
Compare support hours against your site hours, since a helpdesk that closes at dusk is no use to a crew running a night pour or a Saturday shift. Then call two reference firms and ask how well their site staff adopted the tool after the first month of daily use.
Run a pilot first. Judge it only after the first subcontractor bill has passed through measurement, certification and payment, with every deduction applied and every approver named in the record.
Construction software vendor scorecard
Vendors run across the top. Question groups run down the side, covering BOQ control, subcontractor billing, RFIs, variations, offline use, roles, export and support, with a total that counts only shown-live answers. Each cell holds one verdict. Shown live, promised or missing.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Should a small contractor buy construction software?
Yes, once you run several sites or many subcontractors, because bills, measurements and recoveries begin to cross between packages and nobody can hold them all in their head. Otherwise, start with a clean spreadsheet.
How long should a pilot run?
Two to four weeks on one live project is enough to take a subcontractor bill from measurement through certification to payment, and ideally across one month-end close. Shorter hides the problems.
Do I need offline mode?
If any site has weak signal, yes. Without it, site staff write on paper and someone retypes it later at the office, which defeats the purpose of buying the tool and delays every certified quantity.
Who should join the vendor demos?
Bring a site engineer, the person who certifies subcontractor bills, whoever runs your accounts and the purchase head, since each tests a different part of the tool. Each finds gaps the others miss.