STACK - Avis

OCR regonition makes searching drawings for keywords a breeze. Custom variables within the estimate module simplifies building an estimate.

The Stack team continually publishes important Stack Updates monthly; many of the cons I've seen over the last year have been resolved. With that said the lack of an UNDO function is a continual annoyance (I am told this fix is on the roadmap).

The trainer was knowledgeable and polite, but software itself was clunky and over complicated. Too many options with slight variations for the same things.

My experience with Stack’s customer service has been the worst I have ever encountered. I am a new business owner in the construction industry in Florida. We do have a good network of clients, but it is small, and I told the salesman that I only do a handful of new builds a year and I could not justify Stack’s high yearly rate. The “demo” for stack only comes with 10 measurements and he insisted I would see the value once I had full access the system. He also offered a 25% discount if I completed the sale with him on the phone (a tactic to push you into a rushed decision which I stupidly fell for). I said I would try it out and we went through the purchasing process. Again, feeling as though I was against the clock and trying to rush through while on the phone, I did not click the terms and conditions link. I was then set up for 3 trainings, each an hour long. A lot of training, for an easy-to-use program…After the first training it became abundantly clear this program would bring no value to my company. No harm no foul right? I contacted the Customer service rep and informed them that, as I thought, this program was not right for me, and I would like a refund. It was inside a week, and I had not produced anything close to a useable quote. I stay very busy, and do not have time to take classes on how to constantly update this software. I was contacted a day or so later by [SENSITIVE CONTENT] to inform me that, even though it is against their policy to issue ANY refunds

Takeoff is very easy to use, Assemblies feature is amazing and saves so much time once it is setup. I appreciate that the system is cloud based, this really makes things run much more smoothly and easily. Integrations with Dropbox and Google Drive are also helpful.

Organization of takeoffs could be improved. There is no undo button which sounds minimal but it can be extremely cumbersome at times. I also dislike that measurements can't be set to round to the nearest whole number - who honestly needs to measure down to a tenth of an inch shown in decimal format? These are really minor things in the overall user experience but annoying nonetheless. Overall I am very happy with Stack over alternative options for takeoff software.

Stack is, hands down, one of the simplest solutions I've found for doing takeoffs. Depending on the industry, it's possible it may be too simple, however for the purposes of drywall and paint it is perfect. Building assemblies in Stack really streamlines the whole takeoff process, saving a lot of time and headache when it comes down to the little details. It's also super easy to learn due to how uncomplicated Stack's tool and interface are. You can make things much more complicated for more detailed accuracy, but you don't have to.

I'd like a few more options when it comes to proposal generation, but this is still a fairly new feature within Stack. Being able to fine tune the formatting would be helpful.

The customer support is top notch with instant and clear replies with real people. The learning curve for creating takeoff's is very user friendly.

The proposal generation is limited on what you can show or customize with the layout.

We looked for a very long time for a very simple takeoff program and this is definitely it. We have used this program for the past year and a half to get measurements on masonry and it has not failed us. Our trade does not need super advanced features so this suites us perfectly. If you have a properly scaled PDF then you can hit the ground running for your measurements. Otherwise, determining your own scale is very simple to do and I've even taken pictures of blueprints with my phone to roughly estimate one of our simpler prints in under 10 prints from the camera snapping. Amazing.

Due to this program being available online only sometimes it can be finicky if you have a poor internet connection or if there is some sort of (extremely rare) maintenance.

As stated earlier, we use this for masonry so it does not need advanced features. But as with all estimating, you will still need a basic knowledge of your trade's quirks. If you can't see a wall on an elevation because it is returning into the building then you will need to approximately draw it in under your elevation based off of a foundation plan or floor plan. Not super hard but it just will not do all of the work for you.

First and foremost, I enjoy the takeoff speed and accuracy Stack affords our estimating department. Simply by clicking a link on a plan exchange site, or quickly uploading plans, we can begin a highly detailed accurate takeoff in minutes if not seconds. Likewise, we can complete our takeoff much faster than traditional methods saving valuable time to analyze our bids post takeoff.

Like any good cost hawk, I would highlight price as my least favorite aspect of Stack Software; though I will say the product represents good value for the price! I would like to see Stack offer the complete product in one package, without the present tiered pricing.

The catalog they push so highly is not suited for the real world. The software that they claim they have experts to support you with do not know how to resolve the problems. The support center plays the game of deny and delay, hoping you will figure it out on your own, or just stop calling. I was offered a 30 day trail which they now are not honoring and refusing to refund my money.

My team loves how easy the program is to use and track projects. The measuring and estimating capabilities of this program are fantastic.

I am displeased with the fact that several years ago we subscribed when the software was in its infancy and the rates seem to continue to take drastic jumps each time we are due for renewal. Additional, we spent countless hours a few years back to put in all the formulas for the assemblies program and after spending all the time to create them, when it was time for renewal if we wanted to keep access to all of "our" formulas we had to pay an additional fee to keep the work we created.

Takeoffs are quick, assemblies are easy to put together, it's very quick and easy to change what items and assemblies in a count. The main advantage for us is that we can have multiple people using the software at once.

Features I'd like to see are:
-adding assemblies to an assembly 'item group'
-simplify the process of creating an item>creating an assembly>creating a count takeoff
-customized icons for takeoff counts
-ability to lock (tick box) pricing in a proposal. once locked a new revision will be made if any variations are added
-ability to copy a project and make several versions of it, so the older revisions are superseded but still available for reflection
-ability to change pricing at the Estimate page for that specific project, without changing global pricing stack-wide
-ability to download proposals in more than .pdf. Eg word, excel
-ability to manage projects a little better. lots of unused space on the Projects screen. On the left you should have folders that organise my projects into 'Bidding, Bid submitted, Won, Lost etc'

Easy of use. Staff and support. Cloud based. Was able to seamlessly work while out of town.

Very slow uploads. Can lag heavily at times (we are using gigabit internet). Can be slow and frustrating while doing take offs from time to time. When updates are running you can't access your take-off system. No, "offline" option.