New customers will sometimes purchase one standalone versions of HeavyBid with the intent of having more than one user using it. This makes sense if the intent is to evaluate HeavyBid before a full implementation. It can be used by more than one user but you have to understand the limitations of the standalone version. Here are some important points:

  • You can share estimates by putting them on a server or shared drive but only one user can use HeavyBid at a time.
  • You cannot share system wide codebooks – they reside on the local machine.
  • If the estimates are stored on a server it is going to be difficult to use HeavyBid outside of the office. It is possible but there are a number of steps where the estimate is restored to the local machine and then restored by to the server directory when back in the office. Possible but tedious, confusing and frankly not advised for new users.

Let me use an analogy to communicate the limitations of a standalone version. Your company has an excavator and has two operators for this single excavator. Only one operator at a time can use the excavator so if the one operator is operating the excavator the other operator has do do something else. Two operators cannot be in the same piece of equipment at the same time. Same with HeavyBid. If one person wants to use HeavyBid the other will have to check in his license and can no longer use HeavyBid thus cannot be in an estimate.

The only scenario I would recommend a standalone for a company is where there is only one estimator using the standalone version. Then at bid review time someone else can pull up the estimate on their computer but understand the estimator has to get out of HeavyBid (check in his license). The standalone version of HeavyBid is a terrible solution for two or more estimators especially if they  are typically closing out multiple DOT estimates for a bid letting. A much better solution is a two user multiuser version where you can have as many users as you want (but two at a time in HeavyBid) and then all the files are shared and using HeavyBid outside of the office is solved by a remote solution. No server? Consider HCSS Cloud solution for two users.

In conclusion no construction company that is well managed is going to have two operators sharing one excavator. Same with your estimating software. Sharing one license among more than one estimator is going to be very frustrating and inefficient and that is not even considering the issues of keeping individual computers in sync. Be sure everyone involved in the implementation process of one license of HeavyBid understands the inherent limitations.