Sage 100 Contractor Review 2024: Pricing, Features, and More

Sage 100 Contractor is an on-premise software solution aimed at smaller contractors looking for an all-in-one platform, not just accounting software. While it definitely has its advantages, Sage 100 Contractor may not be the best solution for all contractors and budgets, with its main drawbacks.

In this review, we delve into the main features of the platform to consider its capabilities. Then, we review its pros and cons and offer some alternatives in case you decide Sage 100 Contractor isn't right for your business.

Sage 100 Contractor Pricing

Unfortunately, Sage 100 Contractor does not publicly disclose its pricing information; You will need to contact their sales team for a customized pricing quote based on your needs. Sage Contractor 100 is sold by license rather than by seat and is designed to install directly on a computer or other device, meaning you can't access it from anywhere just over the Internet. However, it is available for download on a mobile phone or tablet, so you can use it both in the field and in the office.

Key Features of Sage 100 Contractor

Panel

The Sage 100 Contractor Dashboard (Figure A) includes all the key figures: cash, accounts, cash position, accounts payable, tenure, accounts receivable, revenue from operations, job cost by cost type, and more. From there, you can drill down into the details of various jobs and view related documents, such as invoices and change orders.

The interface design is extremely traditional; some even say it's old school, which can be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on who uses it. Sage 100 Contractor definitely feels like a legacy software product, which may make it easier for people who have more experience with older systems. However, the design looks very dated compared to other construction software competitors, such as Buildertrend.

Dear

The Sage 100 Contractor estimating tool uses a spreadsheet-based view that will be familiar to anyone used to performing manual estimates in Excel. However, Sage's estimating tool is backed by a robust cost database that includes additional capabilities, such as takeoff and error checking, to ensure calculations are correct. Once you're done entering all your information, Sage will quickly generate an organized, professional report that you can share with a potential client.

Employment cost

Once your business has received the job, you can use Sage's estimating tool to quickly produce a cost estimate for the job and see estimated, actual and committed costs at each stage. Each change order update is directly linked to a job, cost code, and budget, linking directly to the appropriate estimate. You can also set the system to send you an email alert if the change order takes too long.

Because payroll time is integrated directly into the Sage 100 Contractor system, you can monitor labor and material costs to stay on top of any overages.

Shipping and scheduling

Sage 100 Contractor also comes with a dispatch dashboard for scheduling work orders. Sort jobs by type and see when specific technicians are scheduled. When an emergency call comes in, the dispatch panel makes it easy to find which technician is closest so you can deal with it faster.

You can also email work order details to technicians directly from the job board to ensure they have all the information they need. Technicians can enter their time on their phone while completing various jobs, and that automatically populates both billing and payroll to keep all of their records up to date.

Inventory

Sage 100 Contractor also offers an inventory module to help you keep track of all your parts and materials. Parts that appear on work orders flow into inventory to keep everything interconnected. The system will also alert you when inventory runs out or falls below a minimum threshold, so you can place new orders as needed.

You can also generate invoices payable by linking them to purchase orders. This makes it easy to see what parts you have on hand for various jobs and service calls, so you don't accidentally schedule a call when you don't have the parts in stock. As technicians complete their orders throughout the day, the truck's stock quantity will automatically update, so they won't have to take inventory at the end of the day.

Payroll and time

Sage 100 Contractor includes time tracking and payroll capabilities to keep everything centralized in one system; Then you don't have to worry about running payroll on another platform and importing the data to see how your labor costs stack up for multiple jobs. Sage 100 Contractor also supports weekly certified payroll, which is a must for contractors working on federally funded projects. Workers' compensation is also included in Sage's system, which automatically calculates all necessary payroll deductions.

Reports

Sage 100 Contractor offers a large number of pre-built reports that are specific to contracting and construction. Some examples include job cost, billing progress report, bond report, over/under billing screen, committed cost variance report, team management report, and more. These types of specific hiring reports are not available with other more general accounting software, such as QuickBooks. And Sage's specialized reports make it easy for contractors to stay on top of their spending and protect their margins on a variety of jobs.

Sage 100 Contractor Professionals

• Contractor-specific tools and reports.
• Mobile and tablet applications available for download.
• Integrates with third-party software applications.
• Payroll and time tracking included.
• Users praise the job costing module.

Cons of Sage 100 Contractor

• Reports could be more customizable.
• Longer learning curve due to number of features.
• There is no option for cloud-based software.
• The user interface seems outdated compared to some competitors.
• The system sometimes crashes, either not saving or logging out users.

If Sage 100 Contractor isn't right for you, check out these alternatives

Zoho Books

If you already have your contractor and construction management software figured out and are just looking for affordable accounting software, check out Zoho Books. This accounting software offers six different pricing plans, including a forever free tier for businesses with less than $50,000 in annual revenue, making it extremely scalable for contractors of all sizes.

Depending on the pricing plan you choose, you'll have access to features like recurring expenses, mileage tracking, expense tracking, timesheets, invoicing, budgeting, and more. If you were looking at QuickBooks but were put off by the more expensive pricing plans, then Zoho Books might be a good alternative for your needs.

Sage 300 CRE

If you like the sound of the Sage 100 Contractor but it's not advanced enough for your needs, consider the Sage 300 CRE. This offering from Sage is aimed at large and medium-sized contractors, construction and real estate companies. Like Sage 100 Contractor, Sage 300 CRE is intended to be an on-premises solution that you deploy on your own machines.

Features include general ledger management, advanced accounts, accounts payable and receivable functions, and job costing. You can add other features like payroll, time tracking, and CRM to further increase its functionality.

construction trend

If you're looking for a cloud-based solution that's built with the construction industry in mind, Buildertrend is definitely worth a look. Their pricing plans are completely transparent and start at $499 per month, and each plan gets unlimited projects and users. Features include project management, subcontractor management, time management, task management, and more.

Buildertrend also offers additional tools, such as native email marketing, messaging, and a customer portal, to help you advertise your business and stay in touch with customers. While it doesn't offer payroll, it integrates with multiple popular payroll apps, so your systems sync with each other.

Review methodology

To review Sage 100 Contractor, we watched demo videos, read installation guides, consulted product documentation, and analyzed user reviews. We consider factors such as pricing and transparency, user interface, design and customer service. We also weigh specific features such as estimating, job costing, proposals, contractor management, dispatching, scheduling, inventory, payroll, time, tracking and reporting.