Don't be in a mad rush to buy CADS Smart scaff .I have used CASE fo 10 years its got its shortcomings but considering how long its been around its proved itself. Ive just spent £3000 on the new Smart scaff and have found the following problems/ glitches/ hastles
1-You cant for example have multiple birdcages or loading towers or lift shafts of differing sizes under the same item number on a quote like you can with CASE i.e. you have to estimate 1 birdcage of a certain size then repeat the process for the next birdcage if its size is different under a new item number and so on ,instead of having lots of the same type of scaffolds under the same item number.
2-I still have case on my pc and have to cross check the prices every time I do a quote with CADS as the prices vary wildly like for like.
3-When estimating chimney stacks,temp roofs etc you enter the sizes and dimensions and then have to input your own price as the system doesn't work it out, you have to, when I called the help line I was told this is because there are new regs for temp roofs coming out and until they are out CADS won't be able to estimate this.What about chimneys though ?
4-The tg20 checker is great if you remember to go and check yourself to see the lads have put all the ties in where it tells you too, what I meen is its only as good as the guys you have on site erecting the scaffolding, however in its defence it prints out a lovely pass certificate for you to hand to the mc.
5-When entering the postcode for the windspeeds so you can tg20 check the scaffolds, I have noticed on 4 occasions the postcodes were nowhere near the actual job, this makes a mockery of the tg20 check and the tie dutys associated with them. I don't know if its a CADS problem or a google problem but its worth a check.
I have let CADS global know my feelings on these points ,(none of which were mentioned during the sales pitch) and if they are sorted out then it will be a more user friendly system than CASE,but it won't be better. The 3d drawing application looks great but isn't a lot of good realy, and the design it applications only any good if you already have autocad and can use that(it needs auto cad to function), it doesn't do the calcs, you still need to get a design. To sum up it looks great and sounds great but its average and the best part of 6k with all the extras unless you do a deal.
I think if Mr Day had been a bit quicker with the windows version of CASE and maybe had millions of pounds backing he could have come up with something much better than the CADS software .