Another Viewpoint US acquisition

I have been tracking events at  US ERP vendor Viewpoint Construction Software since its first public expressions of interest in the SaaS construction collaboration sector in February 2012, through its purchase of enterprise content management software provider Construction Imaging in May 2012 (post) to its acquisition of UK SaaS provider 4Projects a year later. The latest move by the Portland, Oregon-based company has been the acquisition of another US business, Pennsylvania-based Maxwell Systems, who provide takeoff and estimating, project management and accounting solutions.

According to Viewpoint’s news release, the acquisition allows Viewpoint “to extend and increase their ability to provide contemporary and mission-critical software solutions, including estimating, to a broader construction market audience.” The deal will add 200 Maxwell people, bringing the Viewpoint employee total to almost 700 people. There will be no gradual re-brand: Maxwell’s website simply announces “it is now Viewpoint Construction Software”.

Viewpoint CEO Jay Haladay says the deal will converge similar software architectures and extend the company’s reach to contractors needing a simpler approach to ERP-type requirements: “Maxwell’s ProContractor product fits quite well. ProContractor is built using the same Microsoft components used in Viewpoint’s V6 Accounting and Project Management software, but is fine-tuned for simplicity and ease of use.” In short, it will extend Viewpoint’s reach to many smaller US contractor businesses outside the ENR top 400 (ie: those turning over under $100m pa).

Viewpoint solutions now address the construction life cycle from estimating and pre-construction through project delivery and collaboration to service maintenance.