Honest comparison
Spreadsheets vs Planning Ops: where the sheet’s fine, and where it bites
Let’s be straight: a spreadsheet runs more concrete pours than any software on earth, and for a lot of subs it’s genuinely enough. This isn’t a page telling you your spreadsheet is broken. It’s an honest look at the five places a sheet quietly costs concrete subs money — and what to do that doesn’t mean throwing it away.
Where the spreadsheet is genuinely fine
Five or fewer active projects, one office, pours about once a week, low cancellations, and GCs who don’t ask for branded schedules. If that’s you, stay on the sheet — really.
Where it bites concrete subs
- Weather is always stale — manual to enter, old by mid-week.
- Everyone’s on a different copy — emailing the file forks the truth.
- Double-bookings are invisible — both rows show; nothing warns you.
- Cancellations become a phone tree — a sheet can’t notify anyone.
- Yard rollups are manual — a weekly pivot table nobody trusts.
Side-by-side
| Spreadsheet (Excel / Google Sheets) | Planning Ops | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free / bundled | $149/mo office, crew free |
| Live weather per pour | Manual, stale | Auto, 14-day, by ZIP or postcode |
| One shared source of truth | Emailed copies fork | One live board, office + field |
| Crew double-booking alerts | None | Badge + popover |
| Confirm / reschedule / cancel notices | You text everyone, every time | One click (reschedule = drag the pill) to all contacts |
| Cubic-yard rollups | Manual pivots | Automatic by day/week/region |
| Branded GC PDF | Re-format weekly | One click |
| Learning curve | Everyone knows it | Minutes; crew = free viewers |
Run them side by side for a week.
Keep your spreadsheet. Add your next real pour to Planning Ops, run them side by side for a week, and use the cancellation feature the sheet can’t do. Most subs move the schedule over on their own once they watch the board update itself — on their timeline, not ours.
Still want the spreadsheet? We’ll email you a clean template, no strings — admin@planningops.com, subject “pour schedule template.”