Buildertrend Review: Features and Pricing 2022

Buildertrend is cloud-based construction enterprise resource planning (ERP) and accounting software that helps you manage your projects, create estimates, keep track of billing, and more. Its features include customer relationship management (CRM), payment processing, bill and purchase order (PO) management, and accounting integration. Its cheapest option costs $349 per month but is available for $99 per month for the first three months.

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What We Recommend Buildertrend For

Buildertrend, our choice for overall best construction accounting software, is great for homebuilders, remodelers, general contractors, and specialty contractors who need a single solution for CRM, accounting, project management, and service management. It’s used to process single-entry estimating, bidding requests, and building proposals for presale transactions. It’s also helpful for managing payment requests, POs, job costing, and more.

Buildertrend Is Especially Good For

• Construction companies that use QuickBooks Online: While Buildertrend already helps you manage your customers, jobs, and presales, its integration with QuickBooks Online also provides the tools you need to manage your finances with improved accuracy. For instance, while Buildertrend itself stores data on bills, expenses, jobs, POs, invoices, and approved timesheets, QuickBooks Online will handle bill payments and track expenses not recorded in Buildertrend.
• Construction companies that use Xero: While we recommend integrating Buildertrend with QuickBooks, it also integrates nicely with Xero. When integrated with that software, Buildertrend lets you generate customer invoices automatically from scheduled payments and approved orders, creates payables from approved POs, and improves communication between owners and subcontractors.
• Construction companies that need CRM software: A built-in CRM system provides a single tool to manage contact information, service records, and sales history.

Buildertrend Is Not a Good Fit For

• Users that prefer desktop software: If you need an accounting program that you can access without an internet connection, then Buildertrend isn’t for you. QuickBooks Premier Plus Contractor Edition is a good choice for contractors that want desktop software.
• Companies that aren’t QuickBooks or Xero users: Buildertrend isn’t a full accounting application. If you aren’t an existing QuickBooks or Xero user, choosing Buildertrend is an expensive option since you’ll have to pay two subscription fees: one for Buildertrend and one for either QuickBooks or Xero. Instead, we recommend JobPower because it has accounts payable (A/P), accounts receivable (A/R), and construction payroll features.
• Companies that want to manage equipment: Buildertrend doesn’t track your fixed assets. Sage 100 Contractor is a good choice for storing, managing, and tracking fixed asset information.

Are you looking for something different? Read our guide to the best small business accounting software to check out our top picks.

Buildertrend Pros and Cons

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Buildertrend Pricing

Buildertrend offers a huge discount for the first two months of the subscription. It has no free trial. However, you can cancel your subscription within your first 30 days with a full money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with Buildertrend’s features.

Buildertrend vs Competitors

Buildertrend is our pick for best overall construction accounting software. Because of its project management and accounting features, Buildertrend is a one-stop solution for your construction accounting needs.

Buildertrend as compared with competitors

In this comparison, we presented Buildertrend integrated with QuickBooks Online Plus. Although these two software products are separately billed, we found that Buildertrend with QuickBooks Online Plus is the ultimate solution for your construction management and accounting needs. We think that Sage 100 Contractor offers a middle ground between price and features. QuickBooks Premier Plus Contractor Edition is also a worthy option but you’ll be sacrificing construction management features such as scheduling and logs.

Buildertrend Features

Buildertrend combines project management, accounting, financial management, and presale management in a single platform. After logging in, its dashboard gives you quick access to all of its programs and features. Below is your default Buildertrend dashboard:

Buildertrend’s Web Dashboard

Buildertrend’s App Dashboard

Accounting Features

Buildertrend has accounting and financial tools that can help you manage the financial aspect of your construction projects.

Create and Manage Budgets
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Budgets: Before starting the construction, you can create a budget to set standard costs. But as the construction progresses, the budget module will also report actual costs and budget variances for your evaluation.

Sample Purchase Order
(Source: Buildertrend)

Purchase orders: Create detailed purchase orders and instructions in Buildertrend. The POs will contain all information about the order and subcontractors can sign below the PO if they agree to the terms.

Change Orders from Clients
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Change orders: You can create change orders if there are additional costs needed in the project. Clients can view the change order through the client portal and then use the comment section below the proposal to raise their concerns. If the clients agree with the change order, they can e-sign the change order and send additional payments.

Time in and out via the Mobile App
(Source: Buildertrend)

Time clock: Its built-in time tracking system includes a geofencing feature that alerts the supervisor when a crew enters the identified geofence zone. When the crew leaves the zone, the time clock stops recording the time, allowing the supervisor to track the employee even without clocking in or out. It also has GPS location tracking for more accurate tracking of remote and on-site employees.

Online Payments via the Client Portal
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Online payments: Clients can pay via electronic check or credit card through the client portal. If Buildertrend is integrated with QuickBooks and Xero, receiving payments automatically updates client invoices.

Lien Waivers
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Lien waivers: Once subcontractors have completed their job, you can release lien waivers that Buildertrend automatically generates once payments to subcontractors have been made.

Bookkeeping Software Integrations
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Integrations: You can export financial data to QuickBooks or Xero and non-financial data (e.g., schedules, documents, etc.) to Outlook, Google Calendar, and iCalendar.

Invoicing Module
(Source: Sposen Signature Homes)

Invoicing: Create line-item invoices based on your billing preference—whether you prefer progress billing, invoicing off estimates, or billing from your selection sheet. For easy invoice creation, you may use its readily available templates.

Project Management Features

Buildertrend offers project management features that can assist in planning, organizing, and monitoring construction projects. Whether you’re onsite or at the office, Buildertrend’s wide accessibility ensures that you can communicate to your employees wherever they are.

Scheduling via Web Dashboard
(Source: Buildertrend)

Scheduling: Buildertrend offers different ways to keep you on schedule. It has a built-in calendar where you can see an overview of the month. The calendar also shows your tasks as they occur during the week or month, similar to a Gantt chart.

Updating Your Team with Daily Logs
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Daily Logs: Logs help your team get real-time updates about accomplishments or changes in the construction process. You can upload photos and videos to alert off-site employees about problems or progress updates.

Creating To-do Lists via Mobile App
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To-do Lists: With the Buildertrend app, you can create to-do lists to ensure that all tasks are completed. You can even assign specific to-dos to any of your employees.

Managing Documents and Media in Buildertrend’s Online Storage
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Documents & Photos: Buildertrend offers unlimited storage for documents and photos. You can upload progress photos of construction projects or document issues encountered during construction.

Insert Markups and Notes in Plans
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Mark Up Plans: If the officer onsite detects a problem with the plans, Buildertrend has a markup feature to make annotations and drawings over the plan. This feature helps point out design mistakes or construction problems encountered that affect the initial design.

Communicating with Employees and Subcontractors
(Source: Buildertrend)

Messages via Mobile App: The Buildertrend app has push notifications from messages or emails to alert employees of assigned tasks, changes in construction, or any information that might concern them.

Managing Messages using the Web Browser
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Messages via Web Browser: People at the back office can easily see messages from employees in the field through the web browser.

Warranty Claims from Clients
(Source: Buildertrend)

Warranty: If clients experience problems with the completed project, clients can raise their concerns through Buildertrend’s client portal. Contractors will receive warranty claims requests in the Project Management tab. Clients can also send photos as evidence when filing warranty claims.

Customer Service and Ease of Use

Buildertrend has a simple and logical user interface that is easy to navigate, even for new users. It includes a handy menu at the top so that you can navigate through important features like Sales, Financials, Project Management, Files, Messaging, and Reports. The report insights are laid out well and can be viewed instantly with a few clicks of a button, showing breakdowns of job logs, estimated cost versus actual cost, sales leads, and other essential metrics.

Buildertrend Learning Academy is a training platform that helps Buildertrend users understand the features of the software. It has onboarding programs, certifications, and resources available for users subscribed to Buildertrend’s plans. You can also access monthly live webinars in the Learning Academy.

In addition to the Learning Academy, you can also join the Buildertrend Online Conference. This is a one-day conference for all users that aims to discuss strategies for using Buildertrend to improve their businesses. The conference is free, and you can watch the most recent conference on Buildertrend’s website.

Buildertrend Alternatives

Bottom Line

Buildertrend is a flexible solution that combines cost accounting, project management, and CRM in one place. It has an intuitive dashboard and some nice features, such as a mobile app that allows your employees to clock in and out directly from the job site. However, Buildertrend lacks accounting features unless you integrate with QuickBooks Online Plus. If you have surplus budget, we highly recommend integrating with QuickBooks Online Plus.