Buildertrend Reviews

“Keeps my team aligned

Pros

It really does pull project management, scheduling and communication together into one hub. I rely on it to keep my field crews, office team and clients consistently on the same page throughout the entire project lifecycle. Having that single source of truth cuts down on confusion, delays and missed details making collaboration smooth from start to finish.

Cons

At first the breadth of features felt a bit overwhelming to me. I also noticed some overlapping tools that take time to set up so they match our internal workflows.

“Terrible support

Pros

I've found the software to be pretty solid and loaded with features but it does take me a considerable amount of time to learn how to use everything effectively.

Cons

Their customer service is horrible and they don't seem to make advancing the technology a top priority. They also make it very difficult for me to retrieve my information or export it if I decide to cancel.

“complex software

Pros

I was excited to try a tool that actually worked and helped simplify what we were doing making it easier to manage our huge workload of projects.

Cons

Rather than being user-friendly and easing our burden we found ourselves lost trying to locate various items, constantly having to rearrange and re-enter information we'd already added. We were told the software supported custom builds but in practice it couldn't really handle those properly at all.

“amazing scheduling and client-communication features

Pros

For my day-to-day work the scheduling and client-communication features are what I rely on most. I can coordinate subcontractors, keep tabs on project progress and push live schedule updates to homeowners in real time all within a single platform.

Cons

We hit a few bumps at the start especially when bringing over our legacy projects into the system. And some subcontractors were slow to adopt the app so not everyone switched over quickly.

“easy to send large payments

Pros

This tool made it pretty simple to send large, secure payments to my contractor without hassle. I also found it easy to track and handle each payment line item one by one which kept everything transparent, organized and manageable even for complex projects with multiple milestones or invoices.

Cons

I did notice that it slowed down how quickly the contractor received funds because I needed to confirm the smaller deposits that hit my bank and while that verification process made me feel more comfortable about the transactions I realize it caused some delay on their side.

“Brilliant support staff

Pros

What I truly value most is the level of support they provide. Whenever I have a question or feel unsure about something I can quickly jump into the chat or pick up the phone to call their support line and they patiently walk me through the steps until we find a workable solution. Their help is consistently reliable and I honestly think they're fantastic!

Cons

When a customer activates their account I as the builder lose the ability to edit their contact details which bothers me. Quite often we're working with older clients or people who aren't comfortable with technology and instead of me being able to update a phone number or email in ten seconds I end up spending a lot of time sending multiple emails or writing long instructions to show them how to add their info. It would save me so much time if it allowed builders to make those quick updates directly.

“accurate Job costing Budget tab

Pros

Everything's combined into one program and I find the new Job Costing Budget tab extremely accurate letting me manage the whole job budget from there. It also lets me make changes to the estimate after it's completed.

Cons

I found it a little confusing the first time I used it and the 'Selections' tab where homeowners pick their options isn't very user-friendly.

“everyone can check progress

Pros

It is really handy that I don't have to send dozens of photos. Everyone can see the progress themselves. My clients appreciate it too, many don't understand construction details so the photos make it much easier for them to follow along.

Cons

It took me a while to get the calendar and scheduling features to behave. I kept screwing up task dependencies and as a result items kept jumping around in the timeline in ways that felt unpredictable.

“convenient mobile app

Pros

The mobile app is a real highlight because it lets field staff, subcontractors and project managers update tasks, upload photos and keep communicating while they're out on site.

Cons

I often find the interface cluttered and it gets particularly annoying when I switch between the desktop and mobile versions since layout and controls don't always translate cleanly.

“Great feature set

Pros

Proposals, job costing and scheduling are standout features. It's an excellent platform for staying in touch with clients and monitoring project progress. We've actually closed sales because we had Buildertrend!

Cons

There's so much functionality that I don't utilize it fully and the 'college' training is only offered in a single location which is quite a distance from where we operate in Florida.

“Poor user experience

Pros

I've found it packed with a ton of useful features and their customer support has been outstanding.

Cons

Honestly the user experience feels terrible to me. It's been really difficult to get the hang of and I notice there's about ten times as many clicks required as necessary which makes it frustrating to use on both desktop and mobile.

“simple to use

Pros

Using it feels really simple and I find it's very user-friendly. I can control the whole schedule right from the app and every subcontractor I invite gets an instant notification so they stay up to date.

Cons

While I like the platform overall my subcontractor really disliked it because their phone kept getting frequent notifications which they found annoying and intrusive during the day.

“unfriendly design

Pros

I really liked the concept of being able to set up a client portal for my clients to use.

Cons

Because of its bulky design it felt at first like it was all too easy to accidentally push information into sections where I didn't want it stored which was worrying. They also didn't give me any real time to learn the platform before forcing me to pay for a subscription. I would have been much more likely to commit to a longer plan if they'd allowed me a proper period to get acquainted with how it works.

“Doesn't understand the canadian tax system

Pros

Well I think this could be a solid choice for a builder located in the USA.

Cons

The software didn't really suit the electrical side of our business. They had told us their system supported Canadian tax so because we're in Canada I pushed for clarity and would recommend you ask tough, specific questions before committing. After several months of training with the platform, we came to the conclusion that BT wouldn't meet our needs. Our main and most significant issue was the awkward, complex way Canadian tax was managed and it felt like they weren't motivated to fix that problem.

“simple to get started with

Pros

It's really simple to get the hang of. I appreciate the great tutorials and contacting customer service is not hard.

Cons

Honestly I don't have anything negative to say.

“customer service is lacking

Pros

I enjoy how it keeps jobs organized and I can customize it to fit my workflow as long as I keep the setup simple.

Cons

Customer support leaves a lot to be desired. I've often had to wait a while before getting a reply.

“Well structured interface

Pros

It consolidates all of our job information into a single spot. The interface is really well-organized and their academy resources have been useful when bringing new team members up to speed.

Cons

I notice they roll out updates frequently but the newer releases don't always improve things and sometimes feel like a downgrade.

“easy scheduling

Pros

I've found the scheduling to be simple and easily reusable across similar projects.

Cons

Unfortunately it doesn't sync with our accounting software (Sage Intacct Construction).

“Requires a lot of manual work

Pros

When it comes to the project-management side I think it functions well. The support team gets back quickly and I find the AI chat feature genuinely helpful.

Cons

It's clearly not built with the UK in mind. I have to add VAT manually to every single proposal, quote and invoice which is time-consuming and error-prone. The QuickBooks integration is extremely basic and seems restricted to one user account so syncing and multi-user workflows are a headache. There's no proper concept of corporate clients with multiple contacts. Instead every individual contact is treated as a separate client which makes managing larger accounts awkward. Entering bills feels much slower than in QuickBooks and there are no OCR capabilities to speed up invoice capture which these days I expect as standard. The CRM is pretty rudimentary and reporting is disappointing. I can't even pull a simple figure for how much I've invoiced across all projects this month which is a basic requirement for running my business.

“Quick customer service

Pros

My customer service experience has been quick and personable and they help tremendously! Honestly they're incredible and I adore the interface!

Cons

I don't find anything I dislike significantly.

“Meets my needs but soooo expensive

Pros

This app handles everything I need. It manages finances, contracts and proposals.

Cons

I found the cost to be prohibitively high for what I can afford because I'm a small-town remodeler.

“Integrates well with QuickBooks

Pros

One feature I really appreciate is the ability to rename clients however I want plus I can add unlimited photos. The way everything is organized is excellent and syncing payments with QuickBooks works brilliantly.

Cons

A frustrating thing for me is that filters stay applied and don't clear automatically so I sometimes get stuck looking at the same filtered results.

“inflexible with fixed costs

Pros

The time clock is super easy to use and I genuinely like the built-in takeoff feature.

Cons

I'm annoyed that I can't apply taxes to estimates or invoices and I find it inflexible when dealing with fixed-cost items, time-and-materials billing or projects that require multiple contracts or different structural setups.

“appreciate the messaging system

Pros

I love the messaging system. My clients can read and reply straight from their own email which is especially helpful for older folks who aren't comfortable with technology. It also keeps every conversation organized and on record for our team. Midway through a thread, we have the option to switch to a team-only chat inside the client's conversation and I find that feature very useful.

Cons

I feel like it is no longer getting updates.

“Provides detailed reports

Pros

Using it was pretty simple and I was able to generate thorough reports that I needed for making informed decisions.

Cons

Overall I haven't run into any problems. Everything is working smoothly and I don't have any issues.

“Has all the features we need

Pros

For our team it provides nearly every feature we need to get the job done

Cons

I've noticed it's somewhat disorganized and doesn't keep our documents properly separated.

“ability to track change orders

Pros

Being able to track change orders made a huge difference for our billing workflow and I find the scheduling interface very user-friendly and simple. It's simple to tweak small items without needing to rebuild an entire schedule from scratch.

Cons

I'd like to see more customization options so we can better adjust the platform to feel unique to our company.

“customer support has gone downhill

Pros

Back in 2017 when I began using it their team was so helpful and customized the different modules to fit our company's needs. After the company was acquired, however, I noticed that ongoing product support wasn't nearly as strong.

Cons

I didn't receive the same level of service after the company was bought out.

“excellent for proposals and billing

Pros

It's great for preparing proposals, handling billing and processing change orders. The client portal is very user-friendly, the scheduling tools are reliable and I've received top-notch support.

Cons

The price is on the high side and I noticed the CRM layout along with ACH payment processing could be sluggish. Juggling multiple accounts under one client was a bit difficult for me, though they eventually sorted out most of those problems.

“Tries to do too much

Pros

For my construction business it really serves as a one-stop shop for everything we need.

Cons

It tries to handle too many things at once and because of that none of its features are particularly strong.

“clean interface

Pros

I really appreciate that it has a tidy interface that makes it easy to move around.

Cons

The sheer number of features feels overwhelming and makes it seem a bit complicated. The tools were simply too much to handle.

“Lets me monitor task status

Pros

I like that it lets me keep every client's details inside a single app. From the start through completion of each job I can monitor the status of tasks and track payments tied to each project. I can also add change orders and record payments for materials and labor.

Cons

We didn't find any real drawbacks. The interface is simple to use but we felt the pricing was somewhat high for our budget.

“Friendly client-facing portal

Pros

The client-facing portal, the selections workflow and the way messages and communication are organized have been really helpful for me.

Cons

I wanted there to be more backend financial features so I could handle budgets and reporting with greater flexibility.

“solid choice for construction industry

Pros

I think it's a solid CRM suited to the construction industry.

Cons

My team and I find the integrations limited so it ends up being fairly hands-on for our tech people.

“effective for team coordination

Pros

It really brings the whole team together so projects are coordinated properly and everything is much clearer.

Cons

I don't have any major complaints. Sometimes I publish the schedule online before I've finalized all the details but I'm still learning and really appreciate the training courses that help me work through those hiccups.

“Great for creating and sending estimates

Pros

I really enjoyed building and sending estimates through it. After you invest the time to set up your templates and list out cost items, you essentially end up with a complete workflow that any salesperson can pick up and use without trouble.

Cons

I noticed that for years their team would roll out occasional updates and add new features. That stopped, though, once they were acquired by Buildertrend and I'm not sure whether updates have resumed since then.

“centralized solution

Pros

I appreciate having everything building-related in one place. The selection tools work really well and managing my calendar alongside all project documents is super convenient. Being able to handle purchase orders and change orders through the same system makes my workflow much smoother.

Cons

The toughest thing is how they constantly update and modify features, it's a double-edged sword really.

“Helpful support team

Pros

The software is really helpful for our needs. Customer support has been very helpful and the training they provide is outstanding.

Cons

Honestly there are so many features packed into this thing that I feel overwhelmed trying to learn everything. I just don't have enough time to explore all the capabilities it offers.

“easy to understand

Pros

Found it easy to use. The interface feels natural and simple to understand.

Cons

Everything's been fine and I don't have any negatives to mention.

“complete solution for construction industry

Pros

As someone in construction I find this software extremely detailed for running a construction company.

Cons

Although I appreciate its features I feel it is expensive for our small construction firm to realistically afford or manage on a tight budget.

“Last year update messed everything up

Pros

I can access almost all our project data going back five years which has been very helpful for referencing past work and tracking our history.

Cons

The software update from last year completely broke everything. There's no auto-save feature and even after hitting save multiple times, closing a window still shows unsaved changes warnings. No shortcut keys exist for basic functions like save, ok, cancel or even CTRL F which wastes so much time scrolling through windows. You can't move or resize windows either making it really difficult for me. This gets especially frustrating when editing online documents as the popup window can't be resized so many right-click menu options become inaccessible when the menu extends beyond the window boundaries. Documents aren't available for offline viewing either. The estimate and budget tab columns can't be resized or reordered, forcing constant side-to-side scrolling if your mouse supports it. Without a horizontal scroll wheel, you have to scroll down to the bottom to use the tiny scroll bar, then back up to find your line item, then down again to scroll left and continue working. The proposal format used to be organized and customizable to match our preferences. Now there's no way to show subgroup totals or create subgroups at all and the line item formatting looks bulky and terrible with zero customization options. When items link to Square, you can't modify numbers or text from the BT side making it impossible to easily adjust wording or totals in proposals. Updating things in Square and syncing back creates duplicate items that must be deleted individually one by one. The old version worked fine but this new version only removed useful functions while adding features that don't work properly. The only usable feature is TODOs for field crews but there are no TODOs for estimating or office staff. Since our subs and vendors don't use the platform, all the communication and scheduling features go unused.

“scheduling features are nice

Pros

In my role as a Superintendent, the things I depend on most are the daily log, project progress photos and the scheduling tools.

Cons

I can't really comment beyond that because I've only used it for those specific functions mentioned earlier.

“effective for planning projects

Pros

I can easily schedule my projects on the calendar thanks to clearly defined checkpoints.

Cons

At first I had some trouble finding my way around but after I became familiar with the platform it felt really nice to use.

“avoid it at all costs

Pros

The only thing that stood out were their promises about how useful it would be.

Cons

What really bothered me was that they kept insisting the software could perform features that it clearly couldn't. I ended up several thousand dollars in between subscription charges and setup labor and spent countless hours on support calls trying to make it work. Only after all that did we find out it simply couldn't do what the salesperson promised. It felt like a huge, avoidable waste of my time.

“Friendly staff

Pros

Having everything I need in one place is very convenient. The support team is really approachable and always ready to help when I have questions.

Cons

Only downside is I don't have enough time to dive deeper and learn all the features it offers.

“Invoicing and reporting could be improved

Pros

I really like how flexible the calendar system is and the way it handles production scheduling, gives me tons of options for planning things out.

Cons

Bookkeeping features could use some work and I've had issues with invoicing functionality. The reporting tools aren't as solid as I'd hoped either.

“Useful photo feature

Pros

It has made my day-to-day so much simpler. What I appreciate most is being able to dispatch tasks to subcontractors and monitor everything through their Daily Logs. I no longer have to visit the site to get the full picture. I can handle the work by reviewing the photos and notes they upload. The app also records the date, time and GPS location of every entry which I rely on as evidence that we completed a task at a particular moment and if anything occurs afterward, I can show it wasn't caused by our team.

Cons

I really don't have any complaints as It's been very useful. I can quickly create, assign and close tasks through the platform. It's simple and genuinely helpful for keeping things moving.

“Requires a lot of manual entry

Pros

Honestly there are some newer alternatives out there now that perform better.

Cons

The whole proposals and estimates setup is frustrating. They're separate modules and even when you try importing proposals to estimates, you lose templating for allowances and selections. No matter how I approach it, there's always tons of manual entry for every new job, plus duplicate work with allowances and selections. Price increases happen constantly while they focus on random features instead of fixing the main problems. They keep rolling out partial fixes that don't really solve anything. Try finding their videos on YouTube and you'll come up empty. Nothing there at all. Compare that to JobTread (where I ended up moving my business), they have plenty of videos showing exactly how everything works. Makes you wonder what they're trying to hide.

“They listen to customers

Pros

Our team relies on the scheduling tool and the invite feature to bring subcontractors into jobs most of the time which makes each project's processes more transparent. Our showrooms have started using it too. It cuts down on back-and-forth and puts more eyes on the timeline so everyone stays accountable.

Cons

I don't have any real complaints. The software already does more than we require and keeps giving us chances to learn. More regular, scheduled training would help those of us juggling packed calendars since technology evolves fast. Still, I'm happy that the product keeps innovating and listens to users' needs and responds to feedback quickly.

“Wide range of features

Pros

I've used it as project management software for construction, mostly residential projects. I relied on it for tracking project progress, managing costs and staying in touch with clients. The platform offers a wide range of features and user levels to work with. It includes purchase orders, change orders, invoicing, blueprint management, selections and more. Having everything consolidated in one spot makes it simple to get a high-level overview and drill into any specific detail when needed. BT also syncs with QuickBooks which makes accounting much easier.

Cons

Getting BT set up took me quite a while and I needed training to really understand how to use it. If you're technically comfortable, you might get by without formal training but I found you'd miss many of the valuable features that make it worthwhile. Another pain point is the QuickBooks sync, it can throw errors and requires everything to line up perfectly. From my experience, it's safest to build your chart of accounts and items in QuickBooks first and then import them into BT during setup so you know the accounts are linked and accurate.