Buildertrend

4.5 (1,636)
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Calm the chaos of Construction Management

Overall rating

4.5 /5
(1,636)
Value for Money
4.3/5
Features
4.2/5
Ease of Use
4.3/5
Customer Support
4.7/5

93%
recommended this app
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1636 Reviews

Jack
Jack
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Welcome into the 21st Century

Reviewed on 2020/02/17

9/10, I haven't had any major problems with the software. Theres not too many glitches, and like I...

9/10, I haven't had any major problems with the software. Theres not too many glitches, and like I said prior if you put the effort into it, it is 100% worth it. No question. Not only that but you have a great support team to back you up, whether you're a techy or not they can really shed some light.

Pros

Phenomenal Software, it should replace everything that a construction company uses. I get that some dont like moving forward to tech, but once you actually put the work into BT to use it, it makes everything so much faster and coordination is top-notch. The fact we can give homeowners access to see whats going on construction wise saves us time and stress. We generally dont need to communicate basic things to them, they can see it for themselves!

Cons

The selections software is still a little bit limited, takes hours of work. Some sort of master template to feed everything would be amazing if it could be implemented in the future. Also the loading glitch, and how I have to "click X" to search another property. Can make going through several properties fast to a chore since it has to refresh so many times.

Response from Buildertrend

Jack, thank you so much for your review and feedback! We appreciate you taking the time to do this. And I'll be sure to pass your feedback along to our Product team.

Jen
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 8.0 /10

There are a lot of kinks that need worked out

Reviewed on 2019/06/20

Job costing has been more accurate than using spreadsheets (As long as people bring me receipts and...

Job costing has been more accurate than using spreadsheets (As long as people bring me receipts and clock in to the correct job, which has been a challenge). Customer communication has improved, and thus, customer satisfaction has improved.

Pros

I like the sense of security it provides to our customers since they can log in and see how their job is doing.

Cons

It does everything, but it doesn't do everything WELL. For instance, it does time tracking and GPS tracking.... but it only tells us where our guys are when they clock in and out. It doesn't give us a map of where they went the whole time like T-sheets did, so we have no way of knowing if someone went to the job site, clocked in and then left. It sync's to Quickbooks for payroll, but not correctly. It sends over all of the guys time as Regular time. I have to manually input their hours if I want to pay them for their overtime. It has this Buildertrend Flat Rate Code that nobody can edit or delete and it causes a lot of problems for us. The list goes on..... Whenever I ask them if they can help, I'm told, "Well it doesn't have that feature." Then I ask if they can put in a tech request, but they go on telling me how I should do it online, it will be more effective. That's not right. They should be able to put in a tech request for me and have it be just as effective as if I did it online.

Miguel
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 0.0 /10

Clunky at best.

Reviewed on 2021/12/01

They tried - nice people. You can’t overcome poor design and development. It has to be built with...

They tried - nice people. You can’t overcome poor design and development. It has to be built with ease of use being a top priority.

Pros

They are fantastic at marketing their product and putting on a good demo. Strong feature set if you can overcome a lack of flow and common sense usability.

Cons

Packed with features yet ease of use is paid no mind. I was in the software field when everything transitioned to SAS from legacy hardware. The most important factors (high level) are security, down time, make it extremely user friendly, and feature functionality (not at the risk of losing ground on a user friendly interface). Today, if one can’t jump into a software for the first time ever and make it work with ease then it has little to no value (my humble opinion). This is exactly why many companies provide only 30 or 14 day trials or less. It either meets your needs or not but if you can’t figure it out because the execution is poor and the interface is clunky, it’s not a worthwhile investment. I think this company has focused too much on marketing with social media heads like “The Build Show” for popularity and too little on development. Make it stupid simple to where a VA in the Philippines can use it with ease and no background, only then would I have interest in trialing it. Also, the mobile app should be wiped clean and redone entirely - not usable. On to the next.

Alternatives Considered

CoConstruct

Reasons for Switching to Buildertrend

They merged and made their pricing model simple.
Greg
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Great Organizational tool !

Reviewed on 2019/06/18

I love being able to track all purchases and labor against the original proposal. It allows you to...

I love being able to track all purchases and labor against the original proposal. It allows you to learn where you are making money, and where you are losing, so you can adjust from one project to the next. In this way, you can fine tune pricing to be as competitive as possible in the marketplace.

Pros

I like the level of customization available in the software, it allows me to detail my proposals, and make them look the way I want, so they stand out from the competition.
Also love the financials feature, and the schedule, so the client always knows what the project balance is, and what is happening next.

Cons

To fully utilize the software, there is a lot of data to be entered and updated regularly on a large project, which can take a fair bit of time.

Alternatives Considered

Sage Construction Suite

Switched From

Sage Construction Suite

Reasons for Switching to Buildertrend

I liked the format and tools better in Buildertrend, and was impressed at how responsive the Buildertrend development team was to changes and updates.
Christopher
Overall rating
  • Industry: Architecture & Planning
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Great versatility for GC and also useful for an architectural drafter

Reviewed on 2019/06/13

We are able to keep track of more jobs easier with Buildertrend. Our production volume was at our...

We are able to keep track of more jobs easier with Buildertrend. Our production volume was at our limit before searching for online databases and project management software; with Buildertrend we have been able to make our business work significantly more smoothly, and we have information at our fingertips which in the past was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Pros

Buildertrend is a wonderful way to keep track of what is going on. This includes scheduling; creating, recording and sending documentation; organizing projects neatly; and staying aware of finances. It also has a very helpful Leads section, which helps me keep track of prospects from the earliest stage of when I become aware of them. In a word, I would say I appreciate most the organization which Buildertrend offers.

Cons

To be succinct, the user interface (UI) is decent but could use some improvement. The Files section in particular could use some work. I would like it to be versatile and able to navigate easily. An example of improved versatility is being able to access information in a simpler and faster way, such as Windows Explorer offers in how I see and can analyze various folders and files. An example of easy navigation is being able to tile multiple view windows so I can compare file locations across multiple Jobs to keep similar file types in the same locations, and so I could ensure my folders all have identical names across multiple Jobs

Alternatives Considered

Procore and WorkflowMax

Reasons for Switching to Buildertrend

It best fit the size of our business as well as offered the precise functions and volume we needed.

Response from Buildertrend

Christopher, thank you for taking the time to give us your honest feedback and review! I have passed your suggestions along to our Product team.

Stephanie
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Great Customizable Software

Reviewed on 2019/06/14

Prior to Buildertrend, we had to use three programs to manage our jobs and purchase orders, now we...

Prior to Buildertrend, we had to use three programs to manage our jobs and purchase orders, now we just use Buildertrend. We are saving time and are able to keep everything in one spot!

Pros

I love that buildertrend is so customizable. The software was able to be tailored for our specific needs while many of the other programs we looked at were not. The purchase order feature has allowed us to streamline and reduce our expense processing time. The app works well for our field operations and sales reps. Tech support and online chat people are very helpful in quickly answering questions.

Cons

Although it's infrequent, we sometimes struggle with internet connections in storm/rural areas and the software does not have an offline mode. I dislike the receive payment feature as you can't record a payment by itself, you do it inside the invoice and although you can receive partial payments, you can record multiple checks in the payment box

Alternatives Considered

ComputerEase and Method CRM

Reasons for Choosing Buildertrend

Large job management - scheduling multiple scopes for multiple buildings, purchase order management between people in the field and admin, customizable document/photo folder organization

Reasons for Switching to Buildertrend

The software was customizable and was able to alleviate my pain points with our software and allowed us to reduce the number of programs we were using. The staff was very knowledgeable about their product, and designated me a rep who was familiar with construction and our accounting program for integration.
Ed
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

A great Project Management and Communication Platform

Reviewed on 2019/06/13

My overall experience with Buildertrend has been positive. I run a small homebuilding company, and...

My overall experience with Buildertrend has been positive. I run a small homebuilding company, and this tool has allowed me to organize my workflow and communicate with my customers and my sub-contractors efficiently. The iPhone App works great, and Buildertrend allows unlimited storage so I can upload all my pictures into one place for my records. Great Platform! I can't say enough about my Coach and Buildertrend University. Exceptional experience as well!

Pros

I like that it is easy to use. I also LOVE the iPhone app. Once everything has been loaded, I can send large files, communicate effectively, and raise the efficiency of my team and sub-contractors. I also Love the ability to template a project for easy set up of a new project!

Cons

When building significant line item estimates, the browser page has to refresh each time as you switch from the budget tab to the estimate tab. Even with a fast connection, it takes a bit of time to update. Not a big complaint since you can upload a spreadsheet from excel for the initial set up.

Alternatives Considered

CoConstruct

Reasons for Choosing Buildertrend

At the time that I switched, the other product did not have a native app, so it was like a glorified web browser on my smartphone. That was the main reason why I switched to BuilderTrend.

Switched From

CoConstruct

Reasons for Switching to Buildertrend

I chose Buildertrend ultimately because of the price, the overall value, and most of all, since they had a great iPhone App. The platform has evolved and has gotten much better and more organized. The pace of the added features and improvements will keep me coming back as a satisfied customer.
Melody
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Customer Support

Reviewed on 2020/02/17

We do not have a "main office" so it is very difficult to have one central place where all...

We do not have a "main office" so it is very difficult to have one central place where all information is kept. This software solved that problem, multiple users can look at the same file at the same time to discuss things.

Pros

This software is VERY user friendly no matter what your computer skill level may be. The online tutorials are great and a huge time saver if you are unsure what to do. The customer support staff, should you need them, is always very quick to respond and explains how to execute your task. We were fortunate to have a two day training session with our representatives and that was priceless. Our subs and vendors are able to access our system so it really cuts down on paperwork flow and we know they are seeing the most up to date information on each project. We did have some special needs in our company to tweak things a bit and that was never a problem.

Cons

Nothing really, it just takes time to get use to how it flows and again, any question that I did not think of until I dove in feet first, I just emailed or called customer support and got my answers right away.

Response from Buildertrend

Melody, thank you so much for your 5-star review! We truly appreciate your kind words and feedback.

Kris
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Buildertrend is simple to use

Reviewed on 2019/06/13

Pros

Buildertrend is super simple for even the lowest tech person. It keeps all our data in one place that all employees can see. Communication is so much better with this product!

Cons

Only one complaint - There's no way for the users to record their lunch break so that we can conform to CA regulations, also there's not a way that I know of for the employee to electronically submit their timesheet info with a signature

Alternatives Considered

Procore

Reasons for Choosing Buildertrend

Pro Est was so hard to set up and keep maintained. Also didn't offer barely any functionality except estimating.

Switched From

ProEst

Reasons for Switching to Buildertrend

Cost

Response from Buildertrend

We appreciate your review and feedback, Kris! I have passed your suggestions about the lunch break and electronic signatures for timesheet info on to our Product team.

Nathan
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Taking the stress out of Managing

Reviewed on 2020/02/10

We had 5 programs that we were using to manage the projects. BT was able to reduce us down to 1. ...

We had 5 programs that we were using to manage the projects. BT was able to reduce us down to 1. Overall its been a great program to use and it has helped us stay on schedule. It helps clients know where they are at and how much they owe. It helps us know if something has been billed/invoiced and helps us manage change orders. Great Program. Phone app is great also.

Pros

It covers all the aspects of managing a job; from when the lead is created, to when the job is done. It gives you the power to customize, to a point, the program to fit your company and allows you to make changes on the fly. We keep up on the schedule daily but the schedule keeps our jobs running smooth. The time-clock is top notch and it communicates with QuickBooks. Overall, its the whole package and it all is two thumbs up.

Cons

The ability to customize certain things, like tabs or change the wording. All other items Builder Trend fixes as we bring them to their attention.

Alternatives Considered

CoConstruct

Reasons for Switching to Buildertrend

We felt BT would be easier for our clients to use and navigate.
Jamil
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Good PM Software if you think outside the box

Reviewed on 2019/06/13

Overall I am happy with our investment into Buildertrend, but we have also put a lot of work to get...

Overall I am happy with our investment into Buildertrend, but we have also put a lot of work to get it working for what we need. It can be very time consuming to solve how you operate in Buildertrend unless you use it at a very basic level. They really need to walk you through how to set up and use Buildertrend as a new user and how to more fully customize it for your company needs.

I have not been very pleased with how slow and unresponsive they have been in implementing changes. They need to take customer feedback more seriously and utilize their customers who are heavy users to help show them how to improve the software.

Pros

I really like that there is unlimited storage and that since it is cloud-based, everyone sees the same data as soon as it is entered. There are also ways to customize the software in several areas, especially To-Do's. Permissions are very granular which can be good, although it can be complex as well.

Cons

Understanding how all areas of the software interact is complex, you can't customize fields in Events/Schedule, most of all I dislike the search and filter settings. They are very poor and make it hard to deal with large data sets. Their filters are missing exact matches between items in the same category. There are a handful of other little complaints, but they really need to add custom fields to Events and then update their filter settings to allow exact matches only and also use standard search engine criteria in the text fields.

Alternatives Considered

Procore, PlanSwift and Autodesk Construction Cloud

Reasons for Switching to Buildertrend

The overall value of the software and the variety of features.
Justin
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

A great software for custom builders, with room for improvements

Reviewed on 2020/02/16

Overall, Buildertrend has been a great addition to our company and we look forward to continuing to...

Overall, Buildertrend has been a great addition to our company and we look forward to continuing to use it. We hope new features are continually added.

Pros

The daily logs feature is very helpful as a place to easily log events, weather, photos, docs, etc. that may occur at a job site on a particular day. The tagging feature makes this even better when you are trying to look at any days that had inspections on them. The owner invoices and job price summary features are very beneficial to our clients that are looking to quickly figure out how much they have spent and what is remaining.

Cons

The estimating feature leaves a lot to be desired. Compared to what we came from, Buildertrend feels like a step back. The software cannot handle a large number of line items and struggles to keep up. We were told to have fewer line items in order to fix this.

Response from Buildertrend

Justin, thank you so much for your honest review and feedback! I will pass your feedback about our Estimating feature on to our Product team. Thanks again!

Dan
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Your business needs processes!

Reviewed on 2020/02/04

BuilderTrend helped us design and implement a purchase order system that has significantly reduced...

BuilderTrend helped us design and implement a purchase order system that has significantly reduced job profit slippage by getting our trades and suppliers on board with accurate expectations and proposals before the project begins. BuilderTrend purchase orders facilitate the communication that is essential to keeping a project on budget.

Pros

BuilderTrend offers a comprehensive approach to managing customer interactions, project development and construction management. Implementing BuilderTrend will help you define processes for the key elements of your business - the processes that help you make the most money!

Cons

BuilderTrend integrates with QuickBooks desktop but the interface can be a bit clunky. It does work but requires a bit of patience, as do all things QuickBooks.

Cindy
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Comprehensive Platform

Reviewed on 2019/06/13

When I started at this company, they did not have any kind of project management in place. People...

When I started at this company, they did not have any kind of project management in place. People would refer to documents within OneDrive to obtain details, and that was not always updated nor where details provided at the time needed. Everyone would always scramble at the last minute to find out order details and whatnot. There also was not any security with certain documentation. Now Buildertrend provides the ability to screen certain people from certain information.
The ability to upload photos has helped to prevent issues from becoming bigger ones, as it's not always possible to get out to every jobsite, but getting a visual on progress is extremely helpful.
Overall, everyone seems to be quite happy with the program.
The level of customer support Buildertrend provides is outstanding. Their Live Chat option or contacting your coach for assistance is easy and typically has great results. They are always looking to ensure you are satisfied, and will go beyond to inquire or find out information if they are unable to assist with the issue.

Pros

I like that Buildertrend brings together all aspects of residential construction - homeowners, sub-trades, vendors, internal users, and allows everyone to see the information they need to see, as well as provides them the ability to upload photos, documentation and even provide comments to certain areas within the program. This gives everyone an overall sense of what is happening within the project.
Having everyone tied into the program eliminates a lot of extra searching for information, as well as lessen the overall messages one needs to send out to verify parts of the projects - selections, drawings and pricing can be Approved or Declined. This also helps to eliminate outdated/non-approved details from occurring.

Cons

The program has a lot to take in, which I suppose is expected, but for me, knowing how things affect something else is really important, as we are a Canadian company trying to work with an American program and American terminology. I have had to experiment a bit with how best to enter information, and sometimes redo it altogether.
I do not like how often I have to press on users to be entering information and using the platform for communications, but that does not have anything to do with the program itself.

Response from Buildertrend

Cindy - thank you for your review and honest feedback! We appreciate you taking the time to do this and we've passed your feedback along to our Product team.

Andrew
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 5.0 /10

Robust program-needs refined

Reviewed on 2019/07/02

The schedule keeps jobs on track. The PO process keeps costs in check. The time card keeps man...

The schedule keeps jobs on track. The PO process keeps costs in check. The time card keeps man hours job costed.

Pros

It provides a solution for managing a construction company

Cons

although the program performs many tasks, and even more than we need, it is glitchy and does not provide a smooth experience. When we click on windows to update budgets for instance, the windows flash and reload and resize multiple times. I have tried different browsers and different devices. This is not a user problem, but a problem with the way the data is served up. To perform some routine tasks, there is too many clicks required to get where you need to go. Too many windows and drilling down to get a number changed etc.
Too many places for messages to be hiding. Customers send a message and think we have it, but we have at least three places to check to find the message. Sometimes, messages that come to email cannot be replied to. Very frustrating.
BTW: We used Co construct for a while and liked the flow of the program much better. It ran smoother and was much quicker to get what we needed. It kept the spec sheet in front of the customer and kept good organization of communication. We switched to BT because of job costing and the time card feature, which we now understand are available with CC.
Another huge grind, the budget sheet does not do a good job of showing the running cost on the job and whether we are over or under our budget (variance). Several reports can be created, but none of them do that. We have to export to excel and manipulate it ourselves. Seems like this should be a basic function. CC does this well also. Just sayin' :)

Cord
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1-5 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

I didn't know what I was missing...

Reviewed on 2020/02/05

I am finding myself being more accurate and detailed with estimates and labor costs. The time clock...

I am finding myself being more accurate and detailed with estimates and labor costs. The time clock feature takes a lot of calculating off my shoulders. The scheduling, estimating, change orders, to-do's, daily logs, and PO's/bills features cut my logging time in half and the fact that everything is stored on Buildertrend and that I can make this information visible to clients prevents me from going through repetitive actions to keep people on the same page. Using the cost catalog with cost codes makes for a streamlined process in creating and releasing information to the client, this also keeps an accurate record of activities and makes for a very professional look when showing these documents to clients. I have so much more time in my day to tackle more productive and urgent matters while handling day to day operations for current jobs in a fraction of the time compared to not using Buildertrend.

Pros

The live updates in communication with subs and clients makes this software very desirable for my clients. Simplifies the process of communication and keeping people up to date.

Cons

For a single person that handles all day to day operations for a company and trying to learn a new software is a challenge. Not necessarily a con but to integrate the software makes for a bigger workload for a couple weeks.

Danielle
Overall rating
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support

Reviewed on 2013/03/26

We are a boutique custom home builder; each project is unique and personalized. Although I was not...

We are a boutique custom home builder; each project is unique and personalized. Although I was not involved in the selection of this software, my understanding is that we wanted a program that could be accessed by all the parties involved, handle the scheduling and move us away from paper checklists - ultimately allowing all users to be both informed of changes and to be able to plan for future events without having to directly communicate with each person.

As far as scheduling goes this system has failed. It has caused more time consuming questions. My complaint is that you can only link item to item by a (or a couple) predecessor(s) that, ultimately, the program struggles with which item is next in the list if a few of them share the same linked task. Also in a best case scenario, this scheduled list is how you build a house - but in most cases something, whether it be trade related or whether related or inspection related, cause a task to be delayed but the other ones would continue on schedule however the program has linked the start date to the the delayed task and now the whole calender is messed up. Or perhaps the exterior of the house generally starts after framing and roofing but maybe a winter storm makes this impossible so you continue the interior for weeks. Then you try and adjust backwards and because your best case scenario template stated it should commence at framing completion and you delayed that. Thus your left with a domino affect of wrong dates. and a series of emails sent to vendors informing them of the delay that really didn't apply to them. So they change schedules and you are left with no trades to do the interior work that in your mind could and should be fine.

I also find that the program doesn't offer enough flexibility in the selection section. It allows me to upload a previously created document to be stored that a homeowner could then log on and download. They then fill out and can't re-upload this document, so they are forced to fax or scan and email back to us. This is neither time effective nor practical. Perhaps it would be better if we were able to create a checklist that was interactive in this section, similar to the change orders where we type out the change and the client could update decisions. In our company we don't limit our clients to three choices of floor plans and two cabinet doors and 4 granite selections, they are free to choose anything they can dream of. As a result we cannot load a document that would apply to all builds.

However, I believe the change orders tab is well thought out, easy to use and provides all the options to make it a valuable asset. The warranty section does a great job of tracking and notifying and saving time and assuring that service and warranty items are handled and accepted. The daily log and messaging capabilities that allow us to keep a record of notes or messages in one area logged by date and job site is extremely valuable and a good system.

Furthermore, the software as a whole is easy to learn, has a logical and simple layout so even those who are not computer savvy can fumble through without creating errors and won't be too intimidated by the complexity of the software to attempt to use it.

Finally, the technical support and training provided is always quick to help resolve an issue or aid in a question. New training is scheduled in a very quick time frame for free and is tailored to the person that requires it. This is handled exceptionally well in a time when often companies forget you exist once the purchase is complete.

So, we have decided that we will use BuilderTrend for those things that they excel at and don't use it as a scheduling tool.

James
Overall rating
  • Industry: Commercial Real Estate
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 6-12 months
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Likelihood to recommend 2.0 /10

I am a horrified customer forced to use this product to refit condos destroyed by Hurricane...

Reviewed on 2018/12/05

It looks like a well thought out package. It would be so much better if users could change...

It looks like a well thought out package. It would be so much better if users could change selections. Road Runner said it is not possible, because the construction company needs to protect itself, in case a user changes an item after construction starts. Hogwash! Use a time stamp. Take a snapshot! Freeze the app at construction start date. There are many ways to skin that cat.

Pros

Pictures, prices, all available in one spot.
I love the fact that I can view by location, or category. But it is impractical to use because there is so much dead space between items.
It is great being able to tally up costs as you pick items. unfortunately the costs show up in the wrong fields. See the cons section for more.
I really love the pictures and the details. the fact that I can see multiple images , in different rooms of the floor that I picked, for example.

Very intuitive.

Cons

Summary Price information is all wrong. My total price and remaining balance are the same! How can that be? As I pick additional items the dollar figure under selections made goes down. How can that be? I have no idea what my condo rebuild will cost me.
It takes 500 click for me to pick flooring for 1 condo. I should be able to say "I want Tile- Wood Plank- 6"x 24" Lumber Gray tiles throughout". It takes hours for me to record what should take 1 minute!
Each section is organized difrently. in the 1st section (enterance) my tile is 1st on the grid. Then on the second(Kitchen) it is last! This makes it so hard to search.
If I look at a category view, there are page, after page of blank space between items, making it impossible to use. I have to go through 10 pages to move between flooring selections in this view making it useless. The same hold true for the location view. I suspect this is a function of the data loader, but the company and project managers always say "that is the way BY works" When I complain to Road runner restoration they say they can do nothing about it. They state they cant modify the software!
The user has no capability to undo selections! So if we make a mistake we need to wait a month for the construction company to make changes.
Items .
If I logon to two units in the same webbrowser, one overwrites the other! Aaaah!

Response from Buildertrend

James, we are really sorry to hear about your negative experience. We strive to make sure all parties that are using our platform are getting the information they need. Buildertrend can be customized to fit many needs from many different types of companies. We will reach out to the Buildertrend account owner to make sure they are aware of all permission settings. Thank you again for your feedback.

Katie
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 9.0 /10

Review

Reviewed on 2019/06/20

I have used Buildertrend for almost 3 years now and I have appreciated having it.

I have used Buildertrend for almost 3 years now and I have appreciated having it.

Pros

I like how easy BuilderTrend is to navigate and use. The system is definitely more user friendly than any other platforms I have used in the past. I also like how visually appealing it is, rather than only focusing on functionality, creators also focused on it being nice to look at every day, which truly does make a difference when working in the same program for hours every day.

Cons

The quickbooks connection to desktop is very very clunky and can can and has caused major issues for us in the past. In terms of accounting, there are somethings that could be better. I would like to be able to see what has been sent over vs. what has actually been paid out to a sub, so the builder can tell without having to ask the accounting department whether or not someone has actually been paid, a more detailed status report would be great. I would also like for it to play better with the "projects tab" in quickbooks. Quickbooks has made a great projects tab, but it is not usable without how the information is brought over. this may not be possible, but it would be nice. :)

Buildertrend is designed mostly for custom builders in the way that it is designed to connect homeowners and use allowances. I would like in the future if there were more production building type features.

Rick
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  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support

Reviewed on 2012/12/09

Willet Construction, Remodeling Specialist has been in business for 17 years. Our goal is to give...

Willet Construction, Remodeling Specialist has been in business for 17 years. Our goal is to give Top Quality Service including Top Quality Craftsmanship. We are a Residential Remodeling Company that will do almost any type of project. We strive to create an enjoyable remodeling experience for our clients, so they will use us again and again.

During the growth of our company, it became apparent we needed a production management system to communicate with our customers and within the company. I became aware of BuilderTrend while being a member of Remodelers Advantage. We had been using our own spreadsheets and calendars for customers project. Our Change Order process was slow and hard to keep up to date. I took a look at 3 different programs, and decided that Builder Trend met the needs we were looking for.

We have been using Builder Trend for exactly 1 year now. We are extremely pleased with how it has improved so many areas of our company. Our customers love the communication system and seem to be able to use it with much ease. The Change Order & Selections process is so wonderful to keep us and the customer up to date.

Using the calendar for the job schedule is so easy and the customers appreciate knowing what will be happening on a day to day basis. We put our payment schedule on the customer calendar so they know when all payments are due. Customers are sending checks exactly on time, sometimes even before we send out an invoice. Cash flow has never been better for our Company due to the customer knowing exactly when to send payments.

Builder Trend has been extremely easy to learn. Technical Support has been extremely quick in responding to our needs. They are very knowledgeable about their product, and usually have answers for our requests immediately. Any time we need training on something, they are quick to set a date and time to cover any information we need.

With the help of Builder Trend, we have grown our volume of completed jobs this year without adding more employees. This has resulted in Willet Const. having it's largest and most profitable year of our 17 year existence. And we hardly ever have any Accounts Receivables that are more than 15 days old.

With the Selections being "Approved" by the customer on line, all the people that have viewing rights know exactly the product being used on each job. This way when our salesperson/designer are on vacation, anybody else in our office can answer questions from subs or customers about a product without having to bother the designer while they are on vacation. That way the job keeps moving smoothly, and our employees can enjoy their vacation without any worry about work going well while they are gone. This is especially nice for myself as the owner to go on vacation and leave work completely behind.

I also like that Builder Trend keeps improving their program. The "Leads" tab is great to know how much potential work we are estimating. And it helps organize our meeting schedule with our potential customer throughout the designing and estimating process.

Barbara
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  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support

Reviewed on 2013/03/26

We were looking for a construction management tool that could include communication and job...

We were looking for a construction management tool that could include communication and job visibility throughout all departements and in the field - supervisors, procurement, management, financial, client & volunteer services, and that would allow updating and access in the field. BuilderTrend had it all.

We are a medium size, not-for-profit, affodable home building & repair, educating, and financing firm. Multiple Excel spreadsheets couldn't be kept up to date, and traditional MS Project Management software was too cumbersome with less features. A really nice aspect of BuilderTrend is that the whole history of the build process is kept in one place rather than in multiple files on in-house servers and personal computers. We are blessed with many volunteers from out of state and by creating a "Volunteer" job, the schedulers and supervisors can see how many and who is coming in advance so we can stage the work and communicate to them exactly what they will be working on weeks in advance.

Our client services department can see the build schedule for a client and keep the client informed of progress. We may not be using the program like a traditional commercial builder with clients would, but we have found all the features including selections and warranty to serve our needs very well. We have on average 25 repair jobs in process and 20 jobs in the planning stage at one time. We have completed over 180 repair jobs in the 11months using the system, and I could not imagine trying to manage this much work without it.

Out of the box, BuilderTrend is fairly intuitive to use, but there are nuances that should be learned to increase the user benefit. Training is always available and we discover more ways to use its functionality to streamline processes and communications. Our scheduling and planning meetings have gone from 1.5 hours weekly to 20 minutes. We schedule meetings with subs with the task function and quickly get a confirmation. This saves multiple phone calls of us and the subs. I can quickly answer questions for management and business partners simply by looking at daily logs, internal notes, schedules and pictures. The job list allows us to forecast and track our goals and find solutions when jobs are held up for any reason.

I have freed myself from continuous updating of Excel spreadsheets to being able to pull a job list and calendar list whenever I need to know status. Using the baseline features ensures I don't have to save a bunch of old reports for comparison to track project variances. BuilderTrend is very open to our suggestions on reporting and manipulating report and export functions, and I would like to see more capability in exporting reports. I like their focus on continuous improvement, adding functionality and meeting the customers' requirements.

Online topical is available but limited to the basics and I have always found the staff to be just a phone call away for answering specific questions. Overall a win for us.

Joe
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Buildertrend

Reviewed on 2019/07/01

Scheduling, PO tracking and back costing of our jobs have become far easier to manage and far less...

Scheduling, PO tracking and back costing of our jobs have become far easier to manage and far less time-consuming.
We are generally never late with materials due to the calendar and use of reminders, enabling jobs to run smoothly and efficiently with zero downtime.
The updates are definitely improving the experience with BT

Pros

Simple display options and excellent user interface
The system flows as per the workflow on site and the calendar works excellent in managing multiple jobs
All information in one place is excellent, and all available to supply chain and clients at the click of a button.

Our international clients love this software.

Cons

Would be good to have a clear guide as to how to use the POs, payments & COs and how they interact.
Doesn't transfer data correctly to Xero - double data entry
Does not do payroll, this would be a fantastic addition (understandable that it is complicated)
More flexibility required for estimates in BT. Lacks the functionality of Excel so forces us to use another system for this.
Clearer explanation of selection budgets and how they can be incorporated into the estimate would be beneficial.
Not been able to use the email link successfully to date.

Further guidance on how to link Xero tracking and BT cost codes would have been a huge help during setup.
It is still a challenge to get our supply chain to use the system with us.

Can be complicated to use based on the number of settings available to users and

Abdallah
Overall rating
  • Industry: Civil Engineering
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

It helps all parties to the project cooperate transparently.

Reviewed on 2023/03/06

With BuilderTrend, we have powerful tools to ensure budgets are not exceeded, and our ability to...

With BuilderTrend, we have powerful tools to ensure budgets are not exceeded, and our ability to keep track of all project submissions and organize their records is improved.

Pros

I like very much that BuilderTrend makes all operations and procedures of the project clear to all parties, which enables us to implement the work within the specified budgets. It is great that BuilderTrend allows us to organize communication channels with stakeholders so that we can follow up on all project submissions and obtain approvals within the times specified in the contract, and it is good that all submissions can be accessed through records and their status is easily known. With BuilderTrend, we can collaborate with other stakeholders by preparing purchase orders, variation orders, and progress invoices, which shortens a lot of procedures and keeps all project activities on track.

Cons

I did not find many problems with BuilderTrend, but consideration must be given to training all members to perform the tasks correctly, as the ignorance of one of the members may cause a major defect, and the permissions system must be properly prepared so that only authorized persons have the ability to modify according to their specialization.

Response from Buildertrend

Hi Abdallah, we really appreciate the kind words. Thanks for sharing your experience with Buildertrend!

Clyde
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 7.0 /10

Buildertrend - 2 Years later

Reviewed on 2020/02/10

Pros

Buildertrend accomplished 90% of the roles I required of it from the moment we brought it onboard. More areas of my business were consolidated in the first 6 months of use than I ever thought would happen. This allowed field workers to properly communicate with us daily via BT.

Cons

A large number of functions are not as advertised.

BTs inability to deal with tax while integrating with an accounting software poses a large challenge.
This tax issue forces us to ignore use of all customer portal faucets that deal with the finance as the figures are tax free and inaccurate representations of their costs.

Estimates are limited to one per job.
This prevents us from using it to provide a quote for clients as we frequently quote on multiple areas of renovation work and have the client accept 1-3 separate quotes which combine to form our works.

Access to the timeclock function is limited to Internal users.
Internal users have full access to any documents, photos, or other data on BT.
The lack of a permissions setting on internal users means I can't have a single staff member employed who cannot see all documents on a job despite how sensitive the information may be.

Christy
Overall rating
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source

Overall rating

  • Value for Money
  • Ease of Use
  • Customer Support
  • Likelihood to recommend 10.0 /10

Great Communication Tool

Reviewed on 2019/06/13

The greatest solution that BT provides is communication. It is so crucial that details are spelled...

The greatest solution that BT provides is communication. It is so crucial that details are spelled out to our subs - especially if they are new to our team. It's just as crucial that our clients feel that their selections are clear and the options to provide links, images, upload files/documents - is fantastic. I also love the comment section for quick clarification if they choose to "decline" a selection.

Pros

As a designer, I appreciate the ability to communicate job details to clients, construction team members, vendors, and subcontractors. Making sure that everyone is on the same page and understands the design goal is crucial in meeting the expectations of our clients. As we use more of the features that BuilderTrend provides, the customer service representative has been knowledge and prompt in their responses.

Cons

There is a balance between making sure the software is intuitive as we move through the design/build project and making it easy for a first-time client to utilize. It would just add to the experience if potential and existing clients were able to visualize the products in the actual floor plan giving them a virtual experience. This would help up-sell the client, eliminate misunderstandings about what the materials will actually look like installed, and enhance the overall experience of our clients.