BuildOps vs Procore for Subcontractors

BuildOps is cloud-based with enterprise-grade security, role-based access controls, and encrypted data at rest and in transit. Your data stays protected, always accessible, and never exposed.

In BuildOps, there’s one monthly cost per user you pay based on your company’s needs, determined in our custom demos. This includes scheduling & dispatching, field notes, custom field workflows, advanced analytics and reporting, asset & equipment management, service agreements, invoicing, and so much more. The only add-ons BuildOps has are CRM, Fleet, and Payments, because not all of our customers need it.

In Procore, the only things included are: “unlimited users, unrivalled support, unlimited data storage and product enhancements”. This is a critical thing to understand about Procore’s pricing, every single “product” you want access to has an add-on fee, so you have to pick and choose each product, and whether you need it or not, and most products have 2-3 tiers of costs associated with them. No actual features in the platform are included in any base pricing.

With Procore, you pay an upfront annual fee, determined by the products you want to use, all ‘custom pricing’ that’s determined by them. You then additionally pay an Annual Construction Volume (ACV) fee for the aggregate dollar value of the construction work across your projects. This means you are pre-paying Procore based on the success of the work you do, and on an ongoing basis, they are basically getting a commission on your work. If you continue to grow and do better, they are pocketing a portion of that success.

This kind of pricing Procore uses is extremely punishing to most businesses. Here are some of the ways their customers have complained about this pricing model:

1. Penalized for growing. The more you grow and the greater success you achieve, the more you pay Procore.
2. Margin traps. Procore charges based on revenue, so if you were running on incredibly thin margins or even losing money on projects, you’re still paying Procore out based on the revenue, not the profits.
3. Open yourself to a huge potential liability. Smaller or mid-sized businesses that have sudden growth or a great year end up bumped into enterprise-level pricing, owing a huge $40,000+ liability to Procore after that great year, rather than being able to predict standard monthly pricing based on users.
4. Unpredictable costs. Most reviewers on G2 that mention Procore’s pricing list it as a con, even in positive reviews. They cite it as being unclear, unpredictable, non-transparent, and difficult to understand.
5. Substantial hidden onboarding fees. Even their implementation is broken down by packages, and not included. So you have to pay them to help you get on their platform. They have over 11 different packages for implementation alone, ranging from 4-18 weeks, and from $3000-$16,000 for those listed, though most packages don’t have transparent pricing.

BuildOps is built for commercial trades businesses, primarily Plumbing, Electrical, HVAC, Refrigeration, and Fire & Life Safety. In BuildOps, service, projects, sales, and financials all run on one connected platform. Whether it's a 30-minute PM visit or a six-month build-out, every workflow lives in one place with no separate tools, and no double entry.

Procore is built for General Contractors, Owners, Public Sector, and Subcontractors.

BuildOps OpsAI is built directly into the platform, assisting with insights and suggestions across your whole operations, with features like Smart Recap, Smart Dispatch, PO Scanning, Revenue Finder, and more. OpsAI is built right in, offering insights when and where you need them, as a part of each feature already in the platform.

Procore’s AI is a library of 20 agents that can run to review information in the platform, and then summarize findings for you. AI features are all add-ons in Procore in tiered plans, and their cheapest plan does not include any scheduled automations, which means you need to manually run the agents yourself.

When Procore stands out: For general contractors and owners managing subcontractors on long-term construction projects, with more of a focus on project cost and resource management, already using other tools to actually manage the day-to-day work of the jobsites.

When BuildOps stands out: For commercial construction teams that need a single, unified tool that can link together the day-to-day of construction operations with the long-term necessities of project management from start to finish.

When Procore falls short: Procore’s pricing model is extremely punishing to most businesses, and is not well-suited to any smaller or mid-market teams looking to grow, who will end up paying portions of their revenue to Procore.

When BuildOps falls short: If you already have another field service management tool helping you manage scheduling & dispatching, jobsite work, job workflows, invoicing, and reporting, then you might not need BuildOps’ all-in-one platform.