CoConstruct has been acquired by Buildertrend and is in maintenance-only mode. This guide helps custom home builders and remodelers decide whether to migrate to Buildertrend or look at alternatives.
This is not a traditional comparison. CoConstruct is being sunset. If you are a current CoConstruct user, your question is not which tool to pick — it is whether Buildertrend is the right migration destination, or whether a different platform serves your workflow better. This article helps you make that call.
There used to be two serious platforms for custom home builders and high-end remodelers: Buildertrend and CoConstruct. You could have a real debate about which one was better.
That debate is over. Buildertrend acquired CoConstruct in 2021, froze development, and is now actively pushing CoConstruct users to migrate. As of 2026, CoConstruct is in maintenance-only mode — no new features, reduced support staff, and a migration page on the CoConstruct website that walks users through a 90-day transition plan. The platform is not accepting new customers.
So this is not a traditional comparison. It is a migration guide with one honest framing: Buildertrend is the default landing spot for CoConstruct users, but it is a very different product with different pricing, a different interface, and a different philosophy. You should evaluate it as if you were switching software — not just updating your login.
FTC disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate or tracking links. If you sign up through one, ContractorSoftwareHub may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Buildertrend is a current affiliate partner. CoConstruct has no affiliate relationship. Recommendations are based on research including published pricing estimates, official feature pages, G2 and Capterra review data, and user forum discussions.
CoConstruct launched in 2005 as a purpose-built platform for custom home builders. The product had a clear identity: client-facing selection sheets, a clean proposal builder, and a communication portal that kept homeowners looped in without requiring them to use a contractor’s internal tool. Small-to-mid custom builders — the ones doing $1M-$10M a year in residential work — found it easier to adopt than the heavier construction management platforms targeting commercial work.
Buildertrend acquired CoConstruct in 2021. The acquisition made strategic sense: two competing residential platforms merged under one owner. What it meant practically for CoConstruct users took a few years to become obvious.
By 2024, development on CoConstruct was frozen. No new features. Support moved to a skeleton crew operating on East Coast hours. Some users reported price increases of 500% after the acquisition. By 2025, CoConstruct’s own website was running active migration campaigns, pushing users toward Buildertrend with a 90-day transition plan. As of 2026, the platform is maintenance-only and closed to new customers.
If you are a CoConstruct user who has been on the fence about migrating, the fence is gone. The question is where you land.
Buildertrend removed all publicly listed pricing. Instead of a pricing page with dollar amounts, their site runs a three-step quote form that asks for your annual construction volume. There are eleven revenue brackets, ranging from under $500K to over $31M. The quote you receive depends on where you fall.
Third-party pricing trackers still publish rough estimate bands, but Buildertrend does not publish current dollar amounts. Use those third-party figures only as directional context before the sales call, not as a budget you can put in front of an owner.
Important caveat on plan names: Third-party sources still describe package scopes roughly as Essential / Advanced / Complete, but Buildertrend’s official page now requires a custom quote and does not publish current plan names, dollar amounts, or feature gates. The names above are working shorthand from third-party trackers — treat them as approximate tiers, not official plan names.
Annual upfront terms may change the quote. Onboarding help can also affect first-year cost depending on package scope and how much setup support the team needs. Self-guided onboarding is technically available, but most users report needing the guided version to get the platform configured properly.
The catch with volume-based pricing: your quote can increase as your business grows. If you cross into the next revenue bracket at renewal, Buildertrend can price the renewal accordingly — without any change to the plan features you are using. Some users on forums report significant year-over-year increases. That is different from per-seat pricing, where the cost stays predictable unless you add users.
All plans include unlimited users and unlimited projects. The Essential tier covers basic scheduling and CRM. Advanced adds estimating and fuller financial tracking. Complete adds selections management, warranty, and advanced reporting. (These tier descriptions are from third-party sources — Buildertrend does not publish official plan names or feature gates.)
Pricing note: these are third-party estimates. Buildertrend does not publish dollar amounts. Verify with a sales rep before budgeting.
CoConstruct is no longer accepting new customers, so these numbers are here for migration context — if you know what you were paying on CoConstruct, this helps you calibrate the step up.
Legacy CoConstruct pricing was published while the product was still sold, but those dollar figures are no longer a current buying path. CoConstruct is closed to new customers, so use your own old invoice for migration context rather than treating stale public plan amounts as today’s market price.
The jump to Buildertrend can be meaningful because a migration quote may include package changes, onboarding, and new contract terms that CoConstruct folded in differently. That is not a reason to stay on a sunset platform, but it is a real line item in the migration budget.
Buildertrend covers the full residential construction workflow, and it is worth understanding the feature set before you decide if it fits your shop or represents overkill.
Sales and CRM. Lead tracking, proposals, and customer management feed into the project pipeline. For builders who are closing deals through a defined sales process, this end-to-end flow from prospect to project is where Buildertrend is strongest compared to lighter tools.
Scheduling. Gantt charts, calendar views, daily logs, and task dependencies. Multi-project scheduling is where Buildertrend justifies its pricing for operations managing five or more concurrent builds. If you are running two or three homes per year off a spreadsheet, the scheduling depth may be more than you need.
Estimating and takeoff. Digital blueprint takeoff with material calculations, synced to estimates. This is a meaningful upgrade over what CoConstruct offered — CoConstruct’s estimating was functional but basic. Builders who previously used a separate takeoff tool may be able to consolidate.
Financials. Budget tracking, job costing, change orders, and direct QuickBooks and Xero sync. The accounting module handles the contractor workflow; users consistently note it is not a replacement for QuickBooks but syncs with it adequately. Capterra reviewers flag QuickBooks sync errors as a recurring complaint worth testing before you commit.
Client portal. Real-time project visibility for homeowners, and Buildertrend added AI-powered weekly project summaries post-acquisition. For builders where client communication is a differentiator — the ones whose clients want to see exactly where their custom home stands every Friday — this is a genuine feature.
Selections and allowances. Centralized client option tracking was added to close the gap with what CoConstruct users knew. The consistent user feedback: it works, but it is less flexible than CoConstruct’s version was. If selections management was the main reason your team chose CoConstruct originally, test this module carefully before assuming it replicates the old workflow.
Warranty management. Post-completion service tracking on the Complete plan. For custom builders who handle warranty calls in-house, this is a feature CoConstruct did not match.
Mobile app. iOS and Android. Users rate the mobile experience as functional but not polished — Capterra data shows performance and slow-loading complaints appear regularly.
This section exists to name what CoConstruct users are actually leaving behind — because if you are evaluating Buildertrend as a migration destination, knowing what you valued in CoConstruct helps you ask the right demo questions.
Specs and selections were CoConstruct’s clearest advantage. Custom home builders run dozens of client selection decisions per project — flooring, fixtures, cabinets, counters, hardware, paint. CoConstruct built those selection sheets to be client-facing, organized by specification category, and linked to the overall budget. Homeowners could see their choices, approve options, and understand how their selections affected the allowance. Builders who built their client communication process around CoConstruct selections found it hard to replicate elsewhere.
Predictable pricing matters more than it sounds. Knowing your monthly cost without a sales conversation lets you budget accurately. CoConstruct published prices. Buildertrend does not. The migration involves entering a sales funnel just to understand what you will pay.
Lower learning curve. Review data and user forums consistently described CoConstruct as easier to learn and navigate than Buildertrend. Multiple Buildertrend users describe the interface as requiring “10x more clicking” than necessary. For a small team — one office manager and a couple of field crews — that friction has a real cost in the first months after migration.
Custom home builder focus. CoConstruct was purpose-built for residential custom work, not adapted from a broader construction management platform. That showed in the interface and the default workflow assumptions.
The comparison table does not really need to exist for decision-making purposes — CoConstruct is not an option. But it is useful context for understanding what changed when Buildertrend acquired the category.
| Dimension | Buildertrend | CoConstruct (Legacy) |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Active, regularly updated | Maintenance-only, closed to new customers |
| Pricing model | Volume-based custom quotes | Published tiers |
| Starting price | ~$339-$499/mo (est.) | ~$399/mo |
| Onboarding fees | $400-$1,500+ | Included |
| Users | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Best for | Mid-to-large builders ($2M+) | Small-to-mid custom builders |
| Selections | Added post-acquisition, less flexible | Deeply integrated, more flexible |
| Takeoff/estimating | Integrated digital takeoff | Basic estimating only |
| Learning curve | Steep | Moderate |
| Development pace | Active | Frozen |
| Support | Full support team | Skeleton crew |
The headline finding: Buildertrend is a more capable platform than CoConstruct was. It also costs more, takes longer to set up, and is harder to use. For an operation big enough to use what Buildertrend offers, those trade-offs make sense. For a small custom builder who valued CoConstruct’s simplicity and client-facing selection workflow, the upgrade is not automatic.
Buildertrend fits well if:
You are doing $2M+ in annual construction volume. The pricing and onboarding investment make more sense when there are enough projects and team members to spread the overhead. Builders in the $5M-$20M range are the sweet spot for the platform.
You manage five or more concurrent projects. The scheduling, document management, and client portal features pay off when you are coordinating multiple builds simultaneously. One or two homes a year does not need Gantt charts.
You need integrated takeoff. Builders who previously used PlanSwift, Bluebeam, or similar tools for takeoff alongside CoConstruct may find consolidation is worth the migration effort.
You want a single platform from lead to warranty. Buildertrend covers the full project lifecycle. For operations tired of stitching together CRM, estimating, scheduling, and accounting tools, that integration is a real advantage.
Buildertrend may be overkill if:
You built a small custom home practice — two or three homes a year, one office person, relationships-driven business. CoConstruct fit that model. Buildertrend is more software than that shop needs, and the learning curve plus the onboarding fee will cost you in the first year.
The main thing you valued about CoConstruct was the selections workflow. Buildertrend added selections post-acquisition and user feedback is mixed on whether it matches the old flexibility. If selections management was your central workflow, test it in a demo before assuming it replicates what you had.
You need predictable pricing today. Buildertrend’s volume-based model means you need to go through a sales process to find out what you will pay. That is a real friction point for small builders evaluating multiple tools over a weekend.
If you are on CoConstruct, you have roughly two options:
Option 1: Migrate to Buildertrend. This is the default path. Buildertrend is offering CoConstruct users dedicated migration specialists, a 90-day transition plan, and historical data access after migration. The coconstruct.com/migration page outlines the process. Your CoConstruct data — client records, project history, documents — can be exported from CoConstruct settings as CSV files. File downloads require manual bulk export.
Buildertrend is the obvious choice if you are already managing multiple large projects, have a team that can absorb the learning curve, and need the fuller feature set.
Option 2: Evaluate alternatives. The acquisition created an opening for competitors, and several platforms have positioned themselves for CoConstruct refugees. Projul, Contractor Foreman, and Houzz Pro are in that space. Each has different pricing transparency and target size — worth a look before committing to Buildertrend if you ran a smaller operation that matched CoConstruct’s original target user.
One practical note before you migrate either direction: do not rush the export. Pull structured data (CSV exports of client info, project budgets, schedules) and manually download the photos, proposal templates, and file attachments you need. Forum posts on Buildertrend data portability flag that bulk file export from Buildertrend is not easy either — get your data out of CoConstruct in a clean state before you enter another platform.
Buildertrend has a meaningful review base — 2,485 reviews on Capterra at 4.5/5, and 179 reviews on G2 at 4.2/5. That is a larger, more current signal than CoConstruct’s review data, which has been thin since the acquisition.
What Capterra reviewers praise:
Centralized client communication shows up as the strongest positive theme — 95% positive sentiment across mentions. Integrated team collaboration follows closely at 96% positive. Builders consistently note that having clients, subs, and the office in one communication channel reduces the email-and-text chaos that plagues multi-project residential work. Document management and project tracking also draw strong positive ratings.
What Capterra reviewers flag:
Expensive relative to alternatives is the most common complaint, with reviewers noting it is better suited for larger builders than small shops. Steep learning curve — the “10x more clicking” characterization from forums matches the review data. Performance issues (slow loading, glitches, mobile app instability) appear regularly. QuickBooks sync errors come up enough to mention. And one that stands out: data lock-in. Reviewers note it is difficult to export years of files, photos, and proposals if you ever want to leave. That is consistent with forum reports of users who felt trapped after multi-year commitment.
Selected user quotes:
“After four years they doubled the cost from one month to the next.” — this matches the volume-based pricing risk described above.
“There is no simple or bulk way to download years’ worth of files.” — worth testing the export process before you are fully migrated.
The review pattern suggests Buildertrend works well when the team is large enough to absorb the setup cost and the workflow complexity is genuinely complex. For simpler operations, the returns are lower and the friction is the same.
CoConstruct users need to move. There is no third option there.
The real decision is whether Buildertrend is the right destination or a larger change is warranted. The short version:
Move to Buildertrend if you are already managing multiple concurrent builds, have team members who can own the onboarding process, need integrated takeoff and estimating, and are doing $2M+ in annual volume. The feature set is genuinely more capable than what CoConstruct was, and Buildertrend has the migration infrastructure to make the transition structured.
Look at alternatives first if you ran a small or boutique custom home practice where CoConstruct’s simplicity and selections workflow were the main value. Projul and Contractor Foreman both offer more transparent pricing and lower setup complexity. The Buildertrend migration is real work — make sure you are buying what you need, not just defaulting to the path of least resistance.
The one thing to do regardless: export your CoConstruct data now. Do not wait until the migration deadline is imminent.
| Plan | Est. Monthly Cost | Est. Annual Cost | Onboarding Fee | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essential (est.) | ~$339-$499/mo | ~$3,660-$5,388/yr | $400-$800 | Smaller builders, basic scheduling and CRM |
| Advanced (est.) | ~$699-$799/mo | ~$7,548-$8,628/yr | $800-$1,200 | Mid-size builders needing estimating and financials |
| Complete (est.) | ~$829-$1,099/mo | ~$8,952-$11,868/yr | $1,200-$1,500+ | Larger builders needing selections, warranty, and advanced reporting |
Important: These are third-party estimates from analysts who track Buildertrend quote data. Buildertrend removed all published pricing in 2024-2025 and does not publish current plan names, dollar amounts, or feature gates. Third-party sources still describe package scopes roughly as Essential / Advanced / Complete — these are working labels, not official plan names. Volume brackets (based on annual construction revenue) determine the actual quote. Annual billing saves ~10%. Verify with a sales rep before budgeting.
| Plan | Monthly (Annual Billing) | Annual Total |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | ~$399/mo | $4,788/yr |
| Advanced | ~$499/mo | ~$5,988/yr |
| Complete | ~$599/mo | ~$7,188/yr |
CoConstruct is closed to new customers. These figures are included so current CoConstruct users can calibrate the cost difference when evaluating migration options.
Is CoConstruct still available?
No. As of 2026, CoConstruct is in maintenance-only mode. The platform is no longer accepting new customers, development is frozen, and the CoConstruct website actively directs users to migrate to Buildertrend. Current CoConstruct users are still on the platform but are being pushed toward transition.
What happened to CoConstruct?
Buildertrend acquired CoConstruct in 2021. Over the following years, development on CoConstruct was wound down, support was reduced to a skeleton crew, and the product entered maintenance-only mode. Buildertrend is now the primary residential construction management platform under the same ownership.
How much does Buildertrend cost in 2026?
Buildertrend removed its public pricing page and now uses a volume-based custom quote process. Your quote depends on your annual construction volume. Third-party estimates place the Essential tier at roughly $339-$499/month, Advanced at $699-$799/month, and Complete at $829-$1,099/month, all before onboarding fees of $400-$1,500+. Note: Buildertrend’s official page does not publish current plan names, dollar amounts, or feature gates — third-party sources still describe package scopes roughly as Essential / Advanced / Complete, but these are working labels, not official plan names. Confirm pricing and plan structure with a Buildertrend sales rep.
Is Buildertrend better than CoConstruct was?
By feature count, yes. Buildertrend offers integrated digital takeoff, more financial depth, warranty management, and a larger integration ecosystem. The trade-offs are cost (higher), complexity (steeper learning curve), and selections flexibility (CoConstruct’s client-facing selection sheets were more fluid). For large builders, Buildertrend is more capable. For small custom builders who valued CoConstruct’s simplicity, the upgrade is not automatic.
What are the best alternatives to CoConstruct?
If Buildertrend feels like too much platform or too much cost, the alternatives most frequently mentioned by former CoConstruct users include Projul (more transparent pricing, lighter lift), Contractor Foreman (budget-friendly, construction-focused), and Houzz Pro (stronger for design-build remodelers with a client-facing component). Each serves a slightly different segment — compare them against your actual project size and team structure.
Can I export my CoConstruct data?
Yes. CoConstruct settings include CSV export for structured data (client records, budgets, schedules). File and photo downloads require manual bulk download. Do this before your migration window closes — Buildertrend’s own platform has documented challenges with bulk file export, and starting with clean organized data reduces migration friction significantly.
Does Buildertrend have a free trial?
Buildertrend does not offer a traditional free trial. New customers go through a guided onboarding process. For CoConstruct users migrating under the official program, Buildertrend provides dedicated migration specialists and a 90-day transition plan. If you want to evaluate the product independently before committing, the demo process is the main option.
Will Buildertrend’s price increase as my business grows?
Potentially, yes. Buildertrend’s volume-based pricing model ties your quote to annual construction revenue brackets. If your revenue grows into the next bracket at renewal, your price can increase without any change in features or plan tier. This is different from per-seat pricing where costs grow only when you add users. It is worth asking your sales rep specifically how renewals are handled as your revenue grows.