BuildControl vs Buildertrend
Looking for a Buildertrend alternative for commercial work? Buildertrend is built for home builders and remodelers. BuildControl is built for the paperwork of commercial jobs: RFIs, submittals, change orders, pay applications and lien waivers. Both are good at what they are built for.
Switching from Buildertrend?
What comes across, and how. Your history stays in Buildertrend for as long as you keep your account there.
- Your jobs and open items. Export your job list and your open RFIs and submittals from Buildertrend as CSV files and bring them in under Projects, Import from CSV. Every row is shown before anything is saved, and closed items stay behind.
- Your contacts. Export your contacts from Buildertrend to a spreadsheet and import the CSV under Contacts. BuildControl reads the columns and fills in people you already have instead of adding them twice.
- Your job files. Connect your Dropbox and each job folder comes in. Build Registers from Files then makes the RFI, submittal and change order logs from the file names, with every file attached.
- Your subs and owners. Invite them to the job. They don't need a paid seat, and they see only what you share with them.
- Help if you want it. A Job Setup Session puts your first job on it with you, start to finish.
Buildertrend’s price
Quote only. Buildertrend’s pricing page asks a few questions and books a call; it does not publish a price. It says users and projects are unlimited.
Checked November 10, 2026 on Buildertrend’s pricing page.
Who Buildertrend is for
- Residential builders and remodelers. Its pricing page names builders who run 5 or more projects a year or complex, multi-phase builds.
- Companies whose customer is a homeowner, and who want selections, a client portal and warranty tracking in the same place as the schedule.
- Teams that want sales and lead tracking before the job starts.
Where Buildertrend is better
- The homeowner side of the job: selections, the client portal and homeowner approvals are deeper than anything we have.
- Sales and lead management. We start when there is a job; Buildertrend starts at the first phone call.
- Years in the market, a long list of integrations, and native apps in both app stores. Our phone app runs from your home screen.
Where BuildControl is the better pick
- Commercial paperwork first: RFIs with a due date and a ball in court, submittal registers, change orders tied to the budget, and pay applications with a schedule of values and continuation sheet.
- A published price. You can see what it costs before you talk to anybody.
- A 30-day trial to start, and your subs, the architect and the owner don't need a paid seat.