Procore Costs More Than Your Truck Payment: 5 Alternatives for Small Crews
Procore is fantastic software. It's also priced for companies building hospitals and high-rises.
If you're running a 5-20 person crew doing residential or light commercial work, you don't need a $500/month enterprise platform. You need tools that fit your actual business.
Here's the honest breakdown of what's out there.
Why Procore Doesn't Fit Small Contractors
- Pricing: Custom quotes, but expect $300-500+/month minimum. Per-user fees add up fast.
- Complexity: Hundreds of features you'll never use. Weeks of onboarding.
- Overkill: Built for GCs managing dozens of subs across multi-million dollar projects.
The Alternatives
1. Buildertrend
What it is: All-in-one construction management with strong residential focus.
Price: $199-499/month
Good for: Home builders, remodelers who want scheduling + client portal
The catch: Still complex. Still requires training. Mobile app is clunky.
Verdict: Better than Procore for residential, but still enterprise-minded
2. CoConstruct
What it is: Project management + client communication for custom builders.
Price: $99-399/month
Good for: Custom home builders who need selection management + budgeting
The catch: Designed for custom homes specifically. Overkill for service work.
Verdict: Solid if you build custom homes. Otherwise, wrong tool.
3. Jobber
What it is: Field service management (scheduling, invoicing, CRM).
Price: $49-199/month
Good for: Service contractors (HVAC, plumbing, electrical) doing lots of small jobs
The catch: Not built for construction projects. More for service calls.
Verdict: Great for service businesses. Not ideal for project-based work.
4. Fieldwire
What it is: Task management + plan viewing for field teams.
Price: $39-69/user/month
Good for: Teams that work from blueprints and need task tracking
The catch: Per-user pricing gets expensive with larger crews.
Verdict: Good for plan-heavy work. Price scales poorly.
5. Job Hammers (That's Us)
What it is: WhatsApp-first tools for time tracking, daily logs, safety, and billing.
Price: Coming soon—way less than the others
Good for: Any contractor whose crew already uses WhatsApp (so... everyone)
The catch: We're new. Still building. Join the waitlist.
Verdict: Built specifically for crews who won't use traditional apps.
The Real Question: Will Your Crew Use It?
Here's what we've learned talking to hundreds of contractors:
The software doesn't matter if your crew won't adopt it.
And crews don't adopt software that:
- Requires downloading a new app
- Has a learning curve
- Feels like "paperwork"
- Gets in the way of actual work
That's why we built Job Hammers to work inside WhatsApp. Your crew already texts. Now their texts become time entries, logs, and documentation.
What to Actually Look For
If you're evaluating construction software, ask these questions:
- What's the real cost? Per-user fees multiply fast. Get the total for your crew size.
- Mobile experience? Try the app on a phone with work gloves. Is it usable?
- Onboarding time? If it takes more than 10 minutes to train someone, adoption will fail.
- What's the minimum viable feature set? Don't pay for project management if you just need time tracking.
Want tools your crew will actually use?
Job Hammers works inside WhatsApp. Zero learning curve.
Join the Waitlist →