If you’re a trade contractor who used CoConstruct to manage remodeling work, here’s what to look for in your next platform, and why Knowify is worth a serious look.
By now you’ve heard: CoConstruct is on its way out.
Buildertrend acquired CoConstruct back in 2021, and what started as vague reassurances that the platform would continue has slowly become reality. Feature development stopped. Support got reduced. And contractors who’ve been on the platform for years are now staring down a forced migration with a deadline they didn’t choose.
One Capterra reviewer summed up the feeling: “While they say that they won’t sunset the program in the near future, it still feels like it is on a countdown timer before you are forced to switch to Buildertrend.”
That countdown timer is up in the next 12 months.
So the question most people are asking: Do I go to Buildertrend, or is this my chance to find something better?
If your answer is “let me look around,” we think that’s the right instinct. And if you’re a trade contractor doing remodeling work, not a custom homebuilder managing selections for a $2M spec home, but a plumber, electrician, painter, HVAC contractor, or general tradesperson who does residential remodel and service work, what you actually need isn’t more homebuilder software. It’s software built for how you run a job.
Buildertrend is the obvious default. It’s the platform Buildertrend is actively pushing CoConstruct users toward. But before you sign up, it’s worth understanding who that platform was actually built for, and what real users are saying.
Buildertrend is designed around custom homebuilders: client selection portals, spec home workflows, GC-style scheduling, homeowner communication tools. For that use case, it’s capable software. But trade contractors doing commercial and residential remodel work, running service calls alongside projects, and billing to GCs on a schedule of values? That’s not the core use case, and the product reflects it.
Here’s what contractors have said publicly:
On the user experience: One Capterra reviewer described the interface as having “10x more clicking than there needs to be” and called it “very frustrating to use on either desktop or mobile.”
On getting your data out: A verified Capterra reviewer who tried to leave wrote: “There is no simple or bulk way to download years’ worth of files, photos, proposals, and customer information. Because I’ve used Buildertrend for several years, manually exporting everything one item at a time would take an unreasonable amount of time.”
On pricing: Buildertrend no longer publishes its pricing publicly. Based on recent reports from contractors, plans start around $499/month, with no free trial. And pricing surprises are common: one long-term Buildertrend user on Capterra reported getting hit with a 75% price increase without notice. After threatening to cancel, the price was walked back. That’s not a company relationship most contractors want.
On fit for specialty trades: One Capterra reviewer specifically flagged that Buildertrend is “missing the G702-703 style invoicing system,” a critical capability for any trade contractor doing commercial remodel work on a pay app billing cycle.
To be fair, Buildertrend does have a strong following among the custom homebuilder segment it was built for. If that’s your primary work, it may be the right call. But if you’re a trade contractor who just needs a platform that handles your actual jobs — project work, service work, job costing, AIA billing, and QuickBooks — you’re probably paying for a lot of features you won’t use.
There’s a better fit.
Knowify is financially-focused job management software built specifically for the trades. Not for GCs. Not for homebuilders. For the HVAC company running service calls and commercial remodels at the same time. For the electrical contractor who needs to send a G702/G703 pay app and dispatch a tech to a service call in the same afternoon.
From proposal to payment, Knowify tracks every dollar on every job while you’re working, not after the fact.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
You always know if a job is making money. Not at the end of the job. Not when your accountant runs the numbers in March. Right now, as labor gets logged and materials get purchased, Knowify is tracking budget vs. actual cost and calculating projected profitability automatically.
“We are also using Knowify to help with job costing and being more transparent — seeing the budget vs actual cost to the profit.”
Your field and your office are finally on the same page. Hours flow in from the field in real time. Change orders are tracked. Your whole team — field, office, and QuickBooks — stays in sync without anyone playing phone tag or doing the same data entry twice.
“It has really helped us to organize as a team to get us all on the same page with all our projects.”
AIA billing that your accountant actually trusts. If you’re doing commercial remodel work and billing on a schedule of values, Knowify generates real G702/G703 pay app documents, not just “AIA-style” formatting, but actual AIA Contract Documents. With holdback. With retainage by phase. With overbilling alerts.
“Amazing progressive invoices — SOV with holdback. What keeps us at Knowify — invoices with the option to have detailed SOV. I didn’t see anything like this at any other software.” — Julia K., Accounting/Payroll Administrator
Project and service work in one system. This is the one that usually surprises people. No other platform at this price combines real project management with service dispatch. If you run both, and many trade contractors do, you’ve probably been cobbling together two tools and doing double data entry between them. Knowify handles both in a single system, synced to QuickBooks.
QuickBooks stays in sync Knowify is the #1 QuickBooks integration in construction. Vendors, projects, invoices, bills — they sync across both systems so you’re never reconciling by hand. No double entry. No Sunday-night catch-up sessions.
“It’s well integrated with QuickBooks Online.”
“We utilize QuickBooks Online for our accounting software, and that was one of the reasons we signed with Knowify.”
On G2, where Buildertrend and Knowify are directly compared:
That’s not a knock on Buildertrend for the audience it serves. It’s a recognition that if you’re a trade contractor, you’re not their primary user, and the product and pricing reflect that.
One of the most common reasons contractors stay on dying platforms is the fear of what migration actually looks like. New software, retraining the crew, rebuilding your workflows.
We’re not going to pretend that switching platforms is nothing. It’s work. But it’s work you’re already being forced to do, so the question is whether you come out the other side in a better place.
A few things worth knowing about how Knowify handles onboarding:
“The onboarding that they provide is very helpful and completely customized to your needs. All the staff we have worked with have been professional, caring, and customer service-oriented.”
“Knowify continues to have stellar customer service, and speedily respond to customer needs. They are true partners, and are right there to help us when we need things like a customized report.” — Sully S., long-term Knowify customer
US-based support. Real people. Happy to help you.
And the results on the other side of migration? One Knowify customer scaled 300% over five years. Three independent reviewers called it a “game changer.” That’s not marketing language, those are contractors describing what happened when they finally had the right tool.
Knowify isn’t the right tool for everyone leaving CoConstruct.
If you’re a custom homebuilder primarily managing client selections, 3D design reviews, and long-tail residential builds, Knowify is not your product. Buildertrend is a reasonable path, and JobTread is worth evaluating too.
But if you’re a trade contractor — HVAC, plumbing, electrical, painting, concrete, drywall — doing any combination of:
…then Knowify could be right for you. And the forced migration you’re staring down is actually an opportunity to land on a platform that was built around your business, not adapted to fit it.
The best way to know if Knowify fits is to see it working on the kind of jobs you actually run. We offer a 14-day free trial, no credit card required, no sales rep standing between you and the software.
Or if you want to talk through whether Knowify is the right fit before committing to anything, our team is happy to have that conversation honestly.
No pressure. If it’s not the right fit, we’ll tell you.
Knowify is financially-focused job management software for the trades — from proposal to payment. Built for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, painting, and trade contractors doing both project and service work. The #1 QuickBooks integration in construction.
