Construction accounting + job costing: pick by trade and size

Buildertrend, Procore, Knowify, Sage 100 Contractor. 4 questions. No demo gate.

1. What do you do?

Residential GC / remodeler Commercial GC Specialty subcontractor (electrical, HVAC, plumbing, concrete, etc.) Developer / homebuilder

2. Annual revenue?

Under $1M $1M - $5M $5M - $25M $25M+

3. Top problem you're solving?

Job costing accuracy (where is my margin going?) AIA billing / progress invoicing Field-to-office workflow / daily logs AR / collections / lien rights tracking

4. Existing accounting?

QuickBooks (Desktop or Online) Sage Other / spreadsheets

Get a quote

Fit matrix

Scenario	Best fit	Why
Residential GC / remodeler, $1-25M	Buildertrend	Best balance of estimating, scheduling, client portal, QB sync at this band
Specialty trade sub on QuickBooks	Knowify	Built around QB job costing for subs; AIA billing + change orders
Commercial GC at $25M+	Procore	Industry-standard for commercial GCs; deep with mid/large architects + owners
Mid-size GC with heavy accounting needs	Sage 100 Contractor	Strongest accounting backbone; used to be Master Builder

Don't rip out QuickBooks unless you must. Buildertrend and Knowify both layer onto QB. Procore and Sage 100 want their own ledger. The switch costs more than the software for 1-2 years.

FAQ

Is Procore overkill for residential?: Usually yes. Procore is built for commercial GCs working with architects + owners on $5M+ projects. Residential GCs do better on Buildertrend or CoConstruct.
Can I do AIA billing in QuickBooks alone?: Technically yes, painfully. AIA G702/G703 progress billing is what Knowify automates well. If you do AIA monthly, the time savings pay for itself in 2-3 months.
What about CMiC / Foundation?: Both are valid for ENR-top-400 GCs. Below that scale, the implementation cost exceeds the benefit vs Procore + Sage.

middot; Affiliate disclosure