Buildertrend at a Glance

Welcome

Hello, and welcome. This is Super Structures General Contractors — a national general contractor headquartered in Powhatan, Virginia — here to help you and your clients build something that lasts. We're glad you're with us, and we look forward to connecting with you.

Alright, Buildertrend at a Glance. Don't let the plain title fool you. Here's the part that actually matters on the job: Buildertrend is an all-in-one cloud platform for residential builders and remodelers, covering sales, scheduling, selections, change orders, daily logs, client communication, and invoicing, with a client portal that keeps the homeowner informed and the paper trail clean. Learn it well and you'll know why so many remodelers run their whole company in it.

A custom-home builder was losing two days a week to homeowner phone calls: where are we, what did I pick for the tile, why is the invoice higher. After moving to Buildertrend, the homeowner logged into a portal that showed the schedule, every selection with its price, every change order awaiting signature, and photos from the day. The calls dropped to a weekly check-in. The builder said the biggest change was not the time saved; it was that change orders got signed in the portal before the work started, because the homeowner could see them.

A note before we start: this is a high-level overview, not the training you will need to run the product. Super Structures is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or paid by any company named in this course, we do not sell or support these products, and nothing here is legal, financial, or purchasing advice. This is for learning and education only. Features, editions, and pricing change often. Each lesson lists the vendor's own website, which is where to go for current details, demos, and training.

What it is

Buildertrend is a cloud construction management platform built for residential construction: custom home builders, remodelers, and specialty residential contractors. In one subscription it covers:

• Sales and CRM: lead tracking, proposals, estimates, e-signatures, and lead-source reporting.
• Project management: schedules with dependencies and templates, daily logs, to-dos, photos and documents, time clock with GPS, and warranty tracking.
• Client experience: a homeowner portal with selections and allowances, change orders, messaging, progress photos, and online payments.
• Financials: budgets, purchase orders, bills, invoices, owner payments, and accounting sync.
• Subcontractor access so trades can see their schedule, documents, and to-dos. Browser and mobile apps for the office, the field, the homeowner, and the sub.

Who it fits

Residential builders and remodelers from a few people to a few dozen, and residential trades that want client-facing tools. It also fits small commercial contractors with simpler projects. It is not designed for large commercial projects with formal RFI and submittal processes, resource-loaded CPM schedules, or owners managing programs.

What it does well, and where it is thin

Strong: the homeowner portal and selections process, change orders with e-signature, schedules that are easy enough for a small team to keep current, a built-in CRM so the sales pipeline and the jobs live together, and a low barrier to getting started. Thin: it is not a full accounting system (it syncs to one), it is not a CPM scheduler for complex sequencing, commercial-style document control is limited, and job-cost reporting depends on the accounting sync being set up well.

How it is sold

Monthly or annual subscription in tiers, generally by company rather than per user, with features unlocked at higher tiers. Onboarding and training packages are offered, and the vendor runs user events and an online community.

How it connects

Accounting sync with QuickBooks and Xero is the main integration most users rely on. There are connections for takeoff and estimating tools, supplier and lumberyard catalogs, payments, and marketing tools. An API exists for custom work.

What it takes to run it

Someone in the office who owns the templates: schedule templates by project type, selection categories and allowance defaults, and the cost code list that syncs to accounting. Field staff who post daily logs and photos. A rule that every homeowner change goes through the change-order tool, and a weekly habit of updating the schedule so the portal stays honest.

Where to learn more

For current details, go straight to the source: buildertrend.com. Buildertrend's site has plan tiers, a demo request, and its learning academy. Super Structures has no affiliation with Buildertrend and receives nothing from them; this lesson is for education only.

Going Deeper (Intermediate)

The accounting sync decides whether Buildertrend's financial tools are trustworthy. Map its cost codes to QuickBooks or Xero items before the first job, decide which system invoices the client and which system pays the bills, and test with one job. The selections and allowances setup is the second hinge: allowances set at contract, selections tracked against them, and overages turned into signed change orders automatically. That workflow alone prevents most residential disputes.

Treat the client portal as a communication contract. Tell the homeowner at signing that the portal is where the schedule, selections, changes, and photos live, and that a change is not a change until it is signed there. Homeowners accept this readily when it is explained up front and resent it when it appears mid-project.

Advanced / Pro-Level

Pros use the lead and proposal tools as a real sales process, with follow-up tasks, lead-source tracking, and conversion reporting, and they measure close rate and average job size from it. They build schedule templates by project type so a new job starts 80 percent planned, and they tie selection deadlines to the schedule so a late tile choice shows up as a schedule risk, not a surprise. They use the portal to publish a weekly update that answers the homeowner's questions before they are asked, turn on owner payments so invoices are paid online, and track warranty requests in the system so the relationship continues after closeout. They also know its limits and do not try to run a $20 million commercial job in it.

Practice Challenge

A remodeler with eight employees runs QuickBooks Online, a paper schedule, and text messages with homeowners. Change orders are verbal. What would Buildertrend change first, what has to be set up before it helps, and what would you tell the next homeowner at contract signing? (Answer: the homeowner portal with change orders and selections would stop the verbal changes first; before it helps, map cost codes to QuickBooks, build one schedule template, set allowance categories, and make the rule that every change is created in the tool and signed before work starts; at signing, walk the homeowner through the portal and explain that it is the single place for schedule, selections, changes, and photos.)

In Practice

The builder whose homeowners sign change orders in the portal gets paid for extras. The builder who texts gets a goodwill discount and an argument.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Running the accounting sync without mapping cost codes first
• Using it for scheduling but still doing change orders by text
• Letting the portal go quiet, so homeowners start calling again
• Introducing the portal mid-project instead of at signing
• Expecting commercial document control or CPM scheduling from a residential tool

Takeaway: Buildertrend is an all-in-one cloud platform for residential builders and remodelers, covering sales, scheduling, selections, change orders, daily logs, client communication, and invoicing, with a client portal that keeps the homeowner informed and the paper trail clean.

Educational content, for learning only. This is a vendor-neutral, high-level overview, not product training, support, or a recommendation. Super Structures General Contractors and Super Structures Learning are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or compensated by any company or product named here, and we receive no money from them. Product names are trademarks of their owners. Features, editions, integrations, and pricing change; verify current details on the vendor's own website before you buy.