A CoConstruct Alternative Built for Small Residential GCs

What CoConstruct was known for

CoConstruct built a strong reputation with custom home builders and remodelers, particularly for client and subcontractor communication, selections, and budgeting on custom projects. For builders who valued a structured client experience and detailed selections management, that was a genuine strength. Those capabilities now live within the Buildertrend platform, which is a broad, mature system in its own right. If you want that depth and have office staff to run it, that maturity has real value and we are not going to claim otherwise.

Why a small GC looks for a lighter alternative

A wide, mature platform can be more than a one- to five-person residential shop needs. When the owner is also the estimator, the scheduler, and the person on site, a heavy system with many modules can feel like more setup than the work justifies. The common reasons contractors look for something lighter:

• A feature set and learning curve that assume office staff to run it.
• Desktop-leaning workflows when the daily work happens on the job site.
• Fixed monthly cost that stings in a slow season.

If those match your situation, a lighter, field-first tool is worth a look.

Where TradesMetrics fits

TradesMetrics is deliberately narrow. It is built for the small residential GC, and that focus shows up in concrete ways.

Phone-first, including voice

TradesMetrics is designed to be driven from the field. You can capture a cost, start a change order, or log a delay by talking to it while you are on site, so the record gets made in the moment instead of from memory later.

One connected loop, with plain-English earned value

Your estimate becomes your budget, your budget is what you track costs against, change orders adjust both, and your invoices draw from the same live numbers. Progress reads in plain English: budget, spent, future spend, and whether you are over or under. You do not need a project coordinator to interpret the dashboard. See the full construction project management loop for what it covers.

A usage-based price

TradesMetrics charges a 0.5% platform fee on the work that flows through it, with no per-seat charges. Add your crew and bookkeeper without raising the bill, and a slow month costs almost nothing. A subscription can be more predictable if your volume is high and steady. Run both against your own numbers.

Honest trade-offs

TradesMetrics will not match the sheer feature count of a mature platform like Buildertrend, where CoConstruct now lives. If you rely on deep selections management, extensive client-portal features, or a specific integration, check that your needs are covered before you switch. The trade you are making is breadth for focus and field usability. For a small residential GC, that is usually the right trade. For a larger, office-run custom-build operation, the heavier platform may serve you better.

How to decide

Take one real job and run it end to end in each tool, from estimate to invoice, using only your phone. The alternative worth switching to is the one you can actually finish that way. To check your pricing first, our public Price Index shows current residential cost ranges, and our overview of construction project management software covers what a small GC should look for.