Compared

Evalation vs Buildertrend: no sales call required.

Evalation is a $297-a-month founding-rate platform built for residential contractors, with live 3D design, estimating, and CRM in one system. Buildertrend is a full-scale construction project management platform built for larger builders running multiple projects a year, priced only after you sit through a sales call. Both are real tools built for real construction businesses. They're just not built for the same size of business, or the same moment in the sales process.

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Verdict summary

Two real businesses. Not the same job.

Evalation is a CORR platform. CORR (Company, Operations, Relations, and Revenue) is a category of business platform that runs a contractor's entire company in one system, replacing the separate CRM, estimating, project management, and accounting tools contractors traditionally stitch together. Read more about what that means on What Is CORR. Buildertrend is a construction project management platform. It's a different category, built for a different stage of company. Here's how to tell which one is actually yours.

PHOTO PLACEHOLDER
Split screenshot: Evalation Lab 3D deck model live on iPad (left) beside Buildertrend's project management dashboard (right)

Choose Evalation if...

  • You want to know your price before you ever pick up the phone.
  • You design decks, pergolas, concrete pads, or fencing, and want to show a homeowner a live 3D model before you leave the driveway.
  • You're running a crew that doesn't need per-seat software math to figure out this month's bill.
  • You want your CRM, estimating, project management, and accounting under one flat-rate roof, starting at $297 a month for founding members, instead of three or four separate subscriptions.

Choose Buildertrend if...

  • You're a builder running 5 or more projects a year at real scale, and you need deep budgeting, selections, and client-portal tooling built around that volume.1
  • Your project volume already justifies unlimited users on a custom-quoted platform, and a sales call doesn't slow you down.
  • You don't need built-in 3D design. You're bringing plans in from an architect or a separate design tool and just need somewhere to manage them.
  • You have the internal bandwidth to work through a steeper learning curve in exchange for deeper project-management depth.1

Builders who fit that second list should also look at For General Contractors to see how Evalation handles the same job for a leaner operation.

Comparison Table

Same categories. Different answers.

The rows below are outcomes, not feature checklists. Here's what actually happens in each category.

Outcome Evalation Buildertrend
Design & blueprints Evalation Lab designs decks, pergolas, concrete pads, and fencing live on the iPad in front of the homeowner, builds a 3D model in real time, and auto-generates the blueprint packet before you leave the driveway. No native 3D design tool or blueprint auto-generation is documented in Buildertrend's public materials (checked July 2026).2 Buildertrend manages budgeting, selections, and client-portal communication around plans brought in from elsewhere.
Estimating speed Every trade outside Evalation Lab's four (deck, pergola, concrete, fence) runs on a 5-minute AI estimate, inside the same flat-fee system as design and CRM. Native estimating is described as a weak point relative to Buildertrend's deeper budgeting tools, per contractor reviews on G2 (cited in vendor research, July 2026).1
Marketing engine The Relations side of Evalation runs your CRM and pipeline, so a lead who raised their hand doesn't get lost between "quoted" and "signed." Buildertrend is built to manage a project after it's sold, scheduling, client portal, selections, not to fill the pipeline that gets you the project in the first place.1
Payments Invoicing is native to Evalation, no third-party invoicing tool needed. Payments run on Stripe. Card processing from 3.1%, bank transfer (ACH) for less. No monthly payment fees, no hidden add-ons. Payment and billing terms aren't broken out on Buildertrend's public pricing page. They're set as part of your custom quote.2
Migration Four clicks moves your data over and keeps your SEO intact. No self-serve migration path is published. Onboarding runs through Buildertrend's sales and implementation process.2
Price $297 a month for the first 50 founding members, locked for life. $416 a month for the next 500, also locked for life. No per-user fees. Posted publicly. Gated. Quote-only. No number published anywhere, for any size company.2

1 Buildertrend focus and gaps per competitor research summary, sourced from G2 reviews and Buildertrend's own site positioning, July 2026.

2 buildertrend.com/pricing (official), checked July 2026. Buildertrend publishes no rate figures; pricing is set via intake form and sales call based on builder type, annual project volume, and location.

Pricing reality

One price is public. One isn't.

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Evalation's public pricing page ($297/mo posted openly) beside Buildertrend's gated intake form

Evalation

Evalation costs $297 per month for the first 50 founding members, locked for life, with no per-user fees.

  • Founding 50: $297/month, locked for life
  • Next 500 members: $416/month, locked for life
  • After that: tiered plans follow, details to come
  • The price you join at is the price you pay for life.
  • Users: unlimited, no seat-based tiers
  • Includes: CRM, estimating, project management, accounting, and Evalation Lab 3D design for deck, pergola, concrete, and fence trades
  • Where to find it: posted on Pricing, no form to fill out first

Buildertrend

Buildertrend does not publish a price. Getting a number requires filling out an intake form (builder type, annual project volume, location) and completing a sales call.3 Once quoted, users and projects are unlimited with no additional per-seat charges. That's a real advantage for a builder at scale. It's also a real cost in time before you even know what you're signing up for.

3 buildertrend.com/pricing (official), checked July 2026.

Migration

Four clicks. Not a rebuild.

PHOTO PLACEHOLDER
Screenshot of the four-click migration flow moving project and client data into Evalation

Most contractors treat switching software like moving apartments with a truck full of furniture and no help carrying it. That's not how this works. Moving to Evalation takes four clicks, and it preserves your SEO in the process, so the years you've spent ranking for your name and your service area don't reset to zero the week you switch.

The Moving Truck Guarantee exists for exactly this reason: it removes the risk and cost of switching software. If it doesn't win you more jobs in 90 days, you get every dollar back and we'll move you anywhere you want to go. Free.

Switching your software shouldn't cost you the years you already put into your website.

There's no named case study for this comparison yet. What backs the guarantee instead is the founder's own track record building and running a real contractor business, and the mechanics you can verify yourself: a live 3D model on the iPad in front of the homeowner, an auto-generated blueprint packet, and a migration that keeps your SEO intact.

FAQ

Questions before you switch.

Can I bring my Buildertrend project and client data into Evalation?

Yes. The Moving Truck Guarantee covers migrating your existing project and client data so you're not starting from a blank account: if it doesn't win you more jobs in 90 days, you get every dollar back and we'll move you anywhere you want to go, free. Exact data types and timeline are confirmed during onboarding.

Why won't Buildertrend just tell me what it costs?

Because its pricing is fully custom-quoted. You fill out an intake form covering your builder type, annual project volume, and location, then get on a sales call to find out a number.3 Evalation's price is $297 a month for the first 50 founding members, locked for life, and it's posted on our pricing page with nothing to fill out first.

Does Evalation replace Buildertrend's budgeting and selections tools?

Evalation's Revenue side handles invoicing natively, and payments run on Stripe: card processing from 3.1%, bank transfer (ACH) for less, no monthly payment fees, no hidden add-ons, inside the same flat-rate system, starting at $297 a month for founding members. If your business runs at the scale Buildertrend is built for, large annual project volume with dedicated budgeting and selections workflows, it's worth comparing both directly rather than assuming one replaces the other feature for feature.

I only build decks. Is Buildertrend built for someone like me?

Buildertrend's own focus is builders running 5 or more projects a year at six-to-eight-figure annual revenue.1 If you're a deck, pergola, concrete, or fence contractor selling on-site with a homeowner in front of you, Evalation Lab was built for that exact moment. See For Deck Builders for the specifics.

Will switching off Buildertrend hurt my website's SEO?

No. Evalation's migration process is built to preserve your existing SEO while moving your data over in four clicks.

Do I need a minimum project volume to use Evalation, the way Buildertrend implies?

No. Evalation is priced flat, $297 a month for the first 50 founding members and $416 a month for the next 500 after that, regardless of how many projects or users you run. There's no volume threshold to hit before the platform makes sense.

How does Evalation compare to other project-management-first platforms, not just Buildertrend?

If you want to see how Evalation stacks up against another tool built around project management and per-seat pricing for custom builders, read Evalation vs JobTread.

See your price. Today.

No intake form. No sales call. $297 a month for founding members, everything included. Start building your first design in Evalation Lab and see the number for yourself.