Procore Alternative for Small Contractors: Why Brikt Exists

Let's start with the number that makes every small contractor wince: $50,000 a year.

That's what a fully loaded Procore subscription costs for most companies. And for a 500-person general contractor running $200M in annual revenue? It's a rounding error. For your 12-person paving crew doing $3M a year? It's an entire crew member's salary.

If you're reading this, you've probably Googled “Procore alternative” at least once. Maybe you sat through their demo, got excited, then saw the pricing. Maybe you're already paying for it and wondering why half your crew refuses to use it. Either way, you're in the right place.

This isn't a hit piece on Procore. It's a grown-up conversation about what works for who — and why we built BRIKT specifically for contractors like you.

Why Procore Works for Enterprise GCs

Credit where it's due: Procore is a genuinely impressive platform. For the right company, it's the best construction software on the market. Here's who that is:

• Large general contractors running 50+ concurrent projects
• Firms with dedicated project managers who live in software all day
• Companies with IT departments that can handle implementation and training
• ENR Top 400 firms where standardization across hundreds of employees justifies the cost
• Owners and developers who need deep reporting for investors and stakeholders

Procore's strength is its breadth. It does project management, financials, quality, safety, BIM coordination, bidding, and more. If you need all of that — and you have the team to actually use all of it — Procore earns its price tag.

The key phrase there: “if you need all of that.”

Where Procore Fails for 5-20 Person Teams

Here's the uncomfortable truth that Procore's sales team won't tell you: their product was built top-down for enterprise GCs, and it shows. When a small specialty contractor tries to use it, specific pain points emerge fast:

1. The Pricing Is Brutal for Small Teams

Procore uses volume-based pricing tied to your annual construction volume. For a $1-5M contractor, you're looking at roughly $4,500-$12,000 per year at minimum. That's before implementation costs, which can run another $2,000-5,000. And Procore doesn't publish pricing — you have to talk to sales to even get a number. That opacity is a red flag for contractors who just want to know what things cost.

2. Implementation Takes Months, Not Minutes

Procore's average implementation timeline is 6-12 weeks. That includes data migration, workflow configuration, team training, and a dedicated customer success manager walking you through it. Sounds nice until you realize your foreman needs to fill out a daily log today, not in Q3.

3. Feature Overload Creates Friction

Procore has 15+ modules. Your paving company needs maybe 4 of them. But every time your foreman opens the app, he sees the full enterprise interface — BIM tools, preconstruction workflows, bid management, capital planning. It's like handing a crew member a 747 cockpit when they need a pickup truck.

4. No Trade-Specific Estimating

Procore's estimating is designed for GC-level budgeting: CSI divisions, line-item bids from subs, change orders. It doesn't know what a paver costs per square foot. It can't calculate waste factor by pattern. It doesn't have material rate databases for hardscape, concrete, or landscape work. If you're a specialty trade contractor, you're still doing estimates in Excel.

5. Your Crew Won't Use It

This is the killer. You can buy the best software in the world, but if your guys in the field won't open it, it's a waste. And overwhelmingly, small crews don't adopt enterprise tools. The interface is too complex, the login process is too cumbersome, and the value proposition for a guy laying pavers isn't clear.

What Small Contractors Actually Need

After talking to hundreds of contractors running $500K-$10M businesses, we've boiled it down to 5 pillars — the things that actually move the needle:

1. Fast, Accurate Estimating

Not “budget-level” estimating. Trade-specific, rate-driven estimating that accounts for material costs, labor rates, waste factors, equipment, overhead, and profit margin. The kind you can build in 15 minutes, not 4 hours.

2. Simple Procurement

One-click material orders from your estimate. Vendor price comparison. Delivery tracking. No more texting your supplier a photo of your napkin math.

3. Field Tracking That Your Crew Will Actually Use

Daily reports in 30 seconds. Photo documentation. Crew time tracking. Progress updates that happen without your foreman needing to learn new software.

4. Financial Visibility

Job costing in real time. Know your actual margins before the job is done — not 60 days after when QuickBooks finally reconciles. Invoice generation from completed work, not manual re-entry.

5. Client Communication

Professional proposals. Change order documentation. Progress photos. The stuff that makes you look like a $10M operation even when you're running 2 crews.

How BRIKT Fills the Gap

BRIKT was built from the ground up for specialty trade contractors running 5-50 person operations. Here's how it stacks up:

Pricing: The Real Comparison

Let's talk dollars. Here's what each platform actually costs for a typical small contractor:

That's not a typo. Over 3 years, a small contractor can save $12,000-$32,000 by choosing BRIKT over Procore — while getting tools actually designed for their workflow.

See full BRIKT pricing →

Frequently Asked Questions

Is BRIKT really a Procore alternative?

For enterprise GCs running $100M+ in annual revenue? No. Procore is better for that. For specialty trade contractors running $500K-$20M with 5-50 people? Absolutely. BRIKT handles estimating, procurement, field tracking, and financials — the stuff that actually matters for your business — at a fraction of the cost.

Can I use BRIKT and Procore together?

Yes. Many specialty contractors work as subs on projects where the GC uses Procore. BRIKT handles your internal operations — estimating, material ordering, crew management, job costing — while you submit deliverables into the GC's Procore instance. Read our full comparison →

Does BRIKT have a free version?

Yes. Our free estimating engine is available to every contractor, no credit card required. It includes trade-specific rate databases, waste calculators, and professional proposal generation.

How long does it take to set up BRIKT?

Most contractors are running their first estimate within 15 minutes of signing up. Full platform setup — including crew access, vendor connections, and workflow configuration — takes less than a day.

What trades does BRIKT support?

BRIKT is built for specialty trade contractors: hardscape/pavers, concrete, masonry, landscape, fencing, decking, and outdoor living. Our rate databases and estimating templates are trade-specific, not generic.

Ready to Stop Overpaying?

You don't need a 747 to run a paving crew. You need a tool built for the way you actually work — fast, mobile, trade-specific, and priced for a real small business.

Try BRIKT's free estimating engine →

No credit card. No sales call. No 12-week implementation. Just open it and start building estimates.

Or check out our pricing — it's right there on the website, because we think you deserve to know what things cost before you talk to anyone.