Are you a contractor looking for the best CRM to help manage your business? If so, you’ve come to the right place!
Whether you’re a one-person shop or a larger contracting team, finding the right CRM can boost your business in the right direction, while the wrong CRM can set you back thousands of dollars and more than a year to correct your business operations.
The Small Business Bonfire team and I, backed by my decade as a business consultant for multiple construction companies in the construction industry, have developed an in-depth guide on the best construction CRM software based on several factors:
- Peer review by industry experts
- Side-by-Side features review
- Pricing plans flexibility
- Pros and cons of project management tools
What is a CRM for Contractors?
A CRM for Contractors software tool helps contractors manage and grow their businesses. From managing customer relationships to tracking leads and sales, a CRM can help construction companies streamline their day-to-day operations.
It also makes it easier for contractors to track project costs, generate estimates, invoice customers, and maintain records of all projects. By focusing operations on a single software and automating tedious tasks, contractors can save valuable time, improve customer relationships, and increase profitability.
Why Do You Need a CRM in the Construction Industry?
Better Project Management
A good CRM in the construction industry helps better project management. It enables contractors to schedule and track projects, manage personnel and resources, and ensure the timely completion of tasks. This is critical for the successful delivery of projects on time.
Streamline Bid/Proposal Tracking
The best construction CRM will help streamline bids and proposal tracking. It makes monitoring the status of all tenders easier, including preparing competitive bids on time, managing negotiations with customers, and ensuring accurate documentation is provided.
Never Miss a Lead
By using a CRM in the construction industry, you can make sure that you never miss out on any leads. With features like automated lead tracking, you can ensure all leads are followed up and never lose an opportunity to close deals or land new contracts.
Process Payments on Time
A good CRM for contractors also helps process payments on time. With features like automated invoicing, document collection, and tracking of payments, you can ensure that customers make timely payments so that business keeps running smoothly.
Generate Quotes from One Platform
Receiving quotes are a critical part of guiding your decisions for the future! The best CRM in the construction industry helps organize the quoting process. By using a single platform to generate quotes, contractors can save time preparing estimates and reduce costly errors due to miscommunications.
What is the Best Construction CRM Software?
We’ve carefully examined the best CRM for construction available in 2023 and have compiled a list of reliable solutions that offer all the major features you need to run an efficient contracting business.
We know that CRM software constantly changes, and so does our list!
Here is our current top CRM for contractors:
- HubSpot
- JobNimbus
- Monday.com
- Insightly
- Pipedrive
- Procore
- Service Titan
- Jobber
Why We Picked It
HubSpot CRM is hands-down one of the best CRMs for contractors. It offers integrated tools to manage customer relationships, track leads, and streamline project management. One of the strengths of HubSpot CRM is the free marketing tools.
The user interface is intuitive and easy to use, allowing you to quickly understand how the software works so that you can get up and running quickly. It also offers a range of pricing plans to suit different budgets so that you can find the perfect one for your needs.
In addition, HubSpot CRM offers powerful automation tools that allow you to streamline workflows and reduce tedious tasks. This is especially beneficial for contractors as it helps them save time and lets them focus on what matters most, the customer experience.
Pricing
HubSpot CRM offers a free plan with several pricing plans and free tools such as conversational bots, live chat, and team email.
These are the pricing plans HubSpot provides:
- Starter Plan: This plan is $20 monthly for two paid users and includes email and in-app chat support, simple automation, and a meeting schedule.
- Professional Plan: This plan is $890 monthly, but you receive five paid users, standard CRM integration, forecasting, and advanced phone support.
Pros
- Intuitive interface for easy use
- Free plan available
- Plenty of marketing features available
Cons
- Project management features are limited
- Most plans get expensive with add-on features
- Needs plenty of system customization to fit contractors needs
Why We Picked It
JobNimbus is one of the most comprehensive CRM solutions available for contractors. It offers a vast array of features and tools that makes it stand out from other CRMs in the construction industry.
The dashboard provides an overview of your entire business, allowing you to understand how your projects are progressing quickly. JobNimbus includes document tracking, automated workflow processes, and customizable user settings to suit your unique business needs.
Contractors can also benefit from additional features, such as Smart Filters, which help you instantly find the information you need. Also, with JobNimbus’s Calendar View feature, contractors can schedule and track appointments more efficiently.
Pricing
JobNimbus has a free 14-day trial and offers three customized pricing plan options: Early, Growing, and Established. However, to receive a personalized quote, users must contact JobNimbus directly.
Pros
- Project management platform for contractors
- Includes payment processing and invoicing jobs
- Integrates with Quickbooks
Cons
- No pricing transparency for new customers
- Few third party integration options
- Key features not available until more expensive pricing plans
Why We Picked It
Monday.com is an all-in-one contractor platform offering powerful project and CRM capabilities.
This cloud-based solution lets users stay organized, streamline processes, and manage customer relationships from one central location.
This construction CRM software also offers much customizability, allowing you to customize the dashboard according to your business’s unique needs and preferences.
With Monday.com, contractors can easily create customized boards and columns for their projects and customers.
Pricing
Monday Crm has several different pricing plans for construction companies at monthly and annual rates and includes a free trial.
The monthly pricing plans include the following:
- Basic Plan: This plan is $10 a month per seat when billed annually and includes unlimited contacts, a customizable sales pipeline, and options for a mobile app.
- Standard Plan: This plan is $12 a month per seat when billed annually and includes activity management, quotes & invoices, and merging duplicate data.
- Pro Plan: This plan is $20 a month per seat when billed annually, including lead scoring, team goals, and account management.
- Enterprise Plan: The plan includes customized pricing for users who want a more personalized experience and access to more advanced features.
Pros
- Cheaper than other construction crm
- Has a free trial version
- 24/7 customer support
Cons
- No live chat support for all pricing plans
- Lead scoring isn't readily available
- Monday sales crm tools can be difficult to navigate
Why We Picked It
Insightly is one of the best CRMs for contractors, offering an intuitive and comprehensive platform designed explicitly for contractor businesses.
This cloud-based software includes features like contact management, task scheduling, team collaboration tools, bots, live chat, team emails, forecasting capabilities, and invoicing tools.
Insightly also offers a range of integrations, allowing you to connect with other applications like QuickBooks and Salesforce quickly. This makes it easy for contractors to synchronize their data across multiple systems, ensuring efficiency and accuracy in their operations.
Pricing
Insightly has several cheap pricing plans for construction businesses, including a free trial.
These are the pricing plans Insightly provides:
- Plus Plan: This plan is $29 a month per user and includes contact management, email marketing, and lead management.
- Professional Plan: This plan is $49 a month per user and includes lead assignment, routing, custom page layouts, and scheduled outbound emails.
- Enterprise Plan: This plan is $99 a month per user and includes calendar integration, mobile apps, and comprehensive audit logging.
Pros
- Built-in project management tools
- Strong lead and contract management for general contractors
- Low cost pricing plans compared to other construction crm software
Cons
- Payment processing needs third-party integration
- Not a specific construction crm
- Marketing automation only available with higher pricing plans
Why We Picked It
Pipedrive is one of the best CRM for construction companies, offering everything contractors need to manage their business and customer relationships.
This cloud-based solution offers sales automation tools, contact management, reporting capabilities, invoicing, payment processing integrated with QuickBooks, and other features designed specifically for contractors.
With PipeDrive, contractors can easily automate tasks such as lead scoring and follow-up emails, allowing them to focus more on other aspects of their business.
Pipedrive also offers a range of integrations with popular apps like Google Drive and Zendesk, ensuring data accuracy and productivity.
Pricing
PipeDrive has plenty of pricing options at annual and monthly rates and includes a free trial for general contractors.
Here are the subscription
- Essential Plan: This plan is $14.90 a month per user and includes 24/7 support, pipeline management, and easy customization.
- Advanced Plan: This plan is $24.90 monthly per user and includes full email sync, workflow builder, and click tracking.
- Professional Plan: This plan is $49.90 a month per user, including revenue projections, enhanced custom reporting, and managing design contracts.
- Enterprise Plan: This plan is $99 a month per user and comes with the same features as the previous plans plus more advanced features.
Pros
- Has a free trial plan
- Unlimited sales pipeline
- Automates repetitive tasks
Cons
- Limited custom fields
- Phone support only for most expensive plan
- Marketing campaigns not specific for construction firms
Why We Picked It
Procore is one of the best CRM software for construction businesses, offering a comprehensive and easy-to-use platform designed explicitly for the construction industry.
This cloud-based tool offers features such as contact management, project collaboration tools, invoicing capabilities, financial tracking, and forecasting.
Procore also has a range of integrations with popular applications like Salesforce and QuickBooks, allowing contractors to easily keep their data synced across multiple systems for more efficient operations.
Pricing
Procore has a demo that can be requested from your construction business. However, customized pricing plans depend on the needs of construction projects. Contact their website for more details.
Pros
- Customer service is excellent for business development
- Helps document management
- Integration is easy for new users
Cons
- Sales tools can be confusing
- Too many unwanted notifications for sales management
- Updates to existing tools is overwhelming
Why We Picked It
ServiceTitan is one of the best CRM for construction, offering an all-in-one platform specifically designed to meet the needs of service industry businesses.
This cloud-based solution offers tools like contact management, automated marketing campaigns, invoicing, payment processing integrated with Stripe and PayPal, and a customer loyalty program.
ServiceTitan also has a robust audit logging feature that allows you to track every action taken within the platform, ensuring compliant operations.
Pricing
ServiceTitan is project management-focused CRM software with demos available for any construction business. Pricing depends on the construction project’s needs. They have three subscription plans: Starter, Essentials, and the Works. However, users must contact the website for a customized quote.
Pros
- Great field management features
- Techs create quotes from estimate templates
- Layout for multiple projects is easy to follow
Cons
- No free crm pricing plans
- No pricing transparency for new clients
- Mobile app is limited
Why We Picked It
Jobber is one of the best CRM software for contractors, offering an easy-to-use platform designed to meet service industry businesses’ needs.
This cloud-based solution offers tools such as contact management, marketing automation, excellent lead management, task scheduling, and customer loyalty programs.
Jobber also has a range of integrations with popular apps like FreshBooks and Dropbox, allowing contractors to easily keep their data synced across multiple systems for more efficient operations.
Pricing
Jobber has a free trial and several pricing plans for a construction company at a monthly or annual rate.
These are the annual plans Jobber offers users:
- Core Plan: This plan is $49 monthly and includes job scheduling, a mobile app, and invoicing.
- Connect Plan: This plan is $129 monthly and includes routing, GPS tracking, and online booking.
- Grow Plan: This plan is $249 monthly and includes lead management, two-way text messaging, and automated quote follow-ups.
Pros
- Solid interface for construction software
- High differentiation between desktop and mobile version
- Great organization of customer data
Cons
- No free version available
- Desktop crm software solution can be overwhelming
- Pricing plan gets expensive
Conclusion
Based on our research, we can say that one of the best CRM for contractors is Procore. It offers comprehensive and easy-to-use features designed explicitly for the construction industry, excellent customer service, and various integrations.
ServiceTitan and Jobber are also great picks because they offer robust platforms designed to meet the needs of service industry businesses. You should evaluate each solution based on your company’s specific needs to determine the best fit for you.
No matter what CRM software you choose, rest assured it will provide an array of tools to help streamline processes and improve efficiency in your construction business.
Are you a small business owner? Do you have any questions about the best CRM for contractors? Let us know in the comments below!
Frequently Asked Questions
The three basic CRM functionalities are contact management, sales and marketing automation, and analytics.
Contact management is a tool for storing, organizing, and updating customer information. Sales and marketing automation helps businesses automate tasks such as lead generation, emails and campaigns. Analytics provides insights into customer behaviors to help make informed decisions.
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management.
Examples of CRM software include Procore, Service Titan, and Jobber.
The four pillars of CRM are customer service, sales and marketing automation, customer analytics, and operational efficiency.
The best CRM software depends on the needs of your construction business. Popular options include Procore, Service Titan, and Jobber. All of this software have their own strengths and weaknesses, so you should evaluate each one to determine which is best for your business.