With the best apps for contractors, you can easily run all the administrative parts of your business in one platform to optimize your team.
Every successful construction company owner or manager has to wear multiple hats to run the business successfully. Administrative tasks including scheduling, budgeting, billing, and communication can easily pile up, taking you away from the important tasks of overseeing your team or putting new bids together. These cloud-based contractor apps can help automate some of these tasks, letting you run your business more efficiently.
What To Look For in Contractor Apps
The best apps for contractors offer multiple features that make it easier to tackle administrative tasks in one place.
- Project Management: Project management features allow you to successfully juggle multiple clients with ease. Look for an app with project management features to track sub-consultants, set task lists, and keep budgets under control.
- Communication: In construction, communication is a core component of success, not to mention safety. Find an app with features that let your team easily stay in touch with one another.
- Data Analytics: Data analytics features allow you to use metrics from previous projects to prepare more accurate bids and estimates for future clients.
The Best Contractor Apps
These are the best apps for contractors on the market. Use them to run your business and help it grow.
1. Raken – Good for Field Reporting
Made with contractors in mind, Raken makes it easy to improve job performance and safety measures. Your foreperson and crew can create branded daily reports with photos and time stamps to keep clients informed of daily progress. Each member of the team can access the work log to track what they’ve done.
Raken also lets your team upload voice notes for clients, supervisors, or other construction team members. These reporting features help you keep your team on track with project timelines and help you stay compliant with safety regulations, overtime rules, and other requirements.
The app reminds you if you forget to fill out a daily report, helping keep each member of your team accountable. Since Raken offers a mobile app, your team members can fill out their reports onsite in real-time. It’s easy to learn, so you won’t have to spend a lot of time on training.
Key Features
- Daily reporting feature
- Materials and equipment tracking
- Timesheet management
- Budget management
- Checklists
Pros
- Features keep your team accountable
- Easily share progress with clients
Cons
- Reports of difficulty finding older items
- Some users would like more customization with the reports
Pricing
Contact vendor for price
Free Option: Yes
Free Trial: Yes
2. Connecteam – Best All-Around Contractor App
Connecteam offers a variety of features that make managing your construction team easier. Its in-app communication tools are great for sharing job details, photos, and special messages. You easily schedule project teams and send them job site details within the app. With geofencing, your construction team can’t clock in until they are onsite, helping minimize buddy punching and time theft.
With Connecteam’s tasks lists, you can create site-specific punch lists to keep your team members on track throughout the project. Upload forms and documents to the app so team members can easily access them when needed.
The document-sharing feature also lets you share safety rules and procedures with your team. Enhance your dedication to safety by creating training materials and quizzes to keep your construction team updated on all precautions.
Key Features
- In-app communication tools
- Document sharing
- Geofenced time clock
- Safety and task checklists
- Team scheduling
Pros
- Good customer service
- Easy to use
Cons
- The free plan is only available for small companies
- The company is still working on some integrations
Pricing
Starts at $29 per month for up to 30 users
Free Option: Yes
Free Trial: Yes
3. Procore – Good for Estimating
With Procore, you get features that make it easier to manage your team, along with features that help you hone your estimating skills. It allows you to store drawings, extract material quantities from models, and estimate time and labor costs better. Once you’ve created an estimate, you can quickly turn it into a project budget after you win the project. Since you can store your estimates on Procore, you can access similar budgets when preparing a bid for a new project.
Once you’ve won a project, you can use Procore to see your team’s availability and assemble a team with the right skills. Instead of sifting through multiple calendars, emails, and spreadsheets, your management team can access workloads and schedule teams directly from the app. Procore’s mobile app is fast and responsive while your team is on the field.
They can use the app to quickly access contractor and sub-contractor contact information, send messages to other members of the team, and notify other workers of problems as they arise.
Key Features
- Budgeting and estimating capabilities
- Labor planning
- Customizable fields and workflows
- Streamlined communication
- Analytics reports
Pros
- Offers multiple tools for each phase of construction projects
- Helpful demos make training easier
Cons
- Reviewers have noted a learning curve with the app
- App updates sometimes disrupt common features
Pricing
Contact vendor for pricing
Free Option: No
Free Trial: No
4. LetsBuild – Good for Planning
LetsBuild offers different apps for each part of the construction process. Its LB Coordination platform allows your project managers to keep your team on track. This app offers data visualization tools that make it easy to compare scheduled tasks with those completed.
Your construction team can check items off the lists, and LB Coordination automatically updates the project schedule, allowing managers to see how well the team is sticking to the schedule. With this tool, you can identify bottlenecks in your processes and develop strategies for eliminating them.
You also get valuable data that makes it easier to estimate future project schedules accurately. If you’re working on a commercial or residential project with repetitive tasks, you can block out times to have your subcontractors on site to complete each unit on the same day.
LB Coordination integrates with LetsBuild’s other products to comprehensively manage workflows from the beginning of a project to the end.
Key Features
- Activity dashboards
- Detailed reporting features
- Activity tracking
- Alerts and notifications
- Planning and scheduling
Pros
- You can keep subcontractors on task with communication and checklists
- The interface is easy to use
Cons
- You need more than one app to manage a whole project
- Reviewers have noted that there are a lot of pop-ups
Pricing
Contact vendor for price
Free Option: No
Free Trial: Yes
5. Smartsheet – Good for Managing Multiple Projects
With detailed portfolio dashboards, Smartsheet can help you assess each of your company’s projects in progress. Easily track how many projects you have in the works and where they are in the process. Compare budgets to actual expenditures and make estimating more accurate.
These dashboards help you see which projects are on track and which may be at risk of falling behind. Use the data to shuffle team members and fill in gaps on project teams that are farther behind. Set daily priorities and better manage your field team, matching available team members with the job sites where their skills are needed most.
Smartsheet also offers communication tools for incident reporting, setting checklists, and sharing project-specific information with each member of your contracting team.
Key Features
- To-do lists
- Recurring tasks
- Portfolio dashboards
- Project-specific dashboards
- Customizable templates
Pros
- The intuitive interface makes it easy for your team to use
- Ability to track project plans by task
Cons
- The formulas for making dashboards are unreliable
- Setting up projects can be time-consuming
Pricing
Starts at $7 per user per month for up to 10 users
Free Option: Yes
Free Trial: Yes
What Is a Contractor App?
Contractor apps are digital platforms that construction workers and managers can use to effectively manage their businesses and projects. These tools offer project management features, scheduling, and task lists that allow construction managers to plan and dispatch project teams, create estimates, and keep their projects on schedule.
What Are the Benefits of Using a Contractor App?
In contracting, your reputation hinges on your ability to complete high-quality work within time and budget. Contractor apps offer multiple features that help you achieve this goal. In-app communication tools let your project team call for help if an onsite issue may cause project delays.
Time and equipment trackers give you the ability to estimate budget and labor costs for future projects. These apps also offer document sharing, checklists, and other tools you can use to keep your team safe. Send safety quizzes to keep your team up to date on new regulations. Use job checklists to remind your team to bring PPE and other safety equipment to each site. Track incident reports to keep tabs on team members or potential subcontractors who might engage in risky behavior onsite.
With the best contractor apps, you can make your team more efficient without sacrificing quality. Check out these apps and find the one that’s right for you.
