Industry guide
Should a specialty contractor buy trade software or build a custom system?
Buy a product such as BuildOps or eSUB when it names your trade and your process is close to what it expects. Build a custom system when your trade or your workflow sits outside what the products were designed for, because over five years you would pay recurring fees for software your crews still work around.
| What you are comparing | A product | A custom build |
|---|---|---|
| Cost over five years | A recurring fee set by users, technicians, modules or construction volume depending on the vendor, plus add-ons and setup. It grows as crews are added. | A one-time build scoped in writing, then running costs such as hosting and database. There are no licenses, so adding crews does not raise the total. |
| Per-seat fees | Per-seat fees are common. ServiceTitan prices per technician, eSUB by user count and modules, and the field service platforms per user. Procore is the exception, with no user charge. | None. Every foreman, technician and project manager can have a login at no added fee. |
| Fit to your trade | The fit is good when the vendor names your trade and poor when it does not, since screens and terms assume someone else's work. | Built from your own workflow, whether that is units and routes, pieces and sequences, or crews and tickets. |
| Time to launch | Signing is quick. Rolling out to every crew and technician, loading customers and equipment, and training take effort before the product is useful. | Starts with discovery and a written scope. Working screens are shown during the build, and the schedule is set in that scope. |
| Projects and service together | A few products hold both. Most are built around one and treat the other as an add-on or leave it out. | One system across both divisions, so a finished project can become a service contract without re-entry. |
| Connection to accounting | Limited to the integrations the vendor lists, which vary widely from product to product. | Built to agree with the accounting system you already run, scoped as part of the build. |
| Who can maintain it | The vendor, with your own administrator handling setup. | Any competent developer, since Black Badger writes the code to be read and sets up every account in your name. |
When buying trade contractor software is the right answer
Buy when a product names your trade and your work looks like its other customers. A mechanical contractor with service and projects, or an electrical subcontractor that needs field tracking and change orders, has good products to choose from.
Also buy when the need is immediate. Your crews can start using a product sooner than a system that has not been scoped.
When building a custom contractor system is the right answer
Build when no product names your trade. Elevator contractors and steel fabricators are the clearest cases on this site. Adapting a product built for someone else means paying for it and still keeping the record you trust in a spreadsheet.
Build when your process is your advantage. If the way you schedule crews, track pieces or manage maintenance contracts is why customers choose you, software that replaces it with a standard workflow costs more than its fee.
How to compare the cost of trade contractor software with a custom build
Compare the cost over five years instead of the first quote. Add the recurring fee at the crew count you expect, every add-on module, setup and training, and the office hours spent keeping two systems in agreement. That is the product number.
The custom number is a one-time build plus running costs. Black Badger does not publish a price, because the figure depends on what the system has to do. A written scope gives you the number to set beside the product total.
What a custom build involves, and how to ask about one
Questions buyers ask
Is custom software only for large contractors?
No, a contractor does not have to be large to use custom software. Black Badger works mainly with companies of 50 or more employees, which is the size where several crews, sizable software fees and a settled process come together. Below that size a product is usually the better buy, and we will say so.
Can a custom system replace only part of a contractor's software?
Yes, a custom system can replace only part of what you use, and that is the normal case. Most contractors keep accounting and often payroll, and build the operations system that connects to them.
What if a software product later adds support for a contractor's trade?
If a product later adds support for your trade, you can compare again with full information. You own the custom system and its data outright, so moving off it is your choice and nobody else controls the timing.