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7 Best CRMs for Construction & Contractors 2022

Name: Freshsales
Item: Freshsales
Rating: 4.3
Author: Jen Sako

Written By

JS

Jen Sako

Aug 25, 2022

2 minute read

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Construction CRMs are software that help construction companies and contractors organize their leads, clients, and projects. The top construction CRM software generally includes sales and project pipelines, task automation, and sales forecasting, as well as tools to manage client information, bids, and contracts. To help you choose the best option for you, we’ve reviewed the top platforms and identified the best use cases for each.

Here are the top seven CRMs for the construction industry:

Freshsales: Best overall construction CRM for features and pricing (free starting price)
Pipedrive: Best construction CRM for a la carte advanced features (14-day free trial)
HubSpot CRM: Best no-cost-to-start CRM with premium upgrades (free starting price)
Insightly: Best construction CRM for project management tools (free starting price)
Salesforce Essentials: Best construction CRM for custom reporting (30-day free trial)
TopBuilder: Best CRM for construction-specific tools (60-day money-back guarantee)
MarketSharp: Best CRM for collecting customer feedback and referrals (free demo)

All seven CRMs offer a mix of features, but five general CRMs scored higher than the construction-specific platforms that made our list since they provide the key features firms need while also being more customizable and affordable. Freshsales offers the best overall value for construction businesses needing to manage projects and relationships. Check out how each CRM scored and its primary use case, or learn about our scoring below.

Note: All per-user prices are with a one-year commitment unless noted.

Freshsales: Best Overall Construction CRM

Freshsales is a general sales CRM that's the best option for construction and real estate pros.

Price Range: Free to $69 per user, per month (21-day free trial)

Overall Rating

4.3

Pricing

4.5

General Features

4.2

Ease of Use

4.3

Advanced Features

4.3

Customization

4.0

Customer Service

4.7

Pros

Simple setup & operation
Many ways to customize
Automatically enriches new lead records

Cons

Best features only in paid tiers
Third-party integrations are limited
No client tracking available

Freshsales is an easy-to-use CRM offering free and paid tiers that all help you manage your customers, partners, bids, and tasks via tools like web forms, live chat, and more. Upgrade for features such as workflow automation and Freddy AI, which enriches records with info relevant to potential jobs (e.g., lead and company names, phone numbers, addresses) and predicts which bids are likely to result in a contract so you can prioritize the bids you submit.

Freshsales' sales features and AI upgrades make it a great option for construction pros wanting to increase their won bids, but it lacks marketing features to help you attract leads in the first place. For a well-rounded CRM with solid sales and marketing features, check out HubSpot CRM.

Freshsales Pricing

Free Version: Supports up to 3 users
Growth: $15 per user, per month
Pro: $39 per user, per month
Enterprise: $69 per user, per month
Free Trial: 21 days
Integration with Freshworks' free marketing and service platform tiers

Freshsales Key Features

Lead Generation: Capture lead info, then autoenrich the records with pertinent info.
Deal Management: Autoconvert qualified leads, then receive follow-up reminders.
Automated Workflows: Simplify construction operations by automating repetitive tasks.
Sales Pipeline Management: Move leads and deals through drag-and-drop pipelines.

Pipedrive: Best for Advanced Add-Ons

Pipedrive has richly visual pipelines for tracking sales activities and offers advanced features as needed.

Price Range: $14 to $99 per user, per month (14-day trial)

Overall Rating

4.1

Pricing

4.2

General Features

4.0

Ease of Use

4.1

Advanced Features

4.3

Customization

3.8

Customer Service

4.5

Pros

Highly visual pipelines track activity
Many ways to customize pipelines
Intuitive & easy to use

Cons

Scalability limited for business growth
Third-party integrations are limited
Few marketing functions

Pipedrive is a sales CRM with a visual pipeline to help track your sales and projects. Its affordable tiers provide many of the core features you'll need to manage your construction business. However, you can also add on advanced features like LeadBooster and/or Web Visitors to generate and capture leads, Campaigns to nurture those leads via email marketing, and Smart Docs to autofill, track, and electronically sign your construction bids and contracts.

Pipedrive's advanced add-ons are highly useful but can get costly, so if you'd prefer a CRM that bundles key sales features within its tiers, learn more about Freshsales.

Pipedrive Pricing

Essential: $14 per user, per month
Advanced: $29 per user, per month
Professional: $49 per user, per month
Power: $64 per user, per month
Enterprise: $99 per user, per month (minimum 10 users)
Free Trial: 14 days for all plans
Pay for sales and marketing add-ons: LeadBooster, Web Visitors, Campaigns, or Smart Docs

Pipedrive Key Features

Quote Manager: Create bids and estimates and manage them through the pipeline.
Mobile App: Communicate with leads and clients and access all data from the job site.
Activity Management: Track contracts, sales activity, permits, and other related tasks.
Customizability: Create fields relevant to construction, like products and project types.

HubSpot CRM: Best Free Option With Upgrades

HubSpot CRM is a top cost-optional solution to manage construction customer data, with key upgrades available.

Price Range: Free to $1,200 per month (Sales Hub)

Overall Rating

4.0

Pricing

4.1

General Features

4.0

Ease of Use

4.4

Advanced Features

4.0

Customization

3.2

Customer Service

4.7

Pros

Customizable to your industry needs
Templates for emailing & invoicing
Manage contracts & quotes

Cons

Upgrades can get pricey
Less customer support in free plan
Automated workflows are limited

HubSpot CRM is a free CRM offering solid marketing and sales features. Use its email templates and social media tools to promote your construction services, then take advantage of the quote feature for bidding and a deal pipeline to track all leads and activities. Upgrading to Sales Hub provides advanced sales features to use as you bid on more projects — e.g., deal scoring and esignatures — plus access to the free tools within Marketing, Service, and Operations Hubs.

HubSpot's upgrades include more features and users, which might not be right for small companies or independent contractors. For a free CRM with affordable per-user upgrades, look into Freshsales, or TopBuilder for industry marketing tools and a money-back guarantee.

HubSpot CRM Pricing

Free Plan: Support for unlimited users
Sales Hub Starter: $45 per month for 2 users
Sales Hub Professional: $450 per month for 5 paid users
Sales Hub Enterprise: $1,200 per month for 10 paid users
Additional users can be purchased for extra
Integration with HubSpot's free marketing, service, and operation platform tiers

HubSpot CRM Key Features

Quote/Estimate Manager: Create and manage quotes inside the CRM.
Mobile App: Access prospects and sales data while at the job site or on the road.
Marketing and Ad Tools: Launch campaigns and access reporting and analytics.
Custom Data: Track activities and collect prospect info relevant to construction.

Insightly: Best for Project Management

Insightly is a CRM offering strong project management tools along with sales and marketing capability.

Price Range: Free to $99 per user, per month (14-day free trial)

Overall Rating

3.9

Pricing

3.9

General Features

4.5

Ease of Use

3.2

Advanced Features

3.8

Customization

3.4

Customer Service

4.0

Pros

Project management syncs to apps
Templates for email marketing
Attractive interface

Cons

Live support is an add-on
No email sync
Must upgrade for many automations

Insightly is a feature-packed sales and project management CRM allowing contractors and construction sales reps to hand off won bids to team members without any loss of data. Notes, conversations, and activities are kept intact so team members can follow construction projects as they progress and track milestones along the way. Upgrade to assign unlimited roles and control which members can edit projects so your data is always accurate.

Insightly is great for project management, but some users complain that it's clunky compared to other CRMs. If quality UI is important to you, check out Freshsales, which offers robust sales features plus project management–related tools like custom roles and role-based access.

Insightly Pricing

Free Plan: Support for 2 users
Plus: $29 per user, per month
Professional: $49 per user, per month
Enterprise: $99 per user, per month
Free Trial: 14 days for all paid plans

Insightly Key Features

Project Management: Track tasks, sync to calendars, and customize processes.
Lead Capture: Capture web visitors' info via online forms and landing pages.
Custom Reports: Create sales and project data visualizations that update in real time.
Email Marketing: Design attractive newsletters and emails to promote your business.

Salesforce Essentials: Best for Custom Reporting

Salesforce Essentials helps you track key construction metrics using reports and then organize them into dashboards.

Price Range: $25 per user, per month (30-day free trial)

Overall Rating

3.8

Pricing

4.1

General Features

4.0

Ease of Use

3.2

Advanced Features

3.8

Customization

4.2

Customer Service

3.3

Pros

Separate pipeline for opportunities
Advanced team collaboration tools
Glitches can happen often

Cons

UI takes time to learn
Customer support could be better
Many features are upgrades

Salesforce Essentials is an affordable tier within the Salesforce Sales Cloud platform. It offers many of the same core features as higher plans, such as lead and opportunity management, email marketing, and team collaboration. It also provides full reporting functionality, which allows you to build custom reports around your win/loss ratio, purchase orders, job progress, safety and employee time tracking, and more, then organize those reports into dashboards.

Essentials includes several advanced Sales Cloud features, but you might find that it doesn't offer all of the ones that would help your business. If this is the case, consider Freshsales for sales tools or HubSpot CRM for both sales and marketing.

Salesforce Essentials Pricing

Essentials: $25 per user, per month (up to 10 users)
Free Trial: 30 days

Salesforce Essentials Key Features

Reports and Dashboards: Track the most important info to your construction business.
Sales Cycle Management: Track leads, contacts, opportunities, and accounts.
Website Leads: Capture leads who browse your website, including their contact info.
Email Templates: Craft form emails for sending a bid, collecting payment, and more.

TopBuilder: Best for Industry-Specific Tools

TopBuilder offers sales and marketing tools specifically for the construction industry.

Price Range: $35 to $90 per user, per month + setup fee (60-day money-back guarantee)

Overall Rating

3.7

Pricing

3.7

General Features

4.3

Ease of Use

4.4

Advanced Features

2.7

Customization

2.3

Customer Service

4.5

Pros

Dedicated support manager
Robust marketing automations
Manage pre-construction bids & jobs

Cons

Customizations are limited
Lead capture is an upgrade
Only basic reporting offered

TopBuilder is a highly-rated CRM specifically made for construction professionals. Industry tools like a proposal builder, a bid manager, and prebuilt email marketing templates save you time on sales and marketing so you can focus more on won projects. The CRM also organizes customer data and can be used from an office or a job site via its mobile app. Upgrades give you access to lead capture tools plus advanced industry features like a bid scorecard and a quote builder.

TopBuilder's industry tools make it a great out-of-the-box platform for those in the construction industry, but its reporting and dashboards are lacking. For an industry CRM with robust reporting features, including prebuilt and custom reports, learn about MarketSharp.

TopBuilder Pricing

Essentials: $35 per user, per month + one-time setup fee
Professional: $50 per user, per month + one-time setup fee
Enterprise: $90 per user, per month + one-time setup fee
Money-Back Guarantee: 60 days

TopBuilder Key Features

Bid Management: Track bids by job and get analytics on quote performance.
Bid Calendar: View and assign bids to the right person on your team, then monitor them.
Job Resource Management: See the status of your crews, vehicles, equipment, and more.
Email Marketing: Launch promotional newsletters and emails from branded templates.

MarketSharp: Best for Customer Referrals

MarketSharp helps construction pos gather customer feedback and referrals to promote their business.

Price Range: $99 to $299 for one user, per month + $40 to $50 per additional user, per month (free demo)

Overall Rating

3.5

Pricing

3.1

General Features

4.1

Ease of Use

4.4

Advanced Features

2.5

Customization

3.0

Customer Service

3.0

Pros

Unique reputation management tools
Can handle service & warranty calls
Referral marketing campaigns

Cons

Pricier than others
Cumbersome to set up
Could be more customizable

MarketSharp is an industry CRM with built-in tools for sales, marketing, and payments. Its reputation management feature solicits customer feedback and encourages referrals, which are useful for remodelers and other home pros who rely on word-of-mouth advertising. Automate campaigns that trigger when you finish a job and prompt your customer to provide a referral or review for future leads to see, and leverage your quality work to make more sales.

MarketSharp's core features, including its reputation management tool, are highly useful for construction pros, but the cost can be prohibitive for some. For a more affordable construction-specific CRM, check out TopBuilder, which offers a lower price and a money-back guarantee.

MarketSharp Pricing

Standard: $99 per user, per month + $40 per additional user, per month
Pro: $199 per user, per month + $45 per additional user, per month
Ultimate: $299 per user, per month + $50 per additional user, per month

MarketSharp Key Features

Reputation Management: Solicit customer feedback and facilitate referral campaigns.
Automated Marketing: Generate leads via scripts, follow-ups, and appointments.
Project Management: Automate workflows and schedule crews and materials.
Service and Warranty Management: Organize service calls and warranty work.

Top 4 Construction CRM Features

The best CRMs for construction professionals and contractors include the following tools:

Lead and client tracking helps you organize your potential and current customers' information and activity and easily reach out to them at the right time.

How We Evaluated the Best Construction CRM Software

Construction sales reps and contractors can use general CRM software or an industry-specific platform to generate leads and manage bids, projects, and payments. To determine the best tools for the industry, we scored a mix of quality general CRMs and construction-focused CRMs. We used six weighted scoring categories consisting of subcriteria, and the CRM with the most points out of five was deemed the overall winner. Finally, we identified each top option's primary use case.

Evaluation Criteria

Pricing as well as general relationship and project management features are among users' top priorities when choosing a construction CRM. We also looked at ease of use and advanced functions such as built-in texting and calling. Finally, we checked if reports and forms were customizable and customer support was readily available.

Methodology weights

Pricing 25%

General Features 25%

Ease of Use 20%

Advanced Features 15%

Customization 10%

Customer Service 5%

Bottom Line: Best Construction CRM

Construction businesses are in the unique position of balancing real estate customers with presale marketing and projects. A good CRM will streamline these functions and increase productivity, which is critical in such a time-sensitive industry. Many general CRMs can be customized to fit the needs of builders and remodelers, but there are also quality construction-specific solutions. Use our buying guide to help steer you to the right CRM for your needs.

JS

Jen Sako

Jen is a Pittsburgh-based contributing writer for Selling Signals specializing in CRM software buyer's guides. As a freelancer, she also writes about hospitality and tourism sales, including sales and marketing tech and travel content. When she isn't on assignment, Jen catches up on her many newsletter subscriptions, watches no-code tutorials, and spends time with her family.

7 Best CRMs for Construction & Contractors 2022

Top 4 Construction CRM Features

How We Evaluated the Best Construction CRM Software

Evaluation Criteria

Bottom Line: Best Construction CRM

Jen Sako

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