Switching From Buildertrend to JobTread: A Step-by-Step Migration Guide
By Meredith Dobbs
If you searched for this article, you're probably in one of two spots. Either you're still on Buildertrend and weighing whether a move to JobTread makes sense, or you've already signed up for JobTread, and you're staring at a blank account wondering where to start. This guide covers both.
We'll walk you through what to do before you switch, how the actual data migration works, and a checklist you can follow step by step once you're in JobTread. If you're still deciding, our comparison of pricing, features, and usability between JobTread and Buildertrend is a good place to start before you commit, and we'll link back to it throughout this guide where it's useful.
Why Contractors Leave Buildertrend
Every business has its own reasons for switching software, and we won't pretend to know yours. But the two most common themes we hear from contractors who contact us are pricing structure and complexity.
JobTread uses a single tier subscription model with the only add-ons being internal users while Buildertrend uses tiered pricing that varies by company revenue with some plans exceeding more than $50,000 per year. If your team has grown since you first signed up for Buildertrend, it's worth reading the full JobTread vs. Buildertrend comparison to see how your current tier compares to what you'd pay with JobTread, or simply check out our pricing page to calculate the price in under a minute.
The other theme is having the right tools you need right at your fingertips. JobTread brings estimating, scheduling, job costing, and client communication into one workflow, so your team spends less time hunting through screens and settings and more time getting work done. If that sounds like what your business needs, it's worth a demo to see how JobTread sets your team up for success.
Before You Switch: What to Prepare
Whether you're still deciding or ready to go, gather these items before you start the migration conversation with JobTread:
A full export of your customer and vendor contacts from Buildertrend, typically as a CSV file
Your cost items, cost codes, and cost catalog, exported in whatever format Buildertrend allows
A list of active jobs to bring over and / or which ones to finish out in Buildertrend
Budget, schedule, and document templates you rely on regularly
How the JobTread Migration Process Works
Once you're ready to move forward, JobTread doesn't leave you to figure it out alone. Here's what the process looks like.
Schedule Your Onboarding Call
The implementation process begins with an onboarding call to meet your dedicated Customer Success Manager and build a strategy to meet your goals for implementing JobTread. You'll discuss your timeline and the data you currently have that you'd like to import into the system.
Migrate Data and Transition Templates From Buildertrend
Export spreadsheets of your essential Buildertrend information and connect with your JobTread Customer Success Manager who can help import items such as customers, vendors, and cost codes.
One of the most common questions we hear is what happens to your existing data when you switch to JobTread. Here's a quick breakdown.
Included with onboarding:
We can import your customers, vendors, cost items, cost codes, cost catalog, and schedule templates as part of the onboarding process, within reason. This gets the core of your business set up in JobTread from day one.
Job data:
Jobs themselves can be imported. Migrating the data within jobs (budgets, documents, files, daily logs, etc.) is a premium service. If you can export that data in a downloadable format, we can recreate it in JobTread for $25/hour.
Third-party systems:
If accessing your data requires signing into an external system, our team is unable to do that on your behalf. For those projects, we have marketplace partners who specialize in data migration. You can browse them here.
If you're considering bringing all of your historical or archived Buildertrend jobs into JobTread, weigh the time and cost involved, especially since that data likely already exists elsewhere in an accounting platform like QuickBooks.
Be sure to bring over your budget, schedule, to-dos, and document templates so your team can start in JobTread with the customized templates they already know.
Customize JobTread and Train Your Team
When you first log in to JobTread, a step-by-step setup guide walks you through your initial setup, including custom fields and custom views.
Once you're in, don't try to learn every part of the software on day one. Start by getting comfortable with how JobTread handles estimating and budgeting, then layer in scheduling and client communication once your team has some reps in the system. From there, add on more advanced features as your team grows and your needs shift.
Get Ready to Cancel Your Buildertrend Subscription
Before canceling with Buildertrend, check your Buildertrend contract for their specific cancellation process since this varies by plan. Once you're ready to move forward, you have two options for starting jobs in JobTread.
The first is to keep any active Buildertrend jobs running there until they wrap up naturally. Once your team is confident in JobTread and your current projects are closed out, you can cancel your Buildertrend subscription and complete the switch.
If your team needs to get started with JobTread faster, you can bring over active jobs by importing the approved budget and collected payments into JobTread instead of recreating everything associated with an active job. This lets you get going immediately with JobTread without having to run both platforms at the same time.
Simplify and Centralize Your Business.
Learn how JobTread can help you focus on what matters most.
Your Post-Migration Checklist
If you've already made the switch and want to make sure nothing got lost in the transition from Buildertrend to JobTread, run through this checklist.
Customers and vendors imported and spot checked for accuracy
Cost codes and cost catalog set up and matched to how your team estimates
Schedule templates recreated or imported
Active jobs either migrated or confirmed to finish out in Buildertrend
Team members added as internal users with permissions set correctly
Customer and vendor portal access tested from an external view
QuickBooks Online or other integrations connected, if applicable
Core features and functionality reviewed on a first call with your Customer Success Manager
Buildertrend subscription canceled once you're fully off the platform
Where to Learn JobTread After the Switch
JobTread offers a library of articles and resources covering every aspect of the platform, along with recorded and live tutorials and walk-throughs for setup and training on the most-used features.
A few places worth bookmarking early:
Making the Switch on Your Own Timeline
Switching software is never just a technical decision, it's a business decision. Whether you're still weighing the move or you've already got a JobTread account open in another tab, the goal of this guide is the same: give you a clearer picture of what actually happens so there are no surprises along the way.
If you're still deciding, start with a demo and see how JobTread's workflow fits your team. If you've already made the switch, work through the post migration checklist above and lean on your Customer Success Manager for help. Either way, you don't have to figure this out alone.
Schedule a demo, and we'll walk you through exactly what your migration would look like.
Keep Learning
Frequently Asked Questions
This depends on your team's budget and whether you want everything, including customer support, included in one monthly price. JobTread uses a single tier subscription model starting at $199 per month plus $20 per internal user (or $159 per month on the annual plan), which tends to appeal to contractors who want predictable pricing as they add users. The best way to answer this for your business is a side-by-side demo of both platforms.
While Buildertrend claims that JobTread can't handle complex jobs or high-revenue companies, that's not the case. JobTread works the same way for every construction company, regardless of size, and pricing doesn't change based on revenue. The monthly price stays the same whether your company makes $250K or $50M a year.
Buildertrend is a construction management platform used by home builders, remodelers, and specialty contractors to handle project management, scheduling, budgeting, and client communication. Contractors researching a move to JobTread often start here to understand what capabilities they're comparing against.
We can import your customers, vendors, cost items, cost codes, cost catalog, and schedule templates as part of the onboarding process, within reason. This gets the core of your business set up in JobTread from day one.
Jobs themselves can be imported. Migrating the data within jobs (budgets, documents, files, daily logs, etc.) is a premium service. If you can export that data in a downloadable format, we can recreate it in JobTread for $25/hour.
If accessing your data requires signing into an external system, our team is unable to do that on your behalf. For those projects, we have marketplace partners who specialize in data migration. You can browse them here.
Yes. JobTread has a first-class integration with QuickBooks Online. If QuickBooks is central to your accounting process, this is one of the first integrations most contractors set up after migrating.
Contractors commonly evaluate Buildertrend alternatives like JobTread, Procore, CoConstruct, and Houzz Pro, among others. Before committing to any platform, it's worth seeing how JobTread offers a long-term, affordable construction software solution that scales with your business.
Run a more efficient, more profitable construction business.
Let one of our experts show you how JobTread helps you manage leads, jobs, budgets, and customers all in one place.
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Meredith Dobbs is a Digital Marketing Specialist at JobTread with a background in education, research, and strategic communication. She specializes in creating clear, trustworthy messaging that is rooted in research, crafted for connection, and driven by a deep care for customers and their businesses.