If you are a custom home builder or a remodeler, you have likely seen the ads for Houzz Pro. It’s a massive platform. It looks slick, it has a directory of millions of homeowners, and it promises to do everything from 3D floor planning to marketing your business.
But there is a difference between software built for Interior Designers and software built for General Contractors.
Many GCs in the $1M–$15M revenue range sign up for Houzz Pro hoping to organize their bids and budgets, only to find themselves navigating a maze of features they don’t need. You have “Mood Boards,” “3D Floor Planners,” and “Lead Management” CRM tools cluttering your dashboard.
If you are tired of paying for features that are designed for decorators, you aren’t alone. You need a simple alternative to Houzz Pro—one that focuses on the hard numbers of construction: Bidding, Budgeting, and Subcontractor Management.
Houzz Pro is an “All-in-One” platform. For a solo interior designer, it’s incredible. They can show a client a 3D render of a living room, get the lead from the Houzz directory, and send an invoice all in one place.
But for a General Contractor, “All-in-One” often translates to “Master of None.”
When you are trying to get a complex custom home bid out the door, you don’t need a mood board. You need:
When you use a tool designed for marketing and design to manage construction finances, you end up with workflow friction. You are fighting the software to do a simple task.
This is why we built Bid Bench. We realized that mid-sized General Contractors (doing $2.5M to $7.5M in revenue) were stuck in a hard place. They were too big for Excel (prone to errors), but they didn’t want the complexity of Procore or the design-heavy focus of Houzz Pro.
Here is what a streamlined, builder-focused workflow looks like compared to the “Design Platform” approach.
In Houzz Pro, the estimate is often treated as a sales tool—a pretty document to win the client. In Bid Bench, the budget is an operational tool.
We focus on the Invitation to Bid (ITB) process. You aren’t guessing numbers; you are inviting your real subcontractors to give you real numbers.
Houzz is famous for “Idea Books”—collections of inspirational photos. That’s great for the homeowner, but useless for the Project Manager on site.
A GC needs a Digital Plan Room. You need a place where the structural engineering plans, the permit set, and the spec sheets live. More importantly, you need to share these specific technical documents with your subcontractors without them needing a login or a password.
Our cloud storage isn’t for pretty pictures; it’s for the documents that get the house built.
Houzz Pro is heavily weighted toward the Homeowner relationship. Bid Bench is weighted toward the Subcontractor relationship.
Your ability to build a house on budget depends entirely on your subs. We built features specifically to help you manage that chaos:
Here is the “at a glance” difference for a General Contractor.
| Feature | Houzz Pro | Bid Bench |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Audience | Interior Designers & Remodelers | General Contractors & Custom Builders |
| Core Focus | Marketing, Lead Gen, Design | Bidding, Budgeting, Sub Management |
| Bidding Style | Visual Estimates for Sales | Line-Item Budgeting for Operations |
| Sub Management | Basic | Advanced (ITB Tracking, Bid Leveling) |
| 3D Floor Plans | Yes (Core Feature) | No (Not needed for GC ops) |
| Lead Generation | Yes (Core Feature) | No (We focus on executed projects) |
| Learning Curve | High (Many features to learn) | Low (Start bidding in minutes) |
Software complexity has a hidden cost: Adoption.
If a software is too complex (or filled with features you don’t understand), your team won’t use it. They will revert to text messages and Excel sheets. Then you are paying a monthly subscription for a tool that sits idle.
Houzz Pro can be expensive, especially if you are paying for the “Ultimate” packages to get lead generation you might not need.
Bid Bench is priced for the General Contractor who wants to keep overhead low.
You pay for the tools that help you track money and manage subcontractors.
If you are an interior designer who also manages renovations, Houzz Pro is likely a great fit for you. The visual tools are best-in-class.
However, if you are a General Contractor building custom homes, additions, or large-scale renovations, you need a tool that speaks your language.
You need to track bids, not leads. You need to manage permits, not mood boards. You need a simple, powerful budget, not a sales presentation.
Stop wrestling with software that tries to do everything. Try the simple alternative that does exactly what you need.
Start your free trial of Bid Bench today and see how easy construction bidding can be.