In the construction industry, Procore is the 800-pound gorilla. It is a powerful, massive, enterprise-grade platform that essentially runs the skylines of New York and Chicago.
But you aren’t building a 50-story skyscraper. You are building custom homes, high-end renovations, or boutique commercial projects.
For General Contractors in the $1M to $15M revenue range, Procore often feels like buying a semi-truck to pick up groceries. It’s expensive, it requires weeks (or months) of implementation, and it forces you to navigate a cockpit of buttons just to do the one thing you actually need to do: Get the project bid, bought out, and built.
If you are looking for a simple alternative to Procore, you aren’t looking for less professionalism. You are looking for less friction.
Here is why mid-sized GCs are moving away from enterprise bloat and toward focused, lightweight tools.
Procore is designed for risk mitigation on massive projects. When you have 200 subcontractors and a team of 15 project managers, you need strict RFI chains, formal submittal logs, and complex permission hierarchies.
But for a custom builder with a lean team, that complexity becomes a bottleneck.
Procore charges you for the whole engine, even if you only drive in first gear. You might only need robust Bid Management and Document Storage, but you are paying for safety compliance modules, heavy financial integrations, and enterprise reporting tools that you will likely never touch.
The number one reason software implementation fails in small construction companies isn’t the cost—it’s the subcontractor buy-in.
If your plumber or electrician has to create a Procore login, navigate a complex portal, and watch a training video just to submit a PDF quote, they won’t do it. They will just email you the quote, and you’ll end up manually entering it anyway.
A simple alternative respects your subcontractors’ time. If the tool isn’t intuitive enough to use without a manual, it’s too complicated for residential construction.
We built Bid Bench specifically for the “Excel Graduate”—the builder who has outgrown spreadsheets but refuses to overpay for Procore.
We stripped away the enterprise clutter to focus on the four pillars that actually matter to a mid-sized General Contractor:
One of the biggest time-sucks in Procore is data entry. You get a PDF proposal from a sub, and you have to type the numbers into the system.
We took a modern approach. With our AI extraction tool, you simply drag and drop the subcontractor’s PDF proposal into the budget line item. The system reads the PDF, extracts the cost, and files it for you.
Procore is powerful, but it’s often manual. A modern, simple alternative should use automation to do the heavy lifting.
If you are on the fence, here is a quick breakdown of how a focused tool compares to the enterprise giant.
| Feature | Procore | Simple Alternative (Bid Bench) |
|---|---|---|
| Setup Time | Weeks or Months (Consultants often required) | Minutes (Self-service) |
| Pricing Model | % of Construction Volume (Expensive) | Flat Monthly Fee (Predictable) |
| Subcontractor Experience | Requires login/portal training | Email-based invites (No login required) |
| Bidding Workflow | Complex tender packages | Drag-and-drop PDF parsing |
| Best For | Commercial GCs ($50M+ Revenue) | Residential/Custom GCs ($1M-$15M Revenue) |
We believe in using the right tool for the job. You should stay with (or upgrade to) Procore if:
You should look for a simple alternative if:
There is a misconception that “complex” means “scalable.” In the residential world, the opposite is true. Complexity slows you down. It creates friction with your team and your trades.
A simple, focused tool allows you to bid more work in less time. It keeps your overhead low and your process fast.
If you are ready to stop fighting with your software and start building, it might be time to leave the skyscraper tools to the skyscraper builders.
Ready to streamline your bidding? Start your free trial of Bid Bench today and see how easy construction management can be.