What Happened to CoConstruct?

CoConstruct, the construction project management software popular with custom home builders and remodelers, was acquired by Buildertrend in 2023 and is being progressively sunset. The platform is in maintenance mode — no new features are being developed, and existing users are being migrated to Buildertrend's platform. If you are still on CoConstruct, your time is limited.

The acquisition was part of Buildertrend's strategy to consolidate the residential construction software market. But the merger has left many CoConstruct users frustrated — Buildertrend's interface is fundamentally different, the pricing has increased, and some of CoConstruct's most valued customization features have not been replicated. For commercial contractors who were using CoConstruct (a segment the platform was never fully designed for), this is an opportunity to stop stretching a residential tool and move to a platform actually built for commercial operations.

This article covers the full timeline of what happened, what it means for your data, why many users are choosing not to follow the default migration path to Buildertrend, and the five best alternatives available in 2026 — including the one we built specifically for commercial general contractors.

The Full Timeline: How CoConstruct Got Here

CoConstruct was founded in 2005 as a project management and financial tracking tool built specifically for custom home builders. Over the years, it earned a loyal following among remodelers and custom residential contractors who valued its flexibility. The platform's proposal builder, selection sheets, and client communication portal set it apart from more generic construction software options. It was not the biggest name in the market, but it was deeply loved by the people who used it.

That made the acquisition announcement in 2023 a shock to many loyal users. Here is the timeline of what has unfolded since:

• 2023 — Buildertrend announces acquisition of CoConstruct. The deal was positioned as a strategic merger to create the "most complete residential construction platform." Users were told both brands would continue to operate initially. Behind the scenes, integration planning was already underway.
• Late 2023 through 2024 — Integration begins. CoConstruct stops receiving new features. Bug fixes and security patches continue, but the product roadmap is frozen. Buildertrend begins mapping CoConstruct's data structures to its own platform. Users notice the slowdown immediately.
• 2025 — Active migration push. CoConstruct users begin receiving notifications to transition to Buildertrend. Migration tooling is released, but early adopters report significant friction. Custom templates, specific workflow configurations, and historical communication threads do not always transfer cleanly. Pricing conversations reveal that the move to Buildertrend often comes with higher monthly costs.
• 2026 — CoConstruct in maintenance-only mode. The platform is still accessible, but it is a ghost ship. No new development. Support response times have increased. Feature parity gaps between what CoConstruct offered and what Buildertrend provides remain unresolved. The final sunset date has not been publicly confirmed, but the writing is on the wall.

Users have reported data migration issues, workflow differences that disrupt established processes, and pricing changes that strain budgets — particularly for teams that had been on CoConstruct's more affordable per-user model. The transition has not been seamless, and the frustration is compounded by the feeling that a product they trusted was taken from them.

What Happens to Your CoConstruct Data?

This is the question that should be keeping every remaining CoConstruct user up at night. Your project history, client communications, financial records, proposals, selection sheets, change orders, and custom templates represent years of operational knowledge. Losing access to any of that during a forced migration is not just inconvenient — it is a business risk.

Here is what you need to know about your data:

CoConstruct provides data export options. You can export project data, client information, and financial records through the platform's settings. The export formats vary, but you should be able to pull CSV files for most structured data. Project files and attachments can be downloaded in bulk, though the process is manual and time-consuming for larger accounts.

Buildertrend offers a migration path, but it is not seamless. Buildertrend has built migration tools specifically for CoConstruct users, and they offer guided onboarding to help with the transition. However, the two platforms were built on fundamentally different architectures. CoConstruct's custom workflows, proposal templates, and selection sheet configurations do not have direct equivalents in Buildertrend. Some data maps cleanly. Some does not. And the configurations you spent years refining may need to be rebuilt from scratch.

Critical data to export before migration:

• Project files and documents — Every document, drawing, photo, and attachment associated with your projects. Do not assume these will transfer automatically.
• Client communications — Message threads, email logs, and client portal interactions. These are often the first casualty of platform migrations.
• Financial records — Budgets, change orders, invoices, payment histories, and cost tracking data. This is your audit trail.
• Custom templates — Proposal templates, spec sheets, allowance templates, and any standardized documents you have built within CoConstruct.
• Selection sheets and specifications — If you use CoConstruct's selections feature, these configurations are unique to the platform and need special attention during export.
• Vendor and subcontractor records — Contact information, pricing history, and performance notes.

The risk of waiting too long is real. As CoConstruct continues to wind down, support resources will shrink, export tools could be deprecated, and historical data that has not been fully migrated could become difficult or impossible to retrieve. Treat this like moving out of a building that has already been condemned — take everything that matters and do not rely on someone else to pack your boxes.

Why Many CoConstruct Users Are NOT Going to Buildertrend

The natural assumption is that CoConstruct users will simply follow the default path to Buildertrend. After all, Buildertrend acquired CoConstruct specifically to absorb its user base. The migration tools exist. The onboarding support is available. It should be the easiest option.

But "easiest" and "best" are not the same thing. Here is why a significant number of CoConstruct users are looking elsewhere:

1. Price Increases

CoConstruct was known for reasonable pricing, particularly for small and mid-sized builders. Buildertrend operates on a per-user pricing model that costs significantly more for teams of five or more. Contractors who were paying a predictable monthly rate on CoConstruct are finding that the equivalent Buildertrend plan — once you add the users, features, and modules needed to match what they already had — can cost two to three times as much. For a five-person team, the jump from CoConstruct's pricing to Buildertrend's $499-$5,000+ per month range is hard to justify without a proportional increase in capability.

2. Feature Gaps

CoConstruct's proposal builder was one of the best in the residential market. Its selection sheets, client communication portal, and specification management tools worked in a specific way that users built their entire workflows around. Buildertrend has equivalents for many of these features, but they are not one-to-one replacements. The interfaces are different. The logic flows are different. The level of customization available is different. Users who had deeply integrated CoConstruct into their daily operations find that "similar" is not the same as "compatible."

3. Different Target Market

Both platforms target residential builders, but they serve different segments. CoConstruct excelled with custom home builders and high-end remodelers — contractors who valued detailed specifications, client-facing transparency, and the ability to manage complex selections and allowances. Buildertrend's feature set skews more toward production builders and higher-volume operations. The fit is not always right, and the difference becomes obvious once you start working in the new environment.

4. Loss of Customization

One of CoConstruct's greatest strengths was flexibility. Users who had spent years customizing their workflows, templates, and processes find Buildertrend's more rigid structure frustrating. Buildertrend is a powerful platform, but it enforces a particular way of working that does not always align with how CoConstruct users operated. For contractors who had built highly personalized systems within CoConstruct, the migration feels less like an upgrade and more like starting over.

5. Commercial Contractors Have Zero Reason to Go to Buildertrend

This is the point that matters most to our audience. If you are a commercial general contractor who was using CoConstruct — even if it was always a stretch, even if you were making a residential tool work for commercial projects through creative workarounds — you now have zero reason to move to Buildertrend. Buildertrend has even less commercial capability than CoConstruct did. It is purpose-built for residential construction, and that focus is only intensifying after the merger.

For commercial contractors, the CoConstruct shutdown is not a crisis. It is an invitation to finally get on the right platform — one that was designed from the ground up for the complexity, compliance requirements, and operational demands of commercial construction.

Top 5 CoConstruct Alternatives for 2026

If you are leaving CoConstruct, here are the five platforms worth evaluating. We have included pricing, strengths, weaknesses, and the type of contractor each platform serves best.

The right choice depends on what you build, how you operate, and where you are headed. Residential builders who want minimal disruption may default to Buildertrend. Residential builders who want a fresh start may find JobTread or Projul appealing. But if you are a commercial general contractor — or a contractor transitioning into commercial work — there is really only one platform on this list that was designed for what you actually do.

How to Migrate from CoConstruct to ForgedOps

If you are a commercial contractor leaving CoConstruct, here is exactly how the migration to ForgedOps.AI works. We have built this process specifically for contractors who are coming from platforms that were never designed for their workload, and we know that your tolerance for disruption is zero.

The entire process — from first call to go-live — is designed to take 60 days or less. That is not a theoretical estimate. That is the actual timeline we hold ourselves to, because we understand that every day spent in limbo between platforms is a day your operations are running at reduced capacity.

The Bigger Picture: What the CoConstruct Shutdown Means for the Industry

The CoConstruct story is not just about one product being absorbed by a competitor. It is a signal about where the construction software market is headed. Consolidation is accelerating. Buildertrend acquiring CoConstruct, private equity rolling up smaller players, and enterprise platforms expanding their footprint — all of it points to a market that is shrinking in terms of independent options.

For contractors, this consolidation creates two risks. First, reduced competition means less pressure on pricing. When your platform is one of three remaining options in a category, the incentive to keep costs reasonable diminishes. Second, consolidated platforms tend to optimize for the largest possible addressable market, which means features get generalized rather than specialized. The niche capabilities that made CoConstruct beloved by custom builders — and that make ForgedOps essential for commercial contractors — are exactly the kind of features that get deprioritized when a platform is trying to serve everyone.

This is why purpose-built matters. This is why we built ForgedOps.AI exclusively for commercial general contractors rather than trying to be everything to everyone. The CoConstruct shutdown is proof that when you build your operations on a platform that considers you an afterthought, you are one acquisition away from starting over. When you build on a platform that considers you the entire point, your foundation is secure.

If you are a commercial contractor who has been making residential tools work through workarounds and compromises, the CoConstruct shutdown is your sign. Stop patching. Stop stretching. Move to something built for what you actually do.

Frequently Asked Questions