buildkeeper.com

What It Is

BuildKeeper is a cloud-based application from Soares & Company, Inc. for contractors, construction company owners, and administrators. Its core goal is to bring time tracking, job costing, reporting, and online invoicing into a single system. It emphasizes that no installation is required, with access via a browser or iPhone and Android mobile apps, making it suitable for collaboration between job sites and the office.

Core Capabilities

Its basic capability is online timecards: employees can enter hours by project, task, overtime, pay code, and more, while managers can approve entries individually or in bulk to reduce errors from handwritten timecards and payroll calculations. Work Calendars provide a calendar-based view of historical job-site records. Plus/Pro add Job Costing features for tracking labor, materials, expenses, change orders, and project phases, as well as viewing project profit, costs, and progress. Pro also supports branded online invoices, progress billing, and tracking paid and unpaid invoices. Reports cover daily activity, remaining budgeted hours, profit and loss, and project profitability analysis.

Pricing and Trial

Pricing uses a package-plus-users model with three tiers: Standard, Plus, and Pro, with features increasing by tier. Additional users are billed by permission level: Full Level at $8/user/month, Manager Level at $6/user/month, and Timecard Entry Level at $4/user/month; all packages include 1 Full Administrator. The official description says it supports monthly billing, no contracts, cancellation, upgrades and downgrades, and billing only for active users, while also including free setup, product updates, and unlimited phone/email support. A 30-day free trial is available with no credit card required.

Pros and Cons

The main advantages are its focused use case and a feature set built around a contractor workflow spanning time tracking, project profitability, and invoicing. Mobile entry and bulk approval are practical for field teams, and permission-based pricing can reduce costs for users who only need to submit timecards. Limitations include the lack of published base pricing for each package, meaning the actual monthly cost must be calculated; third-party integration appears to rely mainly on custom exports to accounting or payroll systems, with no native connections such as QuickBooks listed; and there is no disclosed API, developer documentation, or compliance certification such as SOC 2 or ISO.

Best Fit and Access from China

BuildKeeper is better suited to small and mid-sized general contractors, subcontractors, and specialty construction teams in the U.S. or English-language environments, especially those looking to replace paper timecards and spreadsheet-based job costing. Access from China is not described in the available text, so it should be considered unknown; payment methods are also not disclosed. For deployment in China, teams would need to evaluate network connectivity, USD payments, mobile app availability, and compatibility with local invoicing, payroll, tax, and accounting workflows. Alternatives include QuickBooks Time, ClockShark, busybusy, Buildertrend, and Procore; in China, it may be worth considering DingTalk/WeCom time-tracking apps, Mingyuanyun, or Glodon-style construction management products.