This is our own product compared with BuildOps, and we'll say it plainly: for commercial contractors, BuildOps is the stronger platform. It's built for commercial mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire and life safety and refrigeration work, with project management and construction accounting integrations that TradesWork doesn't have. Every BuildOps fact below comes from its own website and terms, checked October 15, 2026.
So why compare at all? Because plenty of shops sit in the middle: residential service as the core, a growing book of commercial accounts on POs and net terms. For those shops, the choice is real.
Where BuildOps is stronger
Commercial is the whole point. BuildOps says it was built for the complexity of multi-trade service and construction, not residential work, and says it's trusted by more than 1,500 commercial contractors across North America.1
Projects alongside service. BuildOps offers a service-only package (dispatching, maintenance agreements, quoting, invoicing) and a service-plus-projects package that adds submittals, RFIs, change orders, daily reports and job costing.2 TradesWork plans multi-day installs as one job; it has no submittals, RFIs or change orders.
Fire and life safety. BuildOps lists NFPA 25, NFPA 72, inspection, testing and maintenance, and deficiency tracking.1 TradesWork has no inspection or deficiency workflows. If you're a sprinkler or alarm contractor, TradesWork isn't for you.
Construction accounting. BuildOps lists Viewpoint Vista, Viewpoint Spectrum, Sage Intacct, NetSuite and QuickBooks.2 TradesWork works with QuickBooks Online only. A contractor on Vista or Spectrum can't use TradesWork without changing their books.
Subcontractors and purchasing. BuildOps says subcontractors don't need licenses, and lists purchasing and inventory, procurement, and materials and subcontracts.12
Implementation included. BuildOps says implementation and onboarding support come with every plan.2 For a larger commercial operation, a guided rollout is worth having.
Where TradesWork is stronger
Residential service and memberships. TradesWork is built around homeowners: memberships that bill themselves and retry failed cards, member pricing on estimates, good/better/best options with a monthly payment shown, and a text link per job that keeps the homeowner informed from booking to receipt.
Published prices and free office seats. BuildOps prices per user, field and office, by quote.2 TradesWork publishes Essentials $79, Pro $99 and AI $139 per tech a month billed annually, and office staff, helpers and apprentices are free.
The phone. An AI receptionist answers after hours or when you're busy, handles emergencies with safety instructions first, and books existing customers. Missed calls get a text back. That matters most for residential demand service.
HVAC records. A refrigerant log tied to each tech's EPA 608 number, leak repair deadlines and warranty claim tracking.
Speed to start. TradesWork has a 14-day trial with no card, so you can load your own customers and price list and put a crew on it the same week. BuildOps starts with a demo and an implementation project.2 For a large commercial operation that's a strength; for a 6-truck residential shop it's a lot of process.
Light commercial without a commercial platform. TradesWork covers the basics commercial accounts ask for: PO required, a not-to-exceed limit the invoice can't pass, net terms, multi-site service agreements with PM visit plans and SLA response hours, and consolidated monthly invoicing. See multi-location and commercial for what's built and what isn't.
| BuildOps | TradesWork | |
|---|---|---|
| Submittals, RFIs, change orders | Yes, with projects | No |
| NFPA inspections and deficiencies | Yes | No |
| Vista, Spectrum, Intacct, NetSuite | Yes | No (QuickBooks Online only) |
| PO, not-to-exceed, net terms | Ask in a demo | Yes |
| Multi-site service agreements with SLAs | Maintenance agreements | Yes, SLA as a countdown |
| Homeowner memberships | Not the focus | Yes |
| AI receptionist for homeowner calls | Not listed | AI plan, early access |
| Published pricing | No, per user quote | Yes, per tech |
Source: BuildOps home and pricing pages
Day to day
Office. BuildOps centers on work orders, preventative maintenance, dispatch, quoting and project financials, with a sales-to-operations handoff from quote to contract.1 TradesWork centers on the phone and the board: caller pop-ups, an AI receptionist, a lead inbox and a dispatch board that re-plans the day in one tap.
Techs. Both have mobile apps. BuildOps lists work order closeout and asset management.1 TradesWork walks each visit step by step, keeps saving with no signal, and builds good, better and best options from your price book on the tech's phone.
Owners and finance. BuildOps lists reporting and analytics and project financials, with OpsAI versions for field, service, finance and sales.1 TradesWork reports revenue, close rate, average ticket, membership growth and A/R by branch, answers plain-English questions, and sends everything financial to QuickBooks Online.
Questions to ask in each demo
Ask BuildOps:
- What's our 12-month total for 15 users, service-only versus service plus projects, with Fleet+, Payments+ or CRM+ if we need them?
- What's the subscription term in our order, and how does renewal work?
- How do we export customers, properties, assets, jobs and invoices ourselves, and in what format?
Ask TradesWork:
- How do our commercial customers' POs, not-to-exceed limits and net terms work on the invoice?
- How do multi-site service agreements generate visits and bill?
- What happens to commercial work that needs inspections or deficiency tracking? (Today: it doesn't fit.)
Contracts and your data
BuildOps doesn't publish contract length on its pricing page. Its Terms of Service set the subscription term in your order (§10(a)) and say you retain all rights in your Customer Data (§14(a)).3 On the way out, §5(d) says BuildOps will make Customer Data available for export if it gets written notice within 30 days after expiration or termination, and that it has no obligation to keep the data after that 30-day period.3
That's a short window. If you ever leave, send the written notice the day your term ends, or better, pull your exports before it does.
What TradesWork doesn't do (for commercial shops)
To be specific about the gaps, TradesWork has not built: a commercial deficiency board, inspection workflows for fire and life safety, project management (submittals, RFIs, change orders), a multi-property customer portal, invoice approval chains, commercial credit limits, ServiceChannel work orders, or accounting integrations beyond QuickBooks Online. If two or more of those are part of your week, stay with a commercial platform.
Switching from BuildOps to TradesWork
It's rare for a commercial-first shop to move from BuildOps to TradesWork, and usually wrong. Where it makes sense, it's a residential-heavy shop that bought more platform than it uses. TradesWork has no BuildOps importer; customers with addresses and a price list come across through the "Another system or a spreadsheet" importer, and jobs, projects, assets and invoices stay in your archive. We couldn't find public BuildOps export documentation, so request exports in writing. See how to export data from BuildOps and the BuildOps to TradesWork migration guide.
Which should you choose?
BuildOps if commercial service and projects are most of your revenue, you do fire and life safety, or you run construction accounting.
TradesWork if you're a residential-first HVAC, plumbing or electrical shop of 3 to 50 techs with some commercial accounts, you're on QuickBooks Online, and you want published prices and free office seats.
Also compare TradesWork vs ServiceTrade, another commercial platform, and TradesWork vs ServiceTitan, and score your shortlist with the field service software scorecard.
