APARBooks vs QuickBooks, Buildertrend & Excel

Using APARBooks to support your business

$ 76,800

saved per year on average, compared to running manual bookkeeping or generic software that wasn't built for construction.

1,530 hours

saved annually time contractors and bookkeepers get back by automating invoicing, lien waiver tracking, and subcontractor reconciliation.

1 hour

to onboard. Most contractors are fully up and running within an hour, no accounting background required.

See the Difference

Compare APARBooks against QuickBooks, Excel, Buildertrend, and Premier on the features that actually matter for contractor's job costing, AIA billing, lien waiver tracking, and subcontractor management.

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Features	APARBooks	Excel	QuickBooks	BuilderTrend	Premier

Job Costing APARBooks provides an in-depth job costing system that lets you link every expense, subcontractor bill, change order, and bill—whether it's part of the contract or not. You can track everything from materials and labor to rentals, giving you a full view of where your money is going. This level of detail helps you keep a close eye on costs, make smarter financial decisions, and stay on budget throughout the project.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Work in Progress Report The Work In Progress Report (WIP) in APARBooks provides an overview of the financial status of active projects. It tracks billed amounts, earned income, and remaining balances, helping contractors and project owners monitor project progress and cash flow. The WIP report ensures projects stay within budget and highlights any potential issues early.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Budgeting Budgeting in APARBooks allows you to break down project costs into detailed categories like Subcontract, Bills, Labor, Material, Rental, and Miscellaneous. This level of granularity ensures that every cost item is accurately tracked, giving you full control over the project budget and helping you stay on target.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Vendor Bills Management Vendor Bills Management in APARBooks allows you to categorize bills by type, including normal bills, bills under subcontract, bills under other vendor contracts, equipment rental bills, deposits, reimbursement needs, and change orders. This feature ensures accurate classification, helping you efficiently manage payments and track project costs.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Refund Management Refund Management in APARBooks tracks refunds from suppliers or vendors, ensuring that any returned payments or credits are properly recorded and applied to your accounts.	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
Automation Capabilities Auto Generate Lien waiver, Invoice, Change order Form, and Payment Application AIA Styling Invoice.	Yes	No	No	No	No
Preliminary Lien Notice Tracking Preliminary Notice Tracking in APARBooks allows you to link preliminary notices to lower-tier parties, including subcontractors and their supply chain. Additionally, it enables one preliminary notice to be linked to two vendors, helping mitigate the risk of mechanic's liens by ensuring proper documentation is in place before payments are made.	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Subcontract Management APARBooks allows you to manage subcontracts and their change orders seamlessly. In cases where a subcontractor has multiple contracts under the same project, our system enables you to track and manage each contract individually, ensuring all aspects of subcontractor agreements are organized and up-to-date.	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Change Order Management APARBooks allows you to track and manage change orders from subcontractors. Additionally, it enables you to mark any expenses that qualify as change orders and need to be billed to the owner.	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes
Financial Stament and Reporting APARBooks allows you to generate comprehensive financial statements, including Balance Sheets (BS) and Profit & Loss (PL) statements. Additionally, our system provides project-specific reports such as Project P&L Reports, Subcontractor Payment History, Transaction Reports, WIP Reports, and Vendor Reports.	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Multiple Format Project Invoice APARBooks offers three built-in invoice types: Custom Invoices, Invoices Based on Your Cost Breakdown, and AIA-style Payment Applications. You can also create invoices from scratch. All invoices are quick and easy to generate with just a few clicks, streamlining your billing process and saving you time.	Yes	No	No	No	No
User - Friendly APARBooks is designed for simplicity, making it easy to manage your construction finances with a straightforward, intuitive interface.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Customer Support APARBooks offers live chat customer support, providing instant assistance whenever you need help with the platform, ensuring a smooth and efficient experience.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bank Reconciliation APARBooks makes bank reconciliation easy by connecting directly to your bank accounts, including credit cards and checking accounts. Transactions can be easily categorized by cost item and project, without the need for manual data entry.	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Reimbursement Management APARBooks simplifies managing reimbursements, whether from vendors or to employees. We handle both project-related and business expenses, making tracking and processing effortless.	Yes	No	Yes	No	No
Auto Set Up Retention Rate On Invoice APARBooks lets you set customized retention rates for each project, based on its unique needs. The system automatically calculates retention on every invoice, reducing errors and ensuring accuracy.	Yes	No	No	No	No
Permissions APARBooks offers customizable permission settings, giving admins full control over who can access data and what information they can view, ensuring secure and organized management of sensitive project details.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Built- In Reminder Function APARBooks lets you easily set up email notifications for important tasks and deadlines, ensuring you never miss a payment, update, or key project milestone.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Built- In Cost Break Down Template APARBooks provides built-in cost breakdown templates, including CSI 50 and CSI 16 formats. Additionally, users can create their own customized templates from scratch, giving complete flexibility to organize and manage project costs as needed.	Yes	No	No	No	No
Unlimited Cloud- Based Storage APARBooks offers unlimited cloud-based storage, allowing you to securely store and access all your project documents, invoices, and reports from anywhere, at any time, without worrying about storage limits.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Estimate APARBooks allows you to generate estimates with multiple layout options, giving you flexibility in how you present project costs.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Invoice Activity Tracking APARBooks allows you to track the payment status of invoices, including sent, processed, paid, and past due. You can also monitor any modifications, such as who made the changes and when. All activities are recorded for full transparency and easy tracking.	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
Issue and Print Check APARBooks allows you to easily issue and print checks directly from the platform, streamlining your payment process and ensuring accurate, timely payments to vendors and subcontractors.	Yes	No	Yes	No	No

Ready to see why contractors are switching from QuickBooks and Excel to APARBooks?

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FAQ

Feel free to contact us if you have any other questions. Reach us at support@aparbooks.com

For general accounting, QuickBooks works fine. The problem starts when you need job costing, AIA billing (G702/G703), or lien waiver tracking QuickBooks doesn't do these natively, so contractors end up buying add-ons or keeping spreadsheets on the side. APARBooks has all of it built in from day one.

Yes. Most contractors bring over their vendor lists, job data, and open balances during onboarding, and our team helps with the import. That's a big part of why setup takes about an hour instead of weeks.

Buildertrend is mainly a project management tool with some financial features added on top. APARBooks comes from the opposite direction it's construction accounting first: job costing, vendor bills, AP/AR, and financial reporting, with the project side tied directly to the numbers.

No. The software was designed for contractors, not accountants. If you can read a job estimate, you can use APARBooks most users are fully up and running within an hour.

That's common, and it's not a problem. Your accountant can still pull every report they need from APARBooks at tax time and day to day, you get the job-level numbers QuickBooks was never built to show.

Why Contractors Choose APARBooks Over QuickBooks, Buildertrend & Excel

Using APARBooks to support your business

See the Difference

FAQ

Recommandation

The Project Starter plan is suitable for your business

Project Starter

Recommandation

The Construction Pro plan is suitable for your business

Construction Pro

Why Contractors Choose APARBooks Over QuickBooks, Buildertrend & Excel

Using APARBooks to support your business

See the Difference

FAQ

What's your average active project monthly?

What's your renvue?

How many employees involves into project billing?

Recommandation

The Project Starter plan is suitable for your business

Project Starter

Recommandation

The Construction Pro plan is suitable for your business

Construction Pro