BuilderDash - job management software for trades
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Honest comparison

BuilderDash vs Fergus

Fergus is a well-made job-management app with a loyal following in the trades, particularly plumbing and electrical. Its visual job-card pipeline and its supplier integrations - which auto-match materials invoices to the right job - are genuinely good, and materials-heavy service firms rate it highly.The difference is where the two tools put their attention. Fergus is built around the service job-card. BuilderDash is built around the multi-stage project. And Fergus is New Zealand-built, where BuilderDash is UK-native. Here is the honest comparison.
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The core difference

The job-card, or the project

Fergus organises work as a job card that moves through a clear pipeline - quote, schedule, add materials and time, invoice. It is a strong model for service and install trades running many discrete jobs, and its financial visibility per job is one of its most-praised features. Its “phases” add staged costing inside a job, which helps builders, but the centre of gravity remains the individual job card.

BuilderDash starts from the project. For a fit-out or refurbishment contractor, the natural unit is not one job card but a live project that runs for weeks across stages, with variations, files, photos, crew time and its own margin. Everything in BuilderDash attaches to that project, and it is designed for several of them running at once - which is the daily reality of project-based work.

What it does
BuilderDash
Job management for project-based trades - projects with stages, tasks, site files, crew time and invoicing.
Fergus
Job management for trades built around the job card - quote, schedule, materials, time and invoice, with strong supplier links.
Built for
BuilderDash
Project-based contractors: fit-out, refurbishment, shopfitting, multi-trade and M&E running multi-stage jobs.
Fergus
Service and install trades - especially plumbing and electrical - running many discrete jobs.
Pricing model
BuilderDash
Per user by role: Admin £39/user/mo, Field £15/user/mo. Monthly, no contract, 14-day trial.
Fergus
Tiered per-user plans, with lower-cost timesheet and day-rate contractor seats. Month-to-month, 14-day trial.
UK compliance
BuilderDash
UK-built. VAT and CIS handled in the job-to-invoice flow; syncs to Xero.
Fergus
New Zealand-built. VAT-ready invoices; CIS handling is delegated to its Xero integration rather than native.
Platform
BuilderDash
Web-based (Mac-friendly), mobile app for field users.
Fergus
Web-based plus 'Fergus Go' iOS and Android apps; Mac access via the browser.

BuilderDash prices exclude VAT, which is added to your final bill. Competitor details are accurate at the time of writing and may change.

Who each suits

Which is the better fit?

Fergus is the better fit if…

  • Your work is service and install jobs - plumbing, electrical, HVAC - run as discrete job cards.
  • Materials are your biggest admin headache, and auto-matching supplier invoices to jobs would save real time.
  • You want strong per-job financial visibility and a clean visual pipeline of live work.
  • UK CIS being handled through Xero rather than in-app is fine for how you run your books.

BuilderDash is the better fit if…

  • Your work is projects - multi-week, staged, several live at once - rather than a stream of job cards.
  • You want CIS and VAT handled inside the UK job-to-invoice flow, in software built for the UK.
  • You need office, site and client roles, with low-cost Field seats for the crew.
  • You want the project - not the individual job - to be the record everything attaches to.
The honest take

Great for service job-cards - built for a different rhythm

If your business is service and install work with heavy materials, Fergus is a genuinely good choice, and its supplier integrations alone can justify it. We are not going to pretend it is a weak product - it is not.

What it is not is a UK-native, project-first system. For a contractor running staged, multi-week projects who wants CIS and VAT handled in the job flow rather than routed through Xero, and who thinks in projects rather than job cards, BuilderDash is the closer fit - built here, for that work.

Common questions

Does Fergus do project management?
Fergus has a 'job phases' feature that lets you split a job into stages for costing and profitability. That is useful, but it is cost segmentation within a single job card rather than a timeline for several concurrent multi-week projects. BuilderDash is organised around the project itself as the hub.
Is Fergus a UK product?
No - Fergus was founded in New Zealand and its largest customer base is in New Zealand and Australia. It works in the UK and integrates with Xero, but CIS handling is delegated to Xero rather than built into Fergus. BuilderDash is UK-built with VAT and CIS handled in the job-to-invoice flow.
Where does Fergus genuinely shine?
Materials. Fergus has deep supplier integrations that auto-match supplier invoices to jobs, which is a real time-saver for materials-heavy service trades like plumbing and electrical. If that is the bulk of your admin pain, it is a genuine strength.

See how BuilderDash runs your projects.

If your work is project-based - multi-week, multi-stage, several live jobs at once - try BuilderDash free, or see it on your own jobs on a 30-minute demo.

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