Honest comparison

BuilderDash vs Powered Now

Powered Now is a genuinely good UK product, and we want to be fair to it up front: it handles VAT and CIS, markets built-in Making Tax Digital, works offline, and runs as a native app on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android. For a sole trader who wants to quote on site and invoice from the van, it is excellent.So this is not a compliance argument - both tools are UK-built and UK-tax-aware. The real difference is scope: Powered Now is built around the individual trade and short jobs; BuilderDash is built around a team running several multi-stage projects at once.

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The core difference

Fast job admin, or multi-stage project delivery

Powered Now’s tagline says it plainly: “Quote on site. Invoice from the van. Get paid before you’ve packed up.” Its design centre is speed for one person or a small team doing largely single-visit work - quotes, certificates, invoices and payments, done on the spot with strong UK tax handling behind them. Its lowest tier is built for one-person bands. That is a real, well-served customer.

BuilderDash is built for the point where that stops being enough: when you are running several jobs that each last weeks, move through stages, and involve a crew, client approvals and a margin you need to watch. It is not “better” software - it is software for a bigger, staged unit of work, with office, site and client roles and a project as the record everything attaches to.

What it does

BuilderDash

Job management for project-based trades - projects with stages, tasks, site files, crew time, client portal and invoicing.

Powered Now

Quoting, invoicing, forms/certificates, scheduling and payments for trades - fast, on-site job admin.

Built for

BuilderDash

Teams running multi-stage projects - fit-out, refurbishment, shopfitting, multi-trade and M&E.

Powered Now

Sole traders and small teams (up to ~50) doing largely single-visit or short jobs.

Pricing model

BuilderDash

Per user by role: Admin £39/user/mo, Field £15/user/mo. Monthly, no contract, 14-day trial.

Powered Now

Per user, tiered: Business £28, Professional £32, Premium £40 per user/mo (annual saves ~2 months). 14-day trial.

UK compliance

BuilderDash

UK-built. VAT and CIS handled in the job-to-invoice flow; syncs to Xero.

Powered Now

UK-built. Genuine CIS deductions, markets MTD for VAT to HMRC, VAT reverse charge; Xero on higher tiers.

Platform

BuilderDash

Web-based (Mac-friendly), mobile app for field users.

Powered Now

Native iOS, Android, Mac and Windows apps, with a genuine offline mode.

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?

Powered Now is the better fit if…

You are a sole trader or very small team, and most of your work is single-visit or short jobs.
On-site quoting, certificates and instant invoicing are the daily win you want.
True offline working in poor-signal areas is essential, and you like native Mac/Windows apps.
You want strong, built-in UK tax handling - CIS and MTD for VAT - in a simple, affordable package.

BuilderDash is the better fit if…

You run several live projects at once, each spanning weeks and moving through stages.
You need office, site and client roles - with a client portal for approvals - not just one-person job admin.
You want costs, variations, files and crew time tracked against each project, with margin visible as you go.
You want low-cost £15 Field seats for site crew alongside full Admin seats for the office.

The honest take

Same country, same compliance - different scale of work

Plenty of UK trades will be perfectly served by Powered Now and never need anything heavier. If you are one person or a small team doing short jobs, its speed and its UK tax handling are exactly right, and switching to something project-shaped would only add weight you do not need.

The moment to look at BuilderDash is when the work grows a stage at a time: multiple live projects, a crew on site, clients approving variations, and margin you want to protect across weeks rather than settle at the end. That is the job BuilderDash is built for - and it is a genuinely different one.

Common questions

Does Powered Now handle CIS and Making Tax Digital?

Yes - genuinely. Powered Now has real CIS deduction handling and markets itself as supporting MTD for VAT, submitting returns to HMRC. This is a real strength, and we would not claim a compliance gap that does not exist. BuilderDash also handles VAT and CIS. On UK tax, the two are close; the difference is the shape and scale of the work.

When would I outgrow Powered Now?

Powered Now is built around sole traders and small teams doing largely single-visit or short jobs. If you start running several live multi-week projects at once - with stages, a field crew, client approvals and margin to protect per project - that is where a project-first tool like BuilderDash is designed to take over.

Is Powered Now Mac-friendly and does it work offline?

Yes to both - it has native Mac and Windows apps as well as iOS and Android, and a genuine offline mode. BuilderDash is web-based and Mac-friendly. If true offline in no-signal areas is essential to you, that is a fair point in Powered Now's favour.

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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