Competitor Analysis: How Procore Markets to Subcontractors

Procore is everywhere in construction tech. If you walk onto a GC’s job trailer, odds are you’ll see it on a monitor. But when it comes to subcontractors, the picture is more complicated. GCs love the platform. Subs often don’t feel like it’s built for them.

Our 2025 Subcontractor Survey and competitive landscape review help explain why. Procore does market to subcontractors, but the way they approach the space leaves a gap that trade contractors still feel every day. That gap is exactly where Riffle focuses.

We’ve prepared a grounded look at how Procore positions itself and what subcontractors actually need.

Procore Leads With “All-In-One,” but Subs Don’t Always Need All of It

Procore’s core message centers on full project management. Scheduling, RFIs, drawings, change orders, quality logs, safety forms. It’s a big system designed for GCs who manage dozens of moving parts.

For many subcontractors, that’s too big.

The survey shows that subs care most about the front half of the job:
Filtering ITBs, producing clean estimates, organizing bids, and preventing missed work.

That’s where the work starts and where margin is won or lost. Subs said the biggest pain point was filtering the right opportunities (73%) and keeping data organized early in the bid process.

Those aren’t the problems Procore talks about. Its message centers on execution, compliance, and jobsite coordination. Useful for GCs. Not tailored enough for subcontractors who need better visibility before a shovel hits the ground.

Procore Markets “Collaboration,” but Subs Want Simplicity

Procore often promotes itself as a collaboration layer between GCs and subs. The idea is that everyone works in the same platform, so communication improves.

In practice, subs often experience the opposite. They’re asked to log in, upload documents, update progress, respond to tasks, and fit into workflows built for the GC. That’s not collaboration. That’s compliance.

The survey highlights this divide. Smaller firms said time, clarity, and filtering were their top challenges. Mid-sized firms said prioritization mattered most. Larger firms focused on compliance, but even they noted the difficulty of juggling multiple GC systems.

Subs want one system that helps them organize their own work. Not five different portals that change with every general contractor.

Procore Talks About Execution. Subs Need Bidding Help First.

Procore’s messaging is built around jobsite coordination. That’s its strength. But subcontractors aren’t losing money on daily logs. They’re losing money when:

• They chase the wrong projects
• They miss deadlines
• Their bids live in email threads
• They price jobs without clear scope
• They don’t have clean visibility into who is quoting what

Those were the issues subs named again and again in the survey. Filtering, scoping, and prioritizing beat every other challenge across company sizes.

Procore rarely addresses these early workflow problems because their platform historically starts on day one of the project, not day one of the bid.

Riffle begins where subs begin.

Procore’s Pricing and Rollout Slow Down Subcontractor Adoption

Procore isn’t shy about price. It’s built for large teams with dedicated operations staff. For smaller and mid-sized subcontractors, the implementation time and training load can feel heavy.

The survey mirrors this hesitation. Smaller subs (1–10 employees) said time was their biggest barrier, not willingness to use technology. Even larger firms (61+) said complexity and training slowed adoption.

Subs want tools they can roll out without a six-week onboarding plan. Something simple enough that a PM can pick it up without calling IT.

This is why subcontractor-focused platforms have room to grow. The market wants tech that fits their workflow without a forklift overhaul.

Procore’s Strength Is Also Its Weakness: It’s Built for GCs

There’s no arguing with what Procore does well. It’s powerful. It’s deep. It’s a true GC system.

But Procore’s strength is also the reason subcontractors feel underserved. It handles scheduling and coordination for large teams across multiple trades. Subs don’t manage projects like a GC. They need something built for the realities of bidding, estimating, and executing as a specialty trade.

Competitive research shows this gap clearly. Procore leans toward GC workflows while subcontractors want:

• Clean visibility into ITBs
• Faster estimating
• Less duplicated work
• Better prioritization
• A simple place to coordinate PMs and estimators

Those gaps appear across our competitive landscape.

Where Riffle Fits in the Market

Riffle isn’t trying to replace Procore. GCs need their system. Subs need theirs.

Riffle focuses on the critical workflow that comes before project management:

• Filtering ITBs
• Structuring estimates
• Avoiding double entry
• Centralizing communication
• Tracking the pipeline
• Protecting margin from the start

It’s the part of the business most subcontractors say is messy, stressful, and expensive when handled through email and spreadsheets. And it’s the part Procore doesn’t focus on because its platform starts later in the process.

Riffle gives subs their own system of record. Their own visibility. Their own workflow. Not a GC’s.

What This Means for Subcontractors

If your GC uses Procore, keep using it for project coordination. But don’t expect it to organize your bid pipeline or protect your team from inbox chaos.

Subs need tools that help them:

• Win the right work
• Price clearly
• Stay organized
• Reduce mistakes
• Keep the whole team aligned

The survey makes it clear: subcontractors are open to technology. They just need software that fits how they work, not how GCs work.

That’s why we’re building RiffleCM. A modern workflow built for subcontractors and the way your business actually runs.

Join the waitlist at rifflecm.com.

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