BRCKS vs Fieldwire: Why UK Builders Are Switching
Fieldwire is a genuinely good field tool. The plan viewer is fast, tasks pin to drawing locations better than anything else at the price, and — rare for...
By BRCKS Team ·
Fieldwire is a genuinely good field tool. The plan viewer is fast, tasks pin to drawing locations better than anything else at the price, and — rare for construction software — foremen actually use it. Hilti bought it for $300 million for a reason.
So why are UK builders switching to BRCKS? Almost always for one of two reasons: the maths of Fieldwire's tier-gating, or the discovery that field management is only half the job. Let's take both seriously. (Side-by-side table: BRCKS vs Fieldwire.)
The tier-gating maths
Fieldwire's pricing is published and fair play to them for that — fieldwire.com/uk/pricing shows GBP figures, billed annually:
- Basic — free. 5 users, 3 projects, 100 sheets.
- Pro — £33/user/month. Unlimited projects and sheets, reports, sheet compare.
- Business — £54/user/month. Custom forms, integrations, BIM viewing, 360° photos, Field AI.
- Business Plus — £76/user/month. RFIs, submittals, change orders, budgets.
Read that list against a UK builder's actual week. Custom forms — the thing you'd use for checklists and inspections — start at £54. RFIs and change orders (variations, in UK terms) start at £76. API and SSO are enterprise-contract only. And here's the multiplier: subcontractors need paid seats for meaningful access. Every sub you want raising and responding to things is another £33–76 a month.
Worked example: a 4-person site team plus 8 subcontractors who need real access. On Fieldwire Business Plus — the tier where RFIs and variations live — that's 12 × £76 = £912 a month. On BRCKS it's 4 × £40 = £160 a month, because subs are free, unlimited, forever. Forms-equivalent workflows (checklists, RAMS, incident reports), RFIs, variations with an external sign-off portal, drawings with revision stacking, 360° site tours and the client portal are all inside the one £40 seat — nothing is gated to a higher tier, because there isn't one.
The "supplemental tool" problem
The second reason builders switch isn't price — it's scope. Browse Fieldwire's Capterra reviews and a phrase recurs: it's "a supplemental tool," used alongside project management software. Fieldwire itself doesn't really claim otherwise — there's no client portal, no approval workflow a homeowner can sign, no financials, and communication happens in its own in-app messaging rather than anywhere your trades already talk.
BRCKS covers the field layer and the rest of the job:
- Capture from WhatsApp — trades send updates, photos and on/off-site times from the app they already have. No new logins, no paid seats, no training.
- The office half — client portal (free, read-only), variations your client actually signs, automated daily digests, a site diary built from the day's activity, and an AI receptionist answering calls while you're on the scaffold.
- The field half — tasks, snagging, drawings with revision control, and 360° site tours where pins on the imagery convert straight into RFIs and variations.
Where Fieldwire genuinely wins
Switch stories cut both ways, so here's when we'd point you at Fieldwire:
- Drawing-centric field work. If your day revolves around large drawing sets on a tablet — commercial fit-out, M&E, big sheet counts — Fieldwire's plan viewer and plan-pinned tasks are more mature than BRCKS's drawing tools. That's their core craft and it shows.
- True offline mode. Fieldwire genuinely works in basements and dead zones and syncs later. BRCKS requires a connection. If long offline stretches are core to your sites, that's a real point to Fieldwire, not a footnote.
- The free tier. Five users, three projects, £0. For a tiny crew with no budget, that's honestly hard to argue with — come back when you're juggling clients, subs and variations.
- BIM viewing and Hilti-scale backing at the upper tiers.
Which should you choose?
- Drawing-heavy commercial subcontractor with tablets on site: Fieldwire. It's built for exactly you.
- UK residential main contractor juggling clients, subs and paperwork: BRCKS — one price, the whole job, subs free.
- Three-person crew, zero budget: Fieldwire's free tier, honestly.
See the full comparison table or start a free 14-day trial — one project is enough to feel the difference.
FAQ
How much does Fieldwire cost? Free for up to 5 users and 3 projects, then £33, £54 or £76 per user per month billed annually (monthly billing costs more). Custom forms need the £54 tier; RFIs, change orders and budgets need £76. API and SSO are enterprise-only.
Is Fieldwire a full project-management tool? No — and its own users say so in reviews, describing it as a supplemental tool run alongside PM software. It's excellent field and task management. BRCKS covers both the field layer and the client/paperwork layer for residential-scale work.
Does Fieldwire work offline? Yes, genuinely — one of its best features. BRCKS requires a connection; if long offline stretches are core to your day, that's a real point in Fieldwire's favour.
Can subcontractors use Fieldwire for free? Only within the small free tier. On paid plans, subs need paid seats for meaningful access. BRCKS subcontractor seats are free and unlimited.
Does BRCKS pin tasks to drawings like Fieldwire? BRCKS has a drawing register with revision stacking, and pins on 360° site-tour scenes that convert to RFIs and variations. Fieldwire's plan-pinned tasks are more mature — if plan-pinning is your whole workflow, Fieldwire does it better today.
What about PlanGrid? PlanGrid is in maintenance mode and closed to new customers (Autodesk folded it into what's now Forma Build). If you're migrating off it, compare Fieldwire and BRCKS for the field layer — the right answer depends on whether you need drawings-first or whole-job coverage.
How BRCKS can help
BRCKS is a UK-built construction platform that captures site activity through the tools your trades already use. Photos, updates and time on site flow in from WhatsApp, the site diary writes itself, and the office side — RFIs, variations, snagging, drawings and a free client portal — sits in one place. See what's inside on the BRCKS home page, or read the full breakdown of how it helps across your week.