BRCKS
£40/seat/month — Subs free. Trades stay in WhatsApp — the seat is for your office.
- 3 staff + 15 free subs = £120/month
- 14-day free trial
- Unlimited free subcontractor seats
- Cancel any time
BRCKS vs WhatsApp: keep the app, add the record
WhatsApp is where your subcontractors and trades already live — and that's not going to change. The problem is that WhatsApp isn't a project record. BRCKS sits on top of the WhatsApp your team already uses and turns every message, photo and voice note into a structured, searchable, dated project record. No new app for the lads. Just a proper record for the office.
The 30-second answer
Choose WhatsApp if…
- You have one project, three people, and a chat thread short enough to scroll back through in a minute.
- You never need to prove what was said or agreed months later.
Choose BRCKS if…
- You run more than one project, have subs and clients across multiple chats, and lose photos in the scroll.
- You need a defensible record for variations, snags, delay claims and handover — without moving your team off WhatsApp.
Apps that try to replace WhatsApp
There's a small category of construction apps — Kraaft, SymTerra and similar — that solve the "WhatsApp isn't structured" problem by asking your trades to move to a new chat app. But in practice, the plasterer, the sparky and the groundworker don't move. They stay in WhatsApp because that's where the rest of their life is — their other clients, their family, their subbies' subbies. Once one contractor is missing from the new app, everyone else drifts back to WhatsApp too.
BRCKS's bet is that nobody moves. So instead of asking them to, BRCKS captures the WhatsApp messages your team is already sending and turns them into the structured record you need. Your trades don't change anything. Your office gets a proper project record. That's the design decision the "replacement" apps chose not to make.
Feature by feature
| Feature | BRCKS | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the site team works | WhatsApp (BRCKS captures behind the scenes) | |
| Searchable across projects | Yes, semantic + keyword | One chat at a time |
| Photos stored full-resolution | Yes | Compressed |
| Structured by project | Yes — one project record | One chat per group, unlinked |
| Automatic site diary | AI digest at 9pm | None |
| Snagging / RFIs / Variations | Structured, signed off, exportable | Buried in the scroll |
| Client portal | Free | None |
| Audit trail for disputes | Dated, timestamped, defensible | A screenshot in a chat |
| Cost | £40/seat/mo, subs free | Free |
| Adoption barrier for trades | Zero — they carry on with WhatsApp | Zero |
The real cost comparison
WhatsApp alone
Free — The app your team already uses. Zero structure.
- No project record
- Photos compressed, no full-resolution archive
- No search across projects
- No defensible audit trail
Where WhatsApp wins
It's free
Zero cost, and it always will be. For one small project with three people it can be enough — until you need to prove what was agreed, or find a photo from March.
Everyone already has it
Universal adoption. No onboarding, no training, no invite emails going to spam.
Fast and familiar
Voice notes, photos, group chats — instantly usable by anyone on a phone.
No account creation for anyone
The single lowest-friction communication tool on a construction site.
Where BRCKS wins
You get to keep WhatsApp
The site team never leaves. BRCKS captures every message on the other end.
One project record, not five WhatsApp groups
Every photo, every decision, every voice note filed against the right project — searchable and dated.
Full-resolution photos, permanent history
No compression, no scroll loss, no "which group was that photo in?".
A defensible audit trail
Contemporaneous evidence for variations, delay claims, handover packs and Building Safety Regulator requests.
Which should you choose?
If you're Single-project builder, small team, everything in one chat
Choose WhatsApp alone. WhatsApp alone will hold — for now. The day you're across two jobs and can't find last month's photo of the drainage run, that's the day BRCKS pays for itself. Start the free trial then, or start it now and be ready.
If you're Builder juggling multiple projects, subs, clients
Choose BRCKS. Keeps WhatsApp for the team, adds a real project record for the office.
If you're Firm exposed to disputes, insurance queries or Building Safety obligations
Choose BRCKS. Contemporaneous, dated, defensible records built out of the WhatsApp messages you're already sending.
Frequently asked questions
Does BRCKS replace WhatsApp?
No — that's the point. Your trades and subcontractors carry on using WhatsApp exactly as they do today. BRCKS sits on top of WhatsApp and captures every message, photo and voice note into a structured project record for the office.
Do my subs have to install anything?
No. They message BRCKS from WhatsApp the same way they'd message any other contact. No app to download, no login to remember.
How much does BRCKS cost?
£40 per seat per month for your core office team, billed annually (£50 monthly). Subcontractors, trades and clients are always free, with no limit. 14-day free trial, no card required.
What about privacy — you're not reading my personal chats, are you?
No. BRCKS only sees messages sent to your project's BRCKS number. Your personal WhatsApp chats stay entirely private on your phone.
What if a trade doesn't use WhatsApp?
Rare in UK construction — but if it happens, they can post updates via the BRCKS app instead, and the office side sees exactly the same record.