Commercial contractors find work in one of three ways:
- They run their own outbound system against public project records
- They hire an agency
- They subscribe to a project data service that tells them what is being built
This page compares the realistic options in all three groups, with honest notes on cost and fit. The first entry is our own product, listed with that disclosure up front.
| Option | Price | Best for | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead Gen Library system (ours) | Roughly $120 to $200 a month | Reaching an owner before a general contractor is chosen | No help if your market is public bid work |
| Dodge Construction Network | From around $300 a month | Coverage of large projects | Every subscriber sees it the same day; skews large |
| ConstructConnect | Broadly similar to Dodge | Managing the bids you already have | Tells you what to bid, downstream of the owner |
| BuildingConnected | Free to receive invitations | Subcontractors who want invitations | Passive by design |
| Construction marketing agency | $2,000 to $6,000 a month | Contractors with budget and no time | Stopping the retainer stops the work |
| Apollo | Free to about $99 per user a month | A simple all-in-one | Tells you who exists, with no timing signal |
| Instantly | $37 to $97 a month | The sending layer of a larger system | It sends, and that is all it does |
1. Lead Gen Library system (ours)
This site publishes a documented n8n system for commercial construction: workflows that identify the owner or developer behind each project and run a personalized email sequence from your own domain.
The records it reads:
- Permit applications
- Site-plan approvals
- Commercial land transfers
- Franchise expansion announcements
Disclosure: we build and sell this system, so read the rest of the list as the alternatives we compare ourselves against.
| Tier | Price |
|---|---|
| Full spec | Free PDF |
| Importable workflow files | $297 |
| Done-for-you install | $2,997 |
| Running cost | The tool stack, roughly $120 to $200 a month, plus your time |
- Strength. It fits contractors who want to reach an owner before a general contractor has been chosen and are willing to operate software.
- Weakness. It does not fit anyone who wants projects to simply appear with zero involvement.
- No help at all if your market is public bid work you already see on the boards.
2. Dodge Construction Network
Dodge is the long-standing project data service, and pricing typically starts around $300 a month for a single user and single territory, rising quickly with coverage. It reports projects from early planning through bidding, with owner, architect, and contractor contacts attached.
- Strength. Coverage of large projects is genuinely good.
- Weakness: exclusivity. Everyone in your market with a subscription sees the same project on the same day, so the early advantage is thin.
- Weakness: project size. The reports skew toward larger work, which means the $500,000 tenant improvement that would suit your crew often never appears.
Both of those weaknesses matter most for a mid-size contractor.
3. ConstructConnect
ConstructConnect competes directly with Dodge, at broadly similar pricing, with a stronger bid management side and takeoff tooling bundled on higher tiers.
- Strength. It is the better choice if your problem is managing the bids you already have rather than finding earlier work.
- Weakness. The same structural issue applies: the value is a database many competitors also hold, so it tells you what to bid rather than getting you in front of an owner before the bid list exists.
4. BuildingConnected
BuildingConnected, now part of Autodesk, is a bid invitation network rather than a lead source. Subcontractors use the free side to receive invitations, and general contractors pay for the sending side.
- Strength. It is worth being on if you sub, because being invisible on it costs you invitations.
- Weakness. As a way to find new work it is passive by design: invitations arrive when someone who already knows you decides to send one.
5. A construction marketing agency
Agencies charge $2,000 to $6,000 a month for construction outbound.
- Strength. The better ones bring real trade knowledge, practiced copy, and deliverability habits you would otherwise learn slowly.
- Weakness. The trade is control and durability, because the list, the domain reputation, and the process usually stay with the agency, so stopping the retainer stops the work.
It fits contractors with budget who want a hands-off channel and accept the ongoing cost.
6. Apollo
Apollo is a contact database with built-in email sequencing, from free to about $99 per user a month. For a contractor it covers finding owners, developers, and facility directors and emailing them from one place.
- Strength. One place for the contact data and the send.
- Weakness: timing. Apollo tells you who exists, and it cannot tell you which parcel just cleared planning commission or which owner filed a permit last week with no contractor of record.
- Why that matters. That is where commercial work actually starts.
It fits contractors who want a simple all-in-one and will live with generic targeting.
7. Instantly
Instantly is a cold email sending tool, around $37 to $97 a month, with strong deliverability tooling and unlimited sending accounts on higher plans.
- Strength. It sends well, and that is all it does.
- Weakness. You still need a project source, list hygiene, and reply handling.
It fits as the sending layer inside a larger system, and this is exactly the role it plays in our own stack.
How to choose
Start from the problem you actually have.
- You hear about projects late, at the same moment as six competitors. The answer is a source that reads the public record earlier, whether you build that yourself or pay a data service for it.
- Enough bid invitations, too few wins. More leads will not help, and the money belongs in preconstruction and estimating instead.
- Budget and no time. An agency is the honest choice, priced accordingly.
The free commercial construction spec documents our version of the self-run option in full, including which permit and planning records carry the earliest signal, so you can judge that path with the actual architecture in front of you before spending anything.
