Comparison: BigChange
Estimark and BigChange, compared for UK contractors
BigChange is field service management for UK businesses with a mobile workforce, positioned around getting people and vehicles to the right place and evidencing what happened there. Estimark is built around the job: the same record carries the quote, the cost, the certificates, the CIS deduction, the invoice and the payment application, with QR site attendance and a live muster roll for the people working on it.
Two ways to organise the same day’s work
The vehicle or the job
A product organised around dispatch answers where the van is. A product organised around the job answers what the work cost and whether it has been paid for.
Proving attendance
A site wants to know who was on it and when. Estimark checks people on and off by QR with a live muster roll, which is the record a fire marshal needs rather than a location trace.
Commercial money flow
Applications, retention, variations and a cost value reconciliation are how a contractor gets paid and knows what it earned. They belong on the job, not beside it.
What comes with the licence
Read both vendors’ own pricing on hardware, devices and contract length before comparing a monthly figure.
Comparison: how it works
Who is BigChange built for?
UK businesses running a mobile workforce, where scheduling people and vehicles across a day is the centre of the operation.
- Its positioning is field service management and the mobile team that delivers it.
- That overlaps with Estimark’s reactive maintenance and site attendance territory.
NoteEstimark describes its own product here. For the other product’s current price and what it covers, read that vendor’s own site.
Who is Estimark built for?
UK trades and SME contractors whose problem is the job: what it was quoted at, what it cost, what was signed and when it gets paid.
- Job costing with actual, committed and forecast cost, and a cost value reconciliation pack.
- Payment applications on Construction Act dates, variations and retention tracked to release.
- QR site attendance with a live muster roll, and RAMS signed by the operative on site.
- Fleet and plant records for the vehicles and equipment on the job.
NoteEstimark’s fleet module is records rather than telematics. There is no vehicle tracking, no driver behaviour scoring and no dashcam integration.
What does Estimark do about UK statutory construction work?
It handles the four obligations a UK contractor is judged on: CIS deduction, the VAT domestic reverse charge, Construction Act payment timing, and the safety records that go with them.
- CIS deducted on labour only, excluding materials, VAT and plant hire, on 6th-to-5th tax months, with HMRC verification when connected and the CIS300 recorded with both statutory declarations.
- VAT domestic reverse charge under section 55A: the statutory wording on the invoice, nil VAT, controlled per client.
- Payment applications with Construction Act dates, the pay less deadline calculated, and retention tracked to release.
- RAMS with operative sign-off, inductions, permits and a live muster roll, plus EIC, EICR, Minor Works, PAT and CP12 certificates with typed test results.
NoteEstimark records the CIS300 and locks it to its tax period. It does not file the return to HMRC on your behalf.
When would BigChange be the better answer?
When the operation is dispatch-led, vehicle tracking is a requirement rather than a nice-to-have, and the commercial paperwork is handled elsewhere.
- A firm buying telematics as a core requirement should compare products that carry it, because Estimark does not.
- A business whose day is decided by routing rather than by job margin is organising around a different question.
NoteEstimark describes its own product here. For the other product’s current price and what it covers, read that vendor’s own site.
Estimark, in numbers
- CIS base
- Labour only
- CIS tax month
- 6th to 5th
- Reverse charge
- Section 55A
- Payment terms
- Construction Act
- Damp and mould
- Awaab’s Law timescales
- Certificates
- EIC, EICR, CP12, PAT
- Built for
- United Kingdom
- Field app
- Works offline
Pro
£299 a month +VAT
Job Costing is included from Core and Payment Applications from Pro. Fleet Management is activated from Pro and Plant & Equipment from Pro.
What you get
- Job costing, variations and cost value reconciliation
- Payment applications, pay less notices and retention
- QR site attendance and the live muster roll
- Fleet and plant records
- Xero, QuickBooks and Sage integration
Questions
Estimark vs BigChange: frequently asked
Is Estimark a BigChange alternative?
For a UK contractor whose priority is the job and the money on it, yes. Estimark covers scheduling, site attendance, certificates, CIS and Construction Act payment applications. For a firm buying vehicle tracking as a core requirement, Estimark does not carry telematics.
Does Estimark track vehicles?
No. The fleet module holds records: the vehicle, its documents, its servicing and its assignment to a job. There is no live tracking, no driver behaviour scoring and no dashcam integration.
How does Estimark prove who was on site?
Operatives check on and off by scanning a QR code at the site entrance, which builds a live muster roll. The check-in needs a signal and the app says so before you act.
Which is cheaper?
Estimark publishes every plan and module price at /pricing. Compare it against the other vendor’s own current pricing rather than a figure quoted on a third-party site.
Related
QR site attendance
Check on and off site by QR code, with a live muster roll for the fire marshal.
Job costing & CVR
Actual, committed and forecast cost per job, with a cost value reconciliation pack.
For builders & contractors
Job costing, CIS, payment applications, site safety, plant and fleet.
Pricing
Every plan and every module, with the current price against each one.
Try it on a real job.
14 days, full access, every plan. No implementation fee. All prices exclude VAT, added at 20% at checkout.
Moving from another system? What comes across, what we do with you in the first fortnight, and how long it takes.