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Construction · head to head

Foundation Software vs Trunk Tools

Foundation Software logo

Foundation Software

Construction

Job cost accounting and construction payroll for contractors running certified and union jobs

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Trunk Tools logo

Trunk Tools

Construction

Answers questions from a project document set with citations, so field staff stop hunting drawings

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Foundation Software no pricing is published anywhere, so shortlisting requires sitting through a sales process before you know whether the product is within budget at all.; Trunk Tools nothing about pricing is published, and because it is quoted by project rather than by seat, the cost of standardising it across a portfolio of jobs is hard to model before a sales process
  • They diverge on capability: Foundation Software covers Job costing, Trunk Tools covers Question answering with citations.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Foundation Software and Trunk Tools actually diverge.

Attributes where Foundation Software and Trunk Tools differ
AttributeFoundation SoftwareTrunk Tools
PlatformsWindows, Web, iOS, AndroidWeb, iOS, Android

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Construction).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Foundation Software

  • Job costing
  • Certified payroll
  • Union payroll
  • AIA billing
  • Equipment costing
  • Service dispatch
  • Mobile time entry
  • Executive dashboards

Only in Trunk Tools

  • Question answering with citations
  • Text message interface
  • Submittal review
  • RFI drafting
  • Schedule agent
  • Drawing and specification ingestion
  • Change awareness

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Foundation Software

  • A union electrical or mechanical contractor whose payroll spans several trades and fringe schedules in the same weeknot Trunk Tools
  • A general contractor bidding federally funded work that requires weekly certified payroll filingsnot Trunk Tools
  • A contractor whose QuickBooks file has outgrown job costing and who is reconciling work in progress in spreadsheetsnot Trunk Tools
  • A firm with owned plant that needs equipment hours costed back to jobs to see true contract marginnot Trunk Tools

Trunk Tools

  • A superintendent on a data centre project who needs to know the required fire rating of a specific partition type without leaving the decknot Foundation Software
  • A project engineer reviewing 300 submittals who wants conflicts against the specification flagged before the architect sees themnot Foundation Software
  • A contractor whose RFIs are being rejected as already answered in the specification and wants the document checked firstnot Foundation Software
  • A team that has just received a revised drawing set and needs to know which in-progress work is now affectednot Foundation Software

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Foundation Software

  • No pricing is published anywhere, so shortlisting requires sitting through a sales process before you know whether the product is within budget at all.
  • Implementation, data conversion and training are billed separately from the licence and routinely run into five figures, which buyers comparing monthly software subscriptions do not budget for.
  • The payroll compliance engine is built for United States federal and state law, so the product has essentially no value to contractors outside the US.
  • The interface is a long-lived Windows-style application, and staff hired from cloud-native tools find it slow to learn compared with Buildertrend or Procore.
  • Project management, document control and field collaboration are weaker than the dedicated construction platforms, so most sites end up running Foundation for money and something else for the job, and paying twice.

Trunk Tools

  • Nothing about pricing is published, and because it is quoted by project rather than by seat, the cost of standardising it across a portfolio of jobs is hard to model before a sales process
  • Answer quality is bounded entirely by the discipline of the underlying document control, and on a project with stale drawing revisions it will cite superseded sheets with the same confidence as current ones
  • It is an overlay on Procore or Autodesk rather than a system of record, so a contractor is now paying two vendors for the same document set and depends on the integration continuing to be maintained
  • The company is young and the product category is new, so there is little independent long-run evidence on accuracy, and a contractor putting field decisions on it should build its own verification sampling rather than trust vendor claims
  • Answers with citations do not carry contractual weight; an RFI response or a specification still governs, so the tool reduces search time without reducing the contractual review burden

Pricing, plan by plan

Foundation Software

On request
  • FOUNDATION$undefined/year
    • Modular licensing, priced by modules and user count
    • Cloud hosted or installed on your own server
    • Separate one-off implementation, data conversion and training fee

Trunk Tools

On request
  • Trunk Tools$undefined/year
    • Quoted by project, user count and modules taken
    • Pilot projects commonly priced separately from an enterprise agreement
    • Document ingestion and integration setup scoped per customer

Which should you pick?

Choose Foundation Software if

  • You need job costing.
  • You work on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want certified payroll.
Foundation Software review

Choose Trunk Tools if

  • You need question answering with citations.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want text message interface.
Trunk Tools review

Questions people ask

Is Foundation Software or Trunk Tools better?
Neither clearly leads. Foundation Software starts at On request and Trunk Tools at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Foundation Software or Trunk Tools?
Foundation Software starts at On request and Trunk Tools at On request.
Does Foundation Software or Trunk Tools run on more platforms?
Foundation Software runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android. Trunk Tools runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is Foundation Software best used for?
Foundation Software is most often used for a union electrical or mechanical contractor whose payroll spans several trades and fringe schedules in the same week, a general contractor bidding federally funded work that requires weekly certified payroll filings, a contractor whose quickbooks file has outgrown job costing and who is reconciling work in progress in spreadsheets, a firm with owned plant that needs equipment hours costed back to jobs to see true contract margin. Of those, a union electrical or mechanical contractor whose payroll spans several trades and fringe schedules in the same week and a general contractor bidding federally funded work that requires weekly certified payroll filings are not what Trunk Tools is typically brought in for.
What can Foundation Software do that Trunk Tools cannot?
Foundation Software covers Job costing, Certified payroll, Union payroll, AIA billing. Trunk Tools covers Question answering with citations, Text message interface, Submittal review, RFI drafting.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Foundation Software: How much does Foundation Software cost?

The vendor publishes no rates. Pricing is assembled per contractor from module selection and user count, with a separate implementation fee, and is only given after a discovery call.

Trunk Tools: Does it replace Procore?

No. It reads from Procore or Autodesk Construction Cloud and adds retrieval and review on top. You still pay for the document platform.

Foundation Software: Does it replace Procore?

No. Foundation is the accounting and payroll system; Procore is project management. They integrate, and many contractors run both.

Trunk Tools: What does it cost?

Trunk Tools does not publish pricing. Expect a quote scoped by project, users and which modules you take.

Foundation Software: Can it handle certified payroll for multiple states?

Yes, it produces state-specific certified payroll formats as well as the federal WH-347, which is the main reason multi-state contractors buy it.

Trunk Tools: Can it be wrong?

Yes. It cites its source, which lets you check, but if the document set contains superseded drawings it will answer from them. Document control discipline is a prerequisite, not an optional extra.

Foundation Software: Is there a cloud version?

Yes, it is offered hosted as well as on-premise, but the hosted version is the same application delivered remotely rather than a rebuilt browser product.

Trunk Tools: Can field staff use it without the app?

Yes. TrunkText answers questions by text message, which is the main reason foremen adopt it.

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