Article

How to export Buildertrend jobs, estimates and change orders

By TrustPast

Updated November 6, 2026

A builder or remodeler who has run on Buildertrend for eight years has every job in one account. The estimates are there, and the proposals the client turned down. So are the change orders, the selections and the daily logs from the wet week in March. Here is what to count before you apply, and why you don’t export anything to apply. Then, for after an agreement, how Buildertrend’s own exports work and where they stop.

Version note. Checked against Buildertrend’s help pages on 6 November 2026. Menus change. If a step differs, Buildertrend’s help page wins.

Count what you have; you do not export to apply

Polyshares publishes the order of things on its data handling page. “Intake asks for record counts, not files or exports.” And: “Nothing leaves your systems until Polyshares has made an offer and you have accepted it.”

Its Buildertrend guide says the same about this tool: “The intake only needs the size, so you do not have to run an export to fill it in. You also do not need to clean or scrub an export.”

So the first job is a count, not a file. Polyshares’ guide says to report Buildertrend “in records,” and that the intake “also asks how many years the company has used it and how many seats it has.” In plain terms, write down:

how many jobs are in the account, in every status: presale, open, warranty and closed;
how many change orders, daily logs and schedule items those jobs carry;
how many years that is;
how many people on your own team log in.

The export steps further down are for later. They are what you will need if Polyshares makes an offer and you accept it. Until then, the jobs stay in Buildertrend, and the site supers open the same app tomorrow morning.

See your estimate

What the buyer wants from it, and what it doesn’t

Owners tend to assume a buyer wants the client list. It doesn’t. Polyshares’ data handling page says: “Names, emails, phone numbers, account numbers, and addresses are removed or replaced by a specialist PII partner before Polyshares or any buyer sees the record. Roles, timestamps, and the work itself are kept.”

So the homeowner’s name goes. The payments they made are not the point either. What is left is the work. Polyshares’ data licensing page says: “The value is not in volume. It is in reasoning that was captured while the work happened.” It adds: “A thread where two people disagree about a quote and work it out carries judgment that cannot be manufactured.”

Polyshares’ Buildertrend guide says why this tool counts: it “holds the working record of residential construction projects: schedules, change orders, selections, budgets and daily logs.” And: “Planned dates and budgets next to what actually happened show how building projects run over time.”

In a building or remodeling company, as our own reading, that looks like this:

How the work was done. The daily logs, the weather notes on the day the pour slipped, the schedule as planned and as it ran.
How an estimate became a job. The first proposal, the revised one after the client cut the deck, and the signed one that went to the budget.
How a change order was settled. The scope written up after the wall came open, the price, and who approved it and when.
How a choice got made. The three tile options in the selection, the allowance, and the one the client picked.

The cornerstone page on what data buyers actually want from a trade business goes through the whole list.

Worth two minutes to see your range? Our estimate asks five questions about the company and its records.

Where Buildertrend shows how much you have

Polyshares’ guide opens with the plain fact: “Buildertrend does not publish a data size screen.” Its method is to count rows.

Start with the jobs. Polyshares’ guide says: “Open the Jobs List grid, adjust the view so it shows all of your jobs, and click Export in the top right corner to download an Excel file.” Then: “Count the rows for your job total.”

Buildertrend’s own job page says the Jobs List “provides a centralized view of all your projects in one easy-to-navigate dashboard,” with customizable columns. Its glossary calls it a report view “that displays data for multiple jobs, allowing filtering, sorting, and export for analysis.” Job statuses, Buildertrend says, include “Presale, Open, Warranty, and Closed.” Clear any filter so all four show.

Then the rest. Polyshares’ guide says to repeat the count “on other grids you use heavily, such as budgets or time clock, where Export is available, and add the rows.” It says to enter “jobs plus the project items you exported as records, and name the grids in the notes.” The project items it names are “schedule items, change orders and daily logs.”

For the years, Polyshares’ guide says to “use the oldest job created or start date.” Buildertrend’s job record has a field for it: “Projected start, Actual start, Projected completion, and Actual completion.”

For seats, it says to “count internal users, not client or subcontractor portal logins.” Homeowners and trade partners in the portal are not your team.

Here is the count to write down, as our own advice:

Jobs: the rows in the Jobs List file, with every status showing.
Project items: the rows in each other grid you export, named grid by grid.
Years: the oldest start date in the jobs file.
Seats: internal users only.
Earlier years: any tool or paper the company ran on before Buildertrend.

Who can export, and what the plan allows

Buildertrend’s help pages say little about who can export. Here is what they say, and what they don’t.

The Export button. Buildertrend’s setup page says: “Yes, you can select ‘Export’ in the top right corner of any Grid that supports it to download an Excel document.” Polyshares’ guide says: “Export appears only on grids that support it.” Neither page lists which grids those are.

Roles. Polyshares’ guide says: “Ask your Buildertrend account admin or Buildertrend support which roles can see and export each grid.” Buildertrend’s setup page says Admins edit Internal User permissions “by navigating to the Internal Users tab within the User dropdown.” It says BT Roles “can be reassigned, but cannot be edited,” and that a new role starts from “Copy from another role.” The help pages we read don’t name an export permission. Run the exports from an Admin login and ask support if a button is missing.

Grid views. Buildertrend’s glossary calls a grid “a customizable table view,” and its setup page says filters “help you search for specific details shown in the Grid.” It says your default filters “are unique to you,” and that a shared grid deleted by one user is removed “for your entire team.” Build a private grid view for the export, so nobody else’s screen changes.

Plan. Polyshares’ guide gives no plan for grid exports. Buildertrend’s setup page says changes to a subscription go through “your account manager.” We found no plan limit on exports in the pages we read, so we give none.

Limits. Buildertrend does not publish a row limit for grid exports on the pages we read. We give no figure.

The steps, in Buildertrend’s words

These steps are for after an agreement with Polyshares says what is in scope. Each step names its source. Where Buildertrend’s help pages don’t describe a step, the step says so.

Build a grid view on the Jobs List. Open the Jobs List from the Jobs dropdown. Set the columns you need: Buildertrend names project type, address, status, assigned project managers, and start and completion dates among them. Clear any filter, so jobs in every status show. Source: Buildertrend, job management.
Export the jobs. Select Export in the top right corner of the grid. Buildertrend downloads an Excel document. Source: Buildertrend, setup and customization FAQ.
Export each estimate. Select a job, then go to Estimate from the Financials dropdown. Among the worksheet options, Export sends the estimate “to an Excel spreadsheet.” Buildertrend’s page describes this per job; it does not describe one export of every estimate in the account. Source: Buildertrend, estimate overview.
Keep the proposals. Select the Proposal tab at the top of the estimate worksheet to see every proposal for the job. Once a proposal is sent, Buildertrend says you can “download .CSV version of the worksheet, or view a PDF copy of the Proposal for your records.” Source: Buildertrend, estimate overview.
Change orders. Select a job, then go to Change Orders from the Project Management dropdown. Buildertrend’s change order pages do not describe an export or a printout of change orders. If the Change Orders dashboard shows Export in its top right corner, it is a grid that supports it, and step 2 applies. If not, ask Buildertrend support. Source: Buildertrend, change order overview.
Daily logs. Select a job, then go to Daily Logs from the Project Management dropdown. Buildertrend’s daily log page does not describe an export. Polyshares’ guide names daily logs among what to ask support for in a full account export. Source: Buildertrend, daily logs overview.
Selections and to-do’s. Buildertrend’s selections page and its glossary entry for To-Do’s do not describe an export. Check the dashboard for the Export button, as in step 5. Sources: Buildertrend, selections overview and Buildertrend, glossary.
Print a single item, if that is what the agreement asks for. Buildertrend says you can adjust what a printout shows “after you select to Print, then by opening More Settings.” For a proposal, select Print from the ellipsis menu on the Proposal screen. Sources: Buildertrend, setup and customization FAQ and Buildertrend, estimate overview.
Download files, if they are in scope. On the Files dashboard, select files with the checkboxes and choose to download them to your computer. Source: Buildertrend, files overview.
Ask for the rest. Polyshares’ guide says to “ask Buildertrend support or your account manager for a full account export that includes documents, photos and daily logs, since grid exports do not include files.” Buildertrend’s pages list support by Live Chat, by email at support@buildertrend.com, or by phone. Sources: Polyshares’ Buildertrend guide, listed under Sources, and Buildertrend, setup and customization FAQ.

On a closing company, one more point. Buildertrend’s help pages we read do not describe a data export on cancellation, or how long data stays after a subscription ends. Ask your account manager before you cancel, not after.

What the files contain, and what they don’t

A grid export is an Excel file of the view on screen. Polyshares’ guide says: “Grid exports are Excel files of the current view.” Set the columns first, not after.

What the files don’t hold matters as much. Polyshares’ guide says: “Files, photos and plans are not part of grid exports, and Buildertrend does not publicly document a one step export of an entire account.” We found no such export on Buildertrend’s pages either.

The estimate is a worksheet. Buildertrend’s estimate page says a line item carries a title, cost code, cost type, group, description and “Internal Notes (information that only your internal team can see; not viewable by any client.)” It carries a unit cost, a quantity, and a markup or margin. The page doesn’t list the columns in the Excel file, so open it and check.

The estimate also keeps its own history. Buildertrend lists an “Activity Log” that shows “a time- and date-stamped history of activity within the Estimate.” It says the Proposal dashboard keeps every version, “maintaining a history of changes throughout the process.” After a client declines a proposal, you can pull cost lines from it into the new one with Copy to estimate. The help pages don’t say the Activity Log exports. Raise it on the call if it matters to the agreement.

The chain from lead to job is kept too. Buildertrend says creating a job from a lead “carries over the information, files, and legacy proposals collected during the lead stage.” And once a proposal is signed, Send to Budget moves the estimated costs to the job costing budget and locks the estimate.

Here is what that means in a remodeling company, as our own description. The estimate file is the bid. The proposal versions are the bid as it was argued over. The budget is the bid as the job ran. The estimates and quotes page goes through why the declined proposals count as much as the signed ones. The project history page covers what a job record holds from start to closeout.

The change order is where the reasoning sits

A change order is the record of something going differently than planned. Buildertrend’s change order page says it gives you “a centralized, trackable way to document, price, and manage scope adjustments.”

The fields tell the story. A title. A scope of work. An approval deadline. A flat fee or line items, and Buildertrend recommends line items, because a flat fee “will not allocate expenses to specific cost codes on the budget.” Three kinds of notes: “Internal Notes,” visible only to your team; “Sub/vendor Notes”; and “Client Notes.”

Then the settling. Buildertrend says you can approve a change order on the client’s behalf “after an in-person approval, verbal confirmation, or other documented agreement.” It keeps “a clear record of who approved the change and when.” Once you tick Change Order Requests under Client Permissions, clients invited to the job can send their own requests from the portal.

The advanced page adds the back-and-forth with the trades. Before a change order goes to the client, you can turn its line items into a bid package for subs, then update the change order’s costs from the quote you accept. Once it is approved, you can invoice from it.

That is how a change gets settled on a remodel, as our own reading. The super finds rot behind the tile. The office writes the change order. The plumber prices the reroute. The client signs on site. Each step leaves a line. A buyer is not after the client’s name or the invoice paid. It is after the sequence: what was found, what it cost, who agreed.

Daily logs and selections fill in the rest. Buildertrend’s daily log has a date, a title and tags. Its notes cover “the work completed, site conditions, and any issues or updates.” Weather notes say how the conditions “affected work, such as delays or disruptions.” A selection has a category, a location, an allowance and the choices shown to the client. Buildertrend says accounts created on or after 17 December 2025 use a newer selections experience, so the screens may differ.

Check the export

Five checks, as our own advice:

Open the jobs file. Is the oldest start date from the year the company started on Buildertrend?
Count the rows. Do they match the count you wrote down?
Check the statuses. If Closed or Warranty jobs are missing, clear the filter and export again.
Check deleted jobs. Buildertrend says deleted jobs show only when you tick Only Show Deleted under Filter. Decide with Polyshares whether they belong in scope.
Check the numbers. Buildertrend says change order numbers can restart per job or run company-wide, and that turning the company-wide setting on “only affects documents created going forward.” Note which way your account ran.

The personal data in a Buildertrend export

A Buildertrend account is a client list with years of building attached. Know that before anything moves.

The Jobs List can show the job address. Buildertrend’s own job page suggests naming jobs by “the project address or a combination of the address and the client’s last name.” So the job title itself may name the client. Client notes, daily logs and photos carry more: a house number, a gate code, a child’s bedroom.

Polyshares publishes how this is handled. Its data handling page says identifying fields are removed or replaced “before Polyshares or any buyer sees the record.” It says: “If the partner reviewing the sample spots anything that reads as identifying, the record goes back for another pass before pricing continues.” It says listings “are published without the company’s name, website, people, or exact locations,” and that “The company is never contacted by a buyer.”

So the homeowner becomes a client. The change order stays a change order, with its scope, its price and its approval. You don’t scrub the file yourself. Polyshares’ Buildertrend guide says: “Polyshares does that work, so your team does not have to scrub records first.” How the de-identification works, step by step, is on how de-identification works.

What is never included

Start with what Polyshares publishes. Its home page says the licence is “Defined material for a defined term. It does not cover what you hold on behalf of your own clients.” Its data handling page says the licence is bounded: “Defined systems, a defined term, and exclusive by default unless we agree otherwise. Nothing outside that scope is covered.” Its Buildertrend guide says: “Your company keeps ownership of its data.”

Now our own advice, which is ours and not Polyshares’:

Client contact fields. Names, emails, phone numbers and addresses were there so the crew could find the house. They were never the thing being bought.
Payments. Client payments, invoices paid and any card or bank details. Leave the payment columns out unless the agreement names them.
Access notes. Gate codes, lockbox codes and alarm notes in job or client notes. Raise them on the call so they stay out.
Employee pay. Time clock entries and pay rates are not how the work was done.
Photos that identify a home or a person. A house number, a face, a family photo on a wall.
Anything a client owns under contract. An architect’s drawings or a developer’s plans in the files may be theirs.

What is licensed is set out in Polyshares’ offer and the terms you agree, after Polyshares has read an anonymized sample. Polyshares says: “Someone on the team reads the anonymized sample before Polyshares prices the record.”

What this means for a remodeling or home building company

Here is what a builder or remodeler usually keeps in Buildertrend, as our own description and not a list from any buyer. The lead that became a presale job. The estimate and its proposal versions. The selections with their allowances. The change orders, priced and approved. The daily logs with the weather. The schedule as planned and the actual start and completion dates.

What Polyshares has paid is public. It says typical deals run from $100K to $2M and above (indicative, not an offer). Its case studies page lists a general contractor at $300,000 (indicative, not an offer), a “Perpetual exclusive license to the operational record. Anonymized before delivery.” Polyshares says depth of operating history and “how much visible reasoning the record contains move the number far more than raw volume does.” Eight years of change orders is that kind of reasoning.

What this means for a roofing company

A roofer on Buildertrend keeps the same chain: the inspection, the estimate, the change order when the decking was worse than it looked, the daily log from tear-off day. See the roofing companies page. If the field side ran on Housecall Pro instead, the Housecall Pro guide covers the same ground. The books usually sit in QuickBooks; the QuickBooks guide covers that side.

Where we fit

We, TrustPast, explain the process and give you a range with our estimate. It is ours, not an offer. Polyshares pays us a referral fee. You pay us nothing. We never see your Buildertrend account, your export, or your files. How the de-identification works, in plain words, is on how it’s safe.

Before you apply

Four things to settle first, as our own advice:

Count. Jobs, change orders, daily logs, years, seats. Write the numbers down.
Don’t send an export with the application. Polyshares asks for counts.
Find the older system. If the company ran on spreadsheets or another tool before Buildertrend, those years count too. Note how many.
List what stays out. Client contacts, payments, access notes, pay, client-owned drawings.

Then answer the five questions. If the range is worth your time, apply.

TrustPast

Questions and answers

Do we have to export our Buildertrend data to apply?

No. Polyshares says intake asks for record counts, not files or exports, and that nothing leaves your systems until Polyshares has made an offer and you have accepted it. Its Buildertrend guide says the intake only needs the size, so you do not have to run an export to fill it in.

Where is the Export button in Buildertrend?

Buildertrend says you can select Export in the top right corner of any grid that supports it, to download an Excel document. Polyshares’ guide adds that Export appears only on grids that support it.

Can we export the estimate?

Yes. Buildertrend’s estimate page lists Export among the worksheet options: it exports the estimate to an Excel spreadsheet. Once a proposal is sent, Buildertrend says you can download a .CSV version of its worksheet or view a PDF copy of the proposal.

Can we export change orders and daily logs in bulk?

Buildertrend’s change order and daily log pages do not describe an export. Polyshares counts change orders and daily logs as records, and says to ask Buildertrend support or your account manager for a full account export that includes documents, photos and daily logs.

Do photos and files come with the grid export?

No. Polyshares’ guide says files, photos and plans are not part of grid exports. Buildertrend’s files page says you can select several files with the checkboxes and download them to your computer.

Do client portal logins count as seats?

No. Polyshares’ guide says to count your internal team logins as seats and to leave out homeowners and subcontractors who only use portal access.

Do we remove client names before anything moves?

No. Polyshares says names, emails, phone numbers, account numbers and addresses are removed or replaced by a specialist PII partner before Polyshares or any buyer sees the record. Its Buildertrend guide says your team does not have to scrub records first.

What does it cost us?

Nothing. Polyshares says there is no fee and no commission. Polyshares pays TrustPast a referral fee; you pay us nothing.