Comparison
BuildingConnected alternatives
Mirage vs BuildingConnected
BuildingConnected is Autodesk's bid management network: a general contractor invites subcontractors from a network of over a million professionals, tracks the bids, levels them on a bid form and turns the winner into an Autodesk Build contract. Mirage's bid leveling agent reads the subcontractor bids themselves, matches every line to your scope and flags exclusions, missing scope and pricing gaps before you award. One collects bids; the other reads them.
Published Last updated Vendor facts last verified
Short answer
Pick BuildingConnected if your problem is finding, inviting, prequalifying and tracking subcontractors, especially inside the Autodesk ecosystem; nothing on Mirage's side does that. Pick Mirage, alongside it or alone, if your problem is what the bids say: PDFs in every subcontractor's format that someone has to read line by line against the scope of work before the numbers on the leveling sheet mean anything.
Executive Summary
BuildingConnected has three products. BuildingConnected Pro, for general contractors and owners, gives "unlimited Builders Network access", unlimited bid invites and projects, bid leveling, cost comparison, custom bid forms and historical bid data. Bid Board Pro, for subcontractors, tracks and forwards incoming invitations with calendar sync and analytics. TradeTapp qualifies subcontractors with questionnaires, automated risk assessment and financial data extracted from PDFs. Subcontractors get free accounts. Autodesk describes the network as "over 1,000,000 construction professionals" in one place and "1.5M+" in another, on "2M+ projects".
Autodesk bought BuildingConnected for $275 million net of cash, completing the deal on 23 January 2019, when the network stood at 700,000 professionals. It now sits inside Autodesk Construction Cloud: documents through Autodesk Docs, and an integration with Autodesk Build that "allows you to turn winning bids into contracts". It is also part of the Forma for Preconstruction bundle with Forma Takeoff, ProEst and TradeTapp. Pricing is not public as of October 2026: every product says "request a quote" and the bundle has "flexible user, project, and account-based pricing". Software Advice lists a starting price of $3,600 a year, which Autodesk's own pricing page does not show.
BuildingConnected's reviews are plentiful and good. Software Advice rates BuildingConnected 4.6 out of 5 on 204 reviews, with ease of use, time saved on bid preparation and centralisation as the recurring strengths and the mobile experience, outdated contact data, rigidity and slow drawing viewers as the recurring criticisms; one reviewer calls the leveling section "such a time saver". SelectHub, aggregating 202 reviews of BuildingConnected at 92% satisfaction, notes that its leveling lets you "add new information after receiving bids by editing scope sheets" and export awarded bids to Excel, while 66% of users find it "difficult to spell out scopes of work when sending documents". Autodesk's own customer figures include a 100% increase in bids at Traylor Bros and a 25% higher win rate at Bowman Flooring.
Mirage is a forward-deployed AI engineering company. Its bid leveling agent reads the subcontractor bids as they arrive, whether through BuildingConnected, email or a portal, matches every line item to your scope of work, and flags exclusions, missing scope and pricing gaps before award, with a person reviewing before anything is decided. Mirage's engineers deploy it on your bid formats and scope templates and run it in production. The published construction results are from John Cockerill (80 to 90% less time on piping takeoff) and OCBM (three agents in production for takeoff, bid pricing and consistency checks across drawing revisions, DCE and CCTP). A proof of concept on your own bids comes one week after the first meeting; the first workflow is in production in 4 to 6 weeks.
These are different jobs. BuildingConnected's leveling is a structured bid form the subcontractors fill and the GC compares; what is in the attached PDF, the qualifications, the exclusions, the alternates, is read by a person. Mirage reads that PDF. A GC can run both: BuildingConnected for the network and the tracking, Mirage for the content of the bids.
Key Takeaways
- BuildingConnected is Autodesk's bid management network: finding, inviting, prequalifying and tracking subcontractors, with form-based leveling and conversion to Autodesk Build contracts.
- Mirage's bid leveling agent reads the bid documents themselves against your scope and flags exclusions, missing scope and pricing gaps before award.
- They are complementary: one collects bids, the other reads them; a GC with both problems runs both.
- BuildingConnected's prices are on request; Mirage's start at $10,000 to launch and $1,000 a month.
- BuildingConnected is North American and well reviewed (4.6/5 on 204 Software Advice reviews); Mirage's published construction work spans the US, UK, France and Morocco.
At a Glance
| Aspect | Mirage | BuildingConnected |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Forward-deployed AI agent that reads bids against your scope, deployed and run by Mirage engineers inside your preconstruction workflow | Autodesk bid management network and software, run by your preconstruction team |
| Who it is for | General contractors, engineering groups and owners' teams leveling bids from PDFs in every subcontractor's format, in the US, UK, France and Morocco | General contractors and owners (Pro), subcontractors (Bid Board Pro), prequalification teams (TradeTapp), mainly in North America |
| What it does with a bid | Reads the bid document, matches every line to your scope of work, flags exclusions, missing scope and pricing gaps, keeps a human review before award | Collects it on a custom bid form, levels and compares the numbers "apples to apples", tracks bidders and history, converts the winner into an Autodesk Build contract |
| Finding and inviting subcontractors | Not offered | Builders Network of over a million professionals, unlimited invitations, an AI recommendation engine for subcontractors |
| Prequalification | Not offered | TradeTapp: questionnaires, automated risk assessment, financial data extracted from PDFs |
| Deployment | Proof of concept on your own bids a week after the first meeting; first workflow in production in 4 to 6 weeks | Software subscription; no trial or deployment timeline on the pricing page |
| Integrations | Your estimating system, ERP and document platform, wired by Mirage engineers; Procore and Autodesk Construction Cloud among the systems connected | Autodesk Construction Cloud, Autodesk Docs, Autodesk Build (bids to contracts), Forma for Preconstruction bundle; TradeTapp ERP integration |
| Pricing model | From $10,000 to launch and $1,000 a month, the exact amount quoted in the first conversation | Not public as of October 2026: "request a quote" on Pro, Bid Board Pro and TradeTapp; subcontractor accounts free |
| Human review | Every flagged line reviewed by your estimator before award; the agent recommends, it does not decide | The GC's team reads the bid attachments and fills the leveling sheet; the software compares what is entered |
| Reported results | Three agents in production for takeoff, bid pricing and consistency checks at OCBM; 80 to 90% less time on piping takeoff at John Cockerill | Autodesk's own customer figures: 100% more bids at Traylor Bros, 25% higher win rate at Bowman Flooring; Software Advice 4.6/5 on 204 reviews |
Key Differences
Collecting bids vs reading them
BuildingConnected's strength is the network and the tracking: who was invited, who declined, who bid what on the form. Its leveling compares the numbers entered on that form. The bid itself, the PDF with the exclusions on page three and the alternate on page five, is still read by a person. Mirage's agent reads it, and that is the whole of what it does.
Scope on a sheet vs scope line by line
SelectHub reports that two thirds of users find it difficult to spell out scopes of work when sending documents, and leveling is done by editing scope sheets after the bids arrive. Mirage starts from your scope of work and matches every bid line to it, so the gap, the exclusion or the price that is out of range is flagged before anyone edits a sheet.
Autodesk ecosystem vs any system
BuildingConnected turns a winning bid into an Autodesk Build contract and shares documents through Autodesk Docs. If you run Autodesk Construction Cloud, that is a real advantage. Mirage writes its leveling output into whichever estimating system and ERP you use, Autodesk included, with the integration built by its engineers.
Not a substitute either way
Mirage does not find subcontractors, send invitations or prequalify anyone. BuildingConnected does not read a bid PDF against a scope. A GC that needs both will run both; a GC whose network is already in place and whose pain is the reading will add Mirage.
Advantages and Limitations
Mirage
Advantages
- Reads the bid documents themselves, in any subcontractor's format, against your scope of work
- Flags exclusions, missing scope and pricing gaps before award, with a human review step
- Works on bids received through BuildingConnected, email or any portal
- Covers French DCE and DPGF comparisons and UK NEC4 and NRM2 work, as well as US bids
- Proof of concept on your own bids a week after the first meeting
Limitations
- No subcontractor network, invitations, tracking or prequalification
- Not self-serve: an engineering engagement, not a subscription
- Fewer published bid leveling figures than takeoff figures
- No Autodesk Build contract conversion of its own
BuildingConnected
Advantages
- Network of over a million construction professionals; unlimited invitations on Pro
- Bid tracking, custom bid forms, leveling, cost comparison and historical bid data in one place
- TradeTapp prequalification with automated risk assessment
- Winning bids become Autodesk Build contracts; documents through Autodesk Docs
- 4.6/5 on 204 Software Advice reviews; free accounts for subcontractors
Limitations
- Pricing is not public; every product is "request a quote"
- Leveling compares what is entered on the form; the bid PDF is still read by a person
- 66% of users find it difficult to spell out scopes of work, per SelectHub
- Reviewers cite the mobile experience, outdated contact data and slow drawing viewers
Real-World Use Cases
A US general contractor building its subcontractor base
New markets, new trades, prequalification to run and invitations to track across dozens of projects: that is BuildingConnected's job, and Mirage has nothing to offer for it.
A GC with forty bids on a package and three days to award
Each bid a PDF in its own format, each with its own exclusions and alternates, and an estimator reading them against the scope one by one. Mirage's agent reads them all, matches lines to scope and flags the gaps, so the estimator reviews a short list instead of forty documents.
An Autodesk Construction Cloud shop
Bids collected in BuildingConnected, the winner converted to an Autodesk Build contract, documents in Autodesk Docs: keep that. Mirage adds the reading step on the bids that arrive, and writes its findings where your estimators work.
A contractor comparing DPGF responses on a French tender
Subcontractor and supplier responses to a DPGF, priced line by line against a CCTP, with inconsistencies across revisions to catch: the OCBM deployment, three agents in production. BuildingConnected publishes nothing for the French tender format.
Mirage Products
Bid leveling
AI that reads subcontractor bids, matches every line item to your scope, and flags exclusions, missing scope and pricing gaps before you award.
See the pageTender response
An incoming tender read for requirements, deadlines and disqualifiers, so your team decides whether to bid, fast.
See the pageTakeoff & Estimating
Quantities from plan, section and detail sheets, each traced to its source, for your estimators to price.
See the pageSpecification review
Every spec clause cross-referenced against the drawings and re-checked on each revision.
See the pageBid leveling calculator
Free: three to six subcontractor bids leveled to the same scope, plugs with their source, open items carried, bond and tax added, CSV export.
See the pageHow to Choose
Start with the problem. If it is reach, tracking and prequalification, BuildingConnected is built for it and well reviewed. If it is the hours spent reading bid PDFs against the scope before the leveling sheet can be trusted, that is Mirage's agent, and BuildingConnected does not do it.
Then the ecosystem. On Autodesk Construction Cloud, BuildingConnected's contract conversion and document sharing are worth having, and Mirage works alongside them. Off it, BuildingConnected is still a network; Mirage's output goes into whatever you run.
Then the geography. BuildingConnected's network and references are North American. Mirage's published construction work spans the US, the UK, France and Morocco, including French DCE and DPGF comparisons that no bid network covers.
When to pick which
The two are complementary more often than competing. The question is which half of bid leveling hurts.
- Pick BuildingConnected when you need to find, invite, prequalify and track subcontractors at scale, you run Autodesk Construction Cloud, and your team is content reading the bid attachments itself.
- Pick Mirage when the bids are in hand and the reading is the bottleneck: exclusions, scope gaps and pricing outliers found by an agent, reviewed by your estimator, before award, in the US, UK, France or Morocco.
- Pick both when you are a GC with a large network and a large bid volume: BuildingConnected collects, Mirage reads.
Where Mirage fits on US and UK projects
On US projects, Mirage levels bids against the scope, returns takeoff quantities traced to their sheet, and runs the document workflows around the bid and the job: CSI MasterFormat organisation, certified payroll against prevailing wage determinations and AIA G702/G703 pay applications. It does not check drawings against US building codes.
On UK projects, the quantities can be measured into an NRM2-structured bill and the contract side covers NEC4 administration.
Sources
- 01construction.autodesk.com, BuildingConnected product page, accessed 7 October 2026
- 02construction.autodesk.com, BuildingConnected pricing (request a quote), accessed 7 October 2026
- 03Autodesk News, "Autodesk Completes BuildingConnected Acquisition", 23 January 2019, accessed 7 October 2026
- 04Software Advice, BuildingConnected profile (4.6/5, 204 reviews), accessed 7 October 2026
- 05SelectHub, BuildingConnected reviews (92% on 202 reviews), accessed 7 October 2026
FAQ
BuildingConnected is Autodesk's bid management platform: BuildingConnected Pro for general contractors and owners (network access, invitations, bid forms, leveling, history), Bid Board Pro for subcontractors (bid tracking) and TradeTapp for prequalification. Autodesk bought it for $275 million in January 2019 and it is part of Autodesk Construction Cloud.
Autodesk does not publish prices as of October 2026: Pro, Bid Board Pro and TradeTapp are all "request a quote", and the Forma for Preconstruction bundle has flexible user, project and account-based pricing. Subcontractor accounts are free. Software Advice lists a starting price of $3,600 a year that Autodesk's pricing page does not show.
Only for the leveling step, and even there the two overlap less than they compete. BuildingConnected collects and compares bids on a form across a network of over a million professionals; Mirage reads the bid documents themselves against your scope of work and flags exclusions, missing scope and pricing gaps. Mirage does not find, invite or prequalify subcontractors.
Its leveling compares the numbers entered on custom bid forms and lets the GC edit scope sheets after bids arrive; TradeTapp extracts financial data from PDFs for prequalification. Reading a bid's exclusions and alternates against the scope is still done by a person, which is the step Mirage's agent takes on.
Yes. Bids collected in BuildingConnected are documents like any other; Mirage's agent reads them against the scope and writes its findings where your estimators work, Autodesk included. Nothing on this page claims a built connector; the integration is scoped in the proof of concept.
A proof of concept on your own bids comes one week after the first meeting and the first workflow reaches production in 4 to 6 weeks. BuildingConnected publishes no deployment timeline.
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Bid leveling
Mirage's agent reads subcontractor bids in any format, matches every line to your scope of work and flags exclusions, missing scope and pricing gaps before you award, deployed by engineers who work inside your preconstruction workflow.
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