Knowify is built around the books.
Forge is built around the work.
Knowify is a strong commercial subcontractor platform — job costing, AIA-style progress billing, change orders, and a deep QuickBooks integration that bookkeepers genuinely like. Forge starts somewhere else: one AI-native chest where estimating, scheduling, payroll, documents, comms, and in-field LiDAR share an architecture instead of syncing to an accounting tool.
Side by side. Honest about both.
Treasury (coming soon) will carry change-orders, certified payroll, and the RMR ledger in the same chest as the estimate. Billing and job-cost detail will be surfaced from that one ledger rather than reconciled across tools.
A core strength. Mature job costing, AIA G702/G703-style progress billing, retainage, and committed-cost tracking that commercial subs rely on.
Forge will run its own Treasury ledger (coming soon) as the system of record rather than syncing to QuickBooks. A one-time CSV onramp, not a nightly accounting sync.
Industry-leading. Deep, two-way QuickBooks Online and Desktop integration is one of the main reasons operators choose Knowify.
Treasury (coming soon) — Davis-Bacon / prevailing wage handled inside payroll, with WH-347 produced as part of the same job record rather than exported to a separate accounting tool.
Supports time tracking and prevailing-wage workflows; certified-payroll filing commonly runs through the connected QuickBooks/accounting and third-party tooling.
Yes. Hyperion — iPad/iPhone LiDAR. Walk the structure, get a line-item estimate. Methodology + sample plan published at /proof/hyperion-accuracy (independent third-party verification pending).
No native equivalent. Takeoff is manual or from a separate measurement tool, then keyed into the estimate.
A field-captured delta generates the change-order and will write its financial impact into Treasury (coming soon), instead of waiting for the office to re-key it.
Solid office-side change-order management tied to contract and billing — strong on paper trail, originated and managed primarily from the office.
Native documents — submittal packages, as-builts, and commissioning records attached to the project record in the same chest.
Project and document management is present; deep submittal/RFI and as-built workflows often lean on a separate construction-docs tool.
Built-in dialer, SMS, call recording, and AI call summaries that write back to the project log, federated with CRM and payroll.
Not in scope. Communication runs on a separate phone system and inbox.
Modules share state because they share one architecture — estimate, schedule, change-order, payroll, documents, and Hyperion are drawers in the same chest, not integrations.
Pre-AI architecture built to integrate cleanly with the accounting system. Best-of-breed by design: Knowify plus QuickBooks plus a docs and a phone tool.
Where Knowify is the right call.
- 01.Commercial subs whose operation already runs on QuickBooks and whose bookkeeper wants a tight, two-way sync rather than a new system of record — Knowify's accounting integration is genuinely best-in-class.
- 02.Operators whose top need is mature job costing and AIA-style progress billing with retainage, today, with a proven track record behind it.
- 03.Teams that prefer a best-of-breed stack — keep QuickBooks, keep your docs tool, keep your phone system — and want a PM layer that slots in cleanly without asking you to move the books.
- 04.Specialty subcontractors who want a stable, office-centric PM + billing platform and don't need in-field LiDAR or embedded comms.
The honest line.
If your operation is anchored to QuickBooks and your priority is a proven PM-plus-accounting workflow with AIA progress billing — and you don't need in-field LiDAR, embedded comms, or one unified system of record — Knowify is the right call, and the QuickBooks integration is a real reason to stay there. Forge is built for the commercial install operator who wants the estimate, the scan, the change-order, the payroll, and the conversation in one chest rather than synced across four tools.
A PM tool synced to your books is one model. One chest the field and the office both work from is another. Pick the one built for the work.
Forge's tools address this operating context. Sabina, your company's own AI, is a separate hire, qualified for the responsibilities and systems in your business. See her hiring process at hiresabina.ai.
Start with a short operational assessment of your business.