Procore and Petl Pay are solving different problems for different businesses
Procore is enterprise construction management software. It is built for large contractors managing complex projects, multiple sites, and significant teams who need a single platform for project scheduling, quality control, safety documentation, and financial reporting. It is powerful, comprehensive, and priced to match.
Petl Pay is the payment orchestration layer for SME general contractors. It takes one client payment and automatically splits and settles it to every subcontractor and vendor, with CIS deductions calculated, open banking payments embedded, and a full project-level audit trail maintained. It is built for the 8,500 SME GCs in the UK running between £500k and £10m in annual turnover who do not need an enterprise platform — they need their subcontractor payment problem solved.
If you are a growing SME general contractor with 5 to 15 active projects and 20 to 40 subcontractors per project, Procore will cost you significantly more than you need to spend on software, take months to implement properly, and still not solve the specific problem of getting subcontractors paid quickly, correctly, and compliantly. That is the gap Petl Pay fills.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Petl Pay | Procore |
|---|---|---|
| Built for SME general contractors | Yes, purpose-built | No, enterprise-focused |
| Multi-party invoicing (one in, many out) | Yes, core feature | No |
| CIS deduction automation | Yes, per transaction | No |
| Open banking (instant settlement) | Yes, UK and EU, £0.30 + 0.5% | No |
| Batch subcontractor payments | Yes, from single client invoice | No |
| Project-level payment reconciliation | Yes, per project and transaction | Partial (financial reporting only) |
| Stablecoin payments (USDC/USDT) | Yes, embedded | No |
| Chat-based workflows (WhatsApp) | Yes | No |
| Contributor invoice auto-generation | Yes, from logged work | No |
| Time tracking linked to invoicing | Yes | Partial (project management only) |
| Free to start | Yes, free plan available | No, enterprise pricing |
| Implementation time | Minutes | Months |
| Non-custodial | Yes | Not applicable |
The SME GC payment problem Procore does not solve
UK construction has the longest average Days Sales Outstanding of any sector in the economy, 83 days (ONS / Creditsafe). 77% of UK subcontract projects experience late payment (Aston University, 2022). Construction recorded 4,032 business insolvencies in 2024, the highest of any UK sector (Hill Dickinson, 2025).
The root cause is not a lack of project management software. Most SME GCs already know how to manage a project. The root cause is a fragmented, manual payment infrastructure that was never built for project-based multi-party settlement.
The GCs we work with are managing subcontractor invoices across WhatsApp and email. Submissions arrive in inconsistent formats from 20 to 40 subcontractors per project. CIS deductions are calculated manually for each sub. Bank transfers are run individually. Reconciliation is done in a spreadsheet after the fact. Petl Pay's internal research puts this at 16 hours per month of admin for the average SME GC, and that is before accounting for the errors and disputes that come with doing it manually at scale.
Procore's financial module is built for budget tracking and cost reporting on large commercial projects. It is not built to replace the manual payment workflow that SME GCs are running today. It does not calculate CIS deductions, does not trigger open banking payments to subcontractors, and does not collapse the end-to-end flow from client invoice to sub settlement into a single automated step.
CIS deductions: automated, not manual
The Construction Industry Scheme requires UK contractors to deduct tax from subcontractor payments before settlement and pass those deductions to HMRC monthly. The rates are 20% for registered subcontractors, 30% for unregistered, and 0% for those with gross payment status.
On a project with 20 to 40 subcontractors, each potentially on a different CIS rate with a different labour-to-materials split, calculating and documenting the correct CIS position for every payment is a significant and error-prone monthly exercise. A single miscalculation on the wrong side of the deduction creates HMRC liability that outlasts the project.
Petl Pay applies CIS deductions automatically within the payment workflow. When a subcontractor's invoice is approved, the correct deduction is calculated and applied based on their verified CIS status, the net payment is settled, and the deduction is documented in the project audit trail. The monthly CIS return data is captured automatically, not reconstructed from spreadsheets at month end.
Procore does not handle CIS deductions. It is a US-headquartered platform with financial tools built around US tax and compliance frameworks. UK CIS compliance is not part of its core product.
Open banking and batch payments: settling everyone in one run
Petl Pay embeds open banking directly into the project payment workflow. When a client payment lands, Petl Pay automatically splits and settles to every subcontractor and vendor in a single batch run, via bank-to-bank open banking transfer at £0.30 + 0.5% per transaction, passed through at cost.
Open banking payments settle in seconds, not the one to three business days of standard BACS. For a GC running payment runs across 5 active projects simultaneously, the difference between running 150 individual bank transfers and triggering one automated batch settlement is the difference between a day of admin and a five-minute task.
For subcontractors with cross-border contributors or international vendors, Petl Pay also supports USDC stablecoin settlement, with near-instant cross-border payment and off-ramp fees of approximately 0.5 to 1% when converting to local fiat. This covers South Africa (ZAR), Latin America (ARS, BRL, CLP, COP), and any contributor who prefers to hold and settle in USD-pegged stablecoin.
Procore does not facilitate payments. It manages project financials at the reporting level. Actual payment to subcontractors still happens outside Procore, via whatever banking and transfer process the GC is already running.
Project-level reconciliation that actually closes the loop
Procore's financial tools give you budget tracking, cost codes, and reporting against project financials. That is useful for a large commercial contractor with a dedicated finance team. For an SME GC, the reconciliation problem is more specific: matching what was invoiced by each sub, what CIS was deducted, what was paid and when, and how that maps against the single client invoice that funded the whole run.
Petl Pay maintains a project-level audit trail for every transaction. Every subcontractor payment is linked to the project, the invoice it relates to, the CIS deduction applied, the rail it settled on, and the timestamp. When a client queries an invoice or HMRC requests CIS records, the information is in one place, structured by project, not reconstructed from bank statements and WhatsApp threads.
Getting started: minutes, not months
Procore implementations for SME contractors typically take weeks to months. There is configuration, training, data migration, and onboarding for the full team. For a GC running 5 to 15 projects, the time and cost of a full Procore implementation is a significant investment before you have solved the actual problem.
Petl Pay is live in minutes. Create a project, add your subcontractors, set their rates, and the platform handles the rest. Contributors onboard for free with no subscription required on their end. The free plan lets you build and test your entire payment workflow before committing to a paid tier.
The Business plan at $149 per month covers up to 20 active payees across all active projects, with CIS automation, open banking, and stablecoin settlement included. For an SME GC processing £100,000 or more in subcontractor payments per month, the transaction fee savings from open banking versus standard BACS and manual bank transfers typically offset the subscription cost alone.
Which should you use?
Use Procore if you are a large commercial contractor with a dedicated finance and project management team, running projects above £10m in value, and need a comprehensive platform for scheduling, quality, safety, and financial reporting integrated into one system.
Use Petl Pay if you are an SME general contractor who needs to solve the subcontractor payment problem specifically. CIS handled automatically. One client payment split and settled to every sub in a single batch run. Open banking for instant settlement. Project-level reconciliation with a full audit trail. Chat-based approvals for teams that operate in WhatsApp. Free to start, live in minutes.
You do not need an enterprise platform to run your payment operation properly. You need the right layer for the job. Start free at petlpay.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Procore suitable for SME general contractors in the UK?
Procore is built primarily for large commercial contractors and enterprise construction businesses. For SME GCs in the UK running projects between £500k and £10m, the implementation cost, complexity, and subscription pricing are typically disproportionate to the problem being solved. It also does not handle UK CIS compliance, which is a core compliance requirement for any GC paying subcontractors.
Does Petl Pay replace Procore for project management?
No. Petl Pay is the payment orchestration layer, not a full project management platform. It handles subcontractor invoicing, CIS deductions, batch payments, and project-level reconciliation. If you need scheduling, quality management, and safety documentation, those are separate tools. Petl Pay solves the specific problem of getting subcontractors paid correctly, compliantly, and automatically.
How does CIS deduction automation work in Petl Pay?
When a subcontractor's invoice is approved in Petl Pay, the system applies the correct CIS deduction based on their verified status, 20% for registered subs, 30% for unregistered, 0% for gross payment status. The net amount is settled via open banking or stablecoin rail, and the deduction is recorded in the project audit trail for your monthly CIS return to HMRC.
What is open banking and why does it matter for subcontractor payments?
Open banking is a regulated system that enables instant bank-to-bank payments without going through card networks or BACS. Petl Pay uses open banking to settle subcontractor payments in seconds at £0.30 + 0.5% per transaction. For a GC running a batch payment run across 30 subcontractors, open banking replaces 30 individual manual bank transfers with one automated settlement run.
How long does it take to get started with Petl Pay?
Minutes. Create a project, add contributors, set rates, and the platform handles invoicing and payment from there. Contributors onboard for free. The free plan is available to test the full workflow before going live with payments.
Does Petl Pay work for subcontractors and vendors outside the UK?
Yes. Petl Pay supports ZAR local rails for South Africa, local fiat rails across Latin America (ARS, BRL, CLP, COP), and USDC/USDT stablecoin settlement for contributors globally. For international subcontractors and vendors, stablecoin settlement via Petl Pay typically costs 0.5 to 1% on the off-ramp, with no SWIFT fees.
