Honest comparison
Shovel Radar vs ConstructConnect
ConstructConnect is a North-American enterprise platform. Shovel Radar is a Canadian, trade-routed Excel feed. Both have a place — but for different buyers.
TL;DR
Use ConstructConnect if you are a Tier-1 enterprise GC, you bid on $10M+ projects across multiple provinces, and you need plan-room access + bid-leveling tools.
Use Shovel Radar if you are a Canadian sub-trade, broker, lender, or specialty vendor, your sales cycle is < 90 days, and you want one pre-filtered Excel emailed to you weekly instead of a firehose dashboard.
Side-by-side
| Dimension | Shovel Radar | ConstructConnect |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $29 one-time ($199+/mo subscription) |
$500+/mo |
| Geographic focus | Canadian-native, 382 cities + federal layers | North America (US-anchored) |
| Delivery format | Weekly Excel + companion CSV | Web dashboard + plan room |
| Trade routing | Pre-segmented per trade | Broad feed, you filter |
| Onboarding time | Same week (next Monday) | Sales call + training |
| Federal procurement | Included (CanadaBuys, MERX, sole-source) | Add-on / enterprise tier |
| Business licences | Included | Not standard |
| Free sample | 5 rows of any product, no card | Sales-qualified demo |
| Cancellation | Self-serve, anytime | Annual contract typical |
* ConstructConnect pricing based on publicly available information as of May 2026; enterprise tiers and Canadian market pricing may vary. Contact CC for current rates.
When ConstructConnect is the better fit
- You're an enterprise GC bidding $10M+ projects across multiple provinces.
- You need plan-room access, bid-leveling, and quantity takeoff tools.
- Your sales team uses a CRM and wants API integration, not Excel.
- Most of your work is in US markets.
When Shovel Radar is the better fit
- You sell into Canadian commercial construction — sub-trade, broker, lender, insurance, specialty vendor.
- Your sales cycle is < 90 days and you don't need plan-room access.
- You'd rather get a pre-segmented Excel emailed weekly than log into a dashboard.
- You want to start under $100/mo and scale up only if it earns its keep.
- You need federal procurement (CanadaBuys, MERX) AND municipal permits in one feed.
What a Shovel Radar customer told us
"I was paying $850/mo for ConstructConnect and it took me 4 hours a week to filter to HVAC-relevant. Shovel Radar emails me the same list in 30 seconds, already filtered. Cancelled CC the week I started."
— HVAC sub-contractor, Calgary
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