BQE CORE alternative
BQE CORE alternative for small architecture firms
BQE CORE is firm management for A&E practices — time, billing, and the books in one place. If you're a solo architect or a small firm, you may already have an accountant and a timesheet habit. The evenings usually go to something else: the client, the contractor, and the writing you can't bill for. Here's an honest look at where each one fits.
BQE CORE is one of the names that comes up next to Monograph when a studio shops for firm operations rather than a project layer that faces the client. Time and expense, billing and invoicing, project accounting, resource management, CRM, and the general ledger — the practice-ops work that used to jump between spreadsheets, QuickBooks, and a pile of invoices. Founded by an architect and an engineer, and with a long desktop history behind the cloud product, it's built for A&E firms that want the books and the timesheet in the same system.
It's a back-office platform. Timecards become invoices become ledger entries. Utilization, P&L, and staffing live where the accountants and principals look. What it doesn't do is the messy layer between you, your client, and your contractor: one current drawing set, a written yes on a change, and field questions that land next to the drawings they're about instead of in your texts at 9pm.
Arcarrow starts from that outside layer, plus an AI that drafts the unbillable writing from your own project material. You can keep BQE CORE — or QuickBooks, or nothing — for accounting and firm ops if that's what you need. A lot of small firms don't.
Firm ops stop at the studio door
An all-in-one practice system earns its keep when the hard part is getting time into invoices, invoices into the ledger, and a clear read on utilization and profit. That's real work, and BQE CORE is built for it. Below a handful of people, though, you may already have an accountant and a simple billing habit — and the week is eaten by a different set of problems.
The contractor building from a superseded set. The client who approved a change verbally and now remembers it differently. The scope document owed by Friday that nobody is paying you to write. Those are coordination and drafting problems, and no amount of real-time P&L fixes them.
Arcarrow is built for that layer. Your projects carry their phases, drawing sets, schedules, specifications, contracts, meetings and notes in one place; time and expenses roll into invoices; and the AI assistant drafts scope documents and meeting summaries from your own project material. Firm-wide accounting, CRM, and resource forecasting can wait until you actually need a system that owns the books.
BQE CORE vs Arcarrow, feature by feature
Both directions. Where BQE CORE is stronger, the table says so.
| Capability | BQE CORE | Arcarrow |
|---|---|---|
| Getting started | ||
| How you buy itWhat it takes to see the product with your own projects in it. | No. Demo-led. BQE asks you to book a live product walkthrough, then runs a personalized implementation with their team. | Yes. Self-serve. Create a firm, add a project, and you're working the same day — no demo call required first. |
| Time to liveFrom signup to the team actually using it. | Partial. Implementation is guided — BQE walks firms from kickoff through setup. It's not a months-long ERP project, but it is an onboarding, not a same-day start. | Yes. Set up your firm and first project yourself. There's nothing to configure before the software is useful. |
| Right-sized for a solo or small studio | Partial. Positioned at A&E firms that need time, billing, accounting, and often staffing or CRM. A small firm can use it, but the product is organized around firm operations, not a one-person studio. | Yes. Designed around solo architects and 2–4 person studios first. |
| The external layer | ||
| Current drawing set for client and contractorOne place that always shows the latest issued set, with superseded revisions marked. | No. BQE CORE is project and financial management inside the firm. A controlled current set with superseded revisions marked isn't what the product is built around. | Yes. Drawing sets are a first-class object. Superseded revisions are marked and out of reach, so nobody builds from last month's set. |
| Written client sign-offs | No. Not a BQE CORE concept; firms handle approvals over email. | Yes. Send a change for approval and get a timestamped yes recorded against the project. |
| One door for contractor questions | No. BQE CORE covers the firm's side of delivery — phases, budgets, billing, staffing — not a place for field questions to land. | Yes. Questions arrive in the project, next to the drawings they're about. |
| Contracts and e-signature | Partial. Project and contract types feed billing; sending a contract for signature is handled outside. | Yes. Store the contract on the project and send it for signature from the same place. |
| AI | ||
| AI that drafts your paperworkScope documents, meeting summaries, and invoice line descriptions written from your own project material. | No. BQE CORE automates workflows around time, billing, and reporting. Drafting the writing you'd otherwise do at 9pm isn't the product. | Yes. Built in from the start. The assistant reads your projects, drawings and notes and drafts the writing for you to review and send. |
| Ask questions about your projects in plain English | No. Answers come from dashboards and reports you configure. | Yes. In-dashboard chat over your live project data, scoped by the same permissions you already have. |
| Connect your own AI toolsUse the practice's data from an external AI assistant. | Partial. BQE publishes integrations and customizable APIs for other business systems. An AI-facing project operations endpoint isn't the product. | Yes. An MCP endpoint exposes the same project operations to outside AI clients, authorized by the same row-level security. |
| The practice | ||
| AIA-style phases, SD through CA | Yes. Projects are structured in phases with budgets, percent-complete billing, and financials per phase. | Yes. Projects are structured the way you already work, with milestones per phase. |
| Time and expense tracking | Yes. Timers, timesheets, approvals, reminders, and expenses — this is core BQE CORE. | Yes. Log time against phases and record reimbursable expenses on the project. |
| Invoicing | Yes. Hourly, fixed fee, cost-plus, unit cost, percentage, and mixed contract types on a single invoice, with automated billing workflows. | Yes. Turn hours and expenses into a professional invoice, with AI-drafted line descriptions. |
| Online invoice payments | Yes. ePayments can sit on automated invoices so clients can pay when they receive them. | No. You send the invoice; the client pays the way they already pay you. |
| Built-in accounting and general ledger | Yes. Timecards flow into invoices and into the ledger in the same product — accounting is part of CORE, not a separate sync. | No. No bookkeeping. Keep QuickBooks, Xero, or your accountant for the books. |
| Staffing and resource management | Yes. A resource management suite for who's working on what, utilization, and staffing against the pipeline of work. | No. Budget-versus-actual per project, but no firm-wide staffing forecast. |
| CRM and proposals | Yes. CRM and opportunity tracking sit alongside delivery so pursuits can convert into projects in the same system. | No. No CRM. Arcarrow starts once the project is won. |
| Profit and utilization reports | Yes. Real-time P&L and metrics like utilization, realization, and runway at the client, project, and phase level. | No. You can see hours and budget on a project. There is no firm-wide profit or utilization report. |
Which one is right for your firm?
Choose BQE CORE if…
- You want time, billing, and the books in one A&E-specific system.
- Utilization, P&L, and staffing forecasts are why you're shopping.
- You want CRM and proposals in the same place as delivery.
- You invoice in the tool, collect payment there, and keep the ledger there too.
- The pain is timesheet adoption, billing lag, and blind spots in profitability — not drawing versions.
- You're fine with a demo and a guided implementation before the team is live.
Choose Arcarrow if…
- You're a solo architect or a studio of a few people.
- The pain is coordination — drawing versions, client approvals, contractor questions — not utilization.
- You lose evenings to scope documents, meeting summaries, and other unbillable writing.
- You don't need a CRM, a staffing forecast, or a general ledger in the same tool.
- Your accounting already works and you're not looking to replace it.
- You want to be running this week, not after a demo and an onboarding.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the best BQE CORE alternative for a small architecture firm?
- It depends on what's actually hurting. If you need BQE CORE's firm-management core — time into invoices into the ledger, utilization, staffing, CRM, and online payments — stay. If what you need is the project layer (drawing sets, client approvals, contractor questions, contracts, time and invoicing) plus AI that drafts the unbillable writing, Arcarrow is built for firms of one to a handful of people, and you can set it up yourself today.
- How much does BQE CORE cost?
- BQE CORE sells modular, custom-priced plans rather than a simple public per-seat list on the marketing site. Foundations covers the core time, billing, and project modules; accounting, CRM, and HR are typically added as needed. The path in is a demo with their team. Treat any third-party per-user figure as a starting point rather than a quote, and get your own. Arcarrow is self-serve — create a firm and start without a sales call.
- Is BQE CORE a project management tool or firm management software?
- BQE CORE calls itself firm management software for architects and engineers, and that label is accurate. Time, billing, project accounting, resource management, CRM, and the books sit in one system so the practice can see who's busy and whether the fee is holding. It is not a construction-administration workspace. Arcarrow vs BQE CORE is really outside-the-studio coordination versus inside-the-studio operations and accounting.
- Can Arcarrow replace BQE CORE?
- For a small firm whose pain is drawings, approvals, contractor questions, and unbillable writing — and whose books already live in QuickBooks, Xero, or with an accountant — often yes. For a firm that leans on BQE CORE's general ledger, payroll or HR modules, CRM, resource management, utilization reports, or online invoice payments, no. Arcarrow isn't trying to become a firm-ops or accounting suite.
- Does BQE CORE handle drawing sets and client approvals?
- BQE CORE tracks projects, phases, budgets, time, and billing inside the firm. It does not give your client and contractor one controlled current drawing set with superseded revisions marked, and it does not collect a timestamped written yes on a change. Those are the two things small firms usually invent a folder-and-email system for, and they're what Arcarrow is built around.
- What does Arcarrow do that BQE CORE does not?
- Two things. First, the external layer: a controlled current drawing set your client and contractor can rely on, written and timestamped client sign-offs, and one place for contractor questions. Second, AI that's built in — the assistant drafts scope documents, meeting summaries, and invoice descriptions from your own project material, answers questions about your projects in plain English, and exposes the same operations to outside AI tools over MCP.
- How is BQE CORE different from Monograph?
- Both are firm-management tools for A&E studios. Monograph leans on phase budgets, staffing, invoicing, online payments, and a QuickBooks Online sync. BQE CORE goes further into the books — accounting and the general ledger live in the same product as the timesheet, with optional CRM and HR modules. Neither is built around a current drawing set or written client sign-offs. If you're comparing those two, start with which one owns your ledger; if you're comparing either to Arcarrow, start with whether the pain is firm ops or coordination.
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