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Bigin by Zoho
Google reviewsBigin CRM Setup for Contractors
Bigin CRM is Zoho’s CRM for small teams, and we set it up for contractors: Conduit is a Dallas-Fort Worth team whose founder has spent years building Zoho CRM for a general contractor, so your pipeline follows bids and jobs, not generic sales stages.
What we set up
A Bigin account your crew actually uses.
Bigin is simple on purpose. Most of the work is deciding what goes in it, so a new lead, an estimate and a scheduled job each land in the right place without anyone thinking about it.
Pipelines that match your jobs
Stages from new lead to estimate sent, won, scheduled and paid. Service calls and installs, or residential and commercial, get their own pipeline when they sell differently.
Leads that log themselves
Your website form, your phone line and your inbox feed Bigin, with the lead source on every record, so you can see which calls came from Google and which came from referrals.
Follow-ups that run on time
Automations create the task when an estimate goes out, nudge the customer when it sits, and tell the office when a deal is won. Nobody has to remember the third follow-up.
Your services as products
Services and common materials go in as products with prices and attach to each deal, so the pipeline total is what you actually bid, not a guess.
QuickBooks and Zoho Books
On the paid plans Bigin connects to QuickBooks or Zoho Books, so the customer you won is the customer you invoice, with no retyping.
Training and hand-off
A short session for the office and the field on what to fill in and when, plus a one-page cheat sheet. Your team runs it. We stay on call.
Bigin or Zoho CRM
Which one fits your shop?
Both are Zoho products and both work for contractors. The difference is how much process you need the system to enforce.
| What matters | Bigin | Zoho CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Small businesses with 1 to 20 employees, in Zoho’s words | Mid-market and larger sales teams |
| Price per user, billed yearly | Free for 1 user, then $7, $12 or $18 a month | $14, $23, $40 or $52 a month |
| Pipelines | 3, 5 or 15 team pipelines by plan | Custom modules, so bids and jobs can be their own records |
| Automation | 30, 50 or 100 automation rules by plan | Workflow rules plus Blueprint, which makes a step required before a deal moves |
| Custom fields | 10, 25 or 50 per module by plan | Far more room for fields, layouts and per-role views |
Pick Bigin if
- You have fewer than about 20 people and one or two of them sell
- A deal goes from lead to estimate to job in a straight line
- You want it live this month at a few dollars a seat
Pick Zoho CRM if
- Bids and jobs need to be separate records with their own fields
- Estimators, PMs and the office each need their own view
- A step like a signed contract must happen before a job is scheduled
Prices and limits from Zoho’s pricing pages, US dollars, checked Nov 6, 2026.
Upgrade path
When you outgrow Bigin.
Bigin has a built-in upgrade to Zoho CRM. An admin starts it from the subscription settings, and users, companies, contacts, pipelines, stages, tasks, events, notes, attachments and products move across. Custom fields on contacts, companies, pipelines and products can come too.
A few things do not move. Phone numbers bought inside Bigin stay behind, the Bigin subscription is not cancelled for you, and team pipelines become layouts in the Zoho CRM deals module, so how many carry over depends on the edition you move to.
We set Bigin up with that move in mind: plain field names, stages that map one to one, and nothing that only works in Bigin. When the day comes, you keep your history and skip the rebuild, and our Zoho CRM consultant work picks up where Bigin leaves off. Not sure which side of the line you are on? Read our Zoho CRM vs HubSpot comparison for contractors or see the rest of our CRM setup work.
How it works
From call to live in two weeks.
0236–48 h
Written scope & price
A real plan, no follow-up deck required.
031–2 wk
We build it
Pipeline, automations & reporting configured.
04Ongoing
Train & hand off
Your team runs it. We stay on call.
Got questions
Bigin questions, answered
Not covered here? Bring the question to a 30-minute call and get a straight answer, with no pitch deck.
Is Bigin a good CRM for contractors?
For a small shop, yes. Zoho built Bigin for teams of 1 to 20 people, and its pipeline view fits the way a contractor works: lead, estimate, won, scheduled, paid. It gets hard when you need bids and jobs as separate records, required steps between stages, or a different view for every role. That is when Zoho CRM is the better fit.
How much does Bigin cost?
Zoho lists a free plan for one user, then Express at $7, Premier at $12 and Bigin 360 at $18 per user per month, billed yearly (a little more billed monthly). The plans differ mostly in how many pipelines, automations and custom fields you get. Our setup is quoted separately, in writing, before any work starts.
Does Bigin connect to QuickBooks?
Yes. Zoho lists QuickBooks and Zoho Books integrations from the Express plan up. Bigin also has a built-in phone and works with outside phone providers, so calls can be logged on the customer’s record.
Can I move from Bigin to Zoho CRM later?
Yes. Bigin has a built-in upgrade that moves your users, contacts, companies, pipelines, tasks, notes, attachments and products into Zoho CRM. Phone numbers bought in Bigin do not move, and the Bigin subscription has to be cancelled on its own. We set Bigin up so that move is a clean one.
How long does a Bigin setup take with Conduit?
You get a written scope and a fixed price within 48 hours of a 30-minute call, and the first working pipeline in 1 to 2 weeks. We train your team, hand it off and stay on call after.
Other platforms
Running a different CRM?
- Bids and jobs as their own records, Blueprint processes, Deluge functions and integrations.
- Objects, pipelines, lists and workflows built around your bids and jobs, on the CRM we run our own sales in.
- Bid pipelines, pipeline rules and workflows for contractors whose leads come from marketing.
- Cleanup of the org you already pay for, bid tracking, a clean handoff at award and automations rebuilt in Flow.
Keep reading
Let’s Build Something Great
Ready to build the system behind your growth?
Pick a time for a 30-minute call. We’ll pinpoint the bottleneck and map the next best step.
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