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Odoo vs BQE CORE and BigTime for engineering firms

If your engineering firm runs projects, timesheets, billing and the ledger in BQE CORE or BigTime, the Odoo vs BQE CORE question is whether one system should carry all four.

FlecticUpdated 13 min read

If your engineering firm runs projects, timesheets, billing and the ledger in BQE CORE or BigTime, the Odoo vs BQE CORE question is whether one system should carry all four. For a firm of 20 to 100 people, the answer turns on two things: whether your current tool covers the reporting you need, and whether QuickBooks has to stay the ledger. A specialist tool with separate accounting is the simpler choice when the pain is only time capture and invoicing. Odoo fits when purchasing, subconsultant bills, HR and CRM belong in the same system. Flectic, an independent implementation consultancy, builds that setup with the Odoo Engineering Services package, and the sections below show where a specialist tool is the better buy.

Flectic's Odoo Engineering Services package is proposed at 12 to 14 weeks for Core. Because Flectic also implements Microsoft Dynamics 365 and earns no vendor quota on either platform, keeping BQE CORE or BigTime is a recommendation it will put in writing when that fits your firm.

What BQE CORE and BigTime cover today

BQE CORE is a suite for architecture, engineering and consulting firms. Its project accounting, time and expense capture, invoicing and general ledger sit in one product. BQE says the ledger can choose between cash, accrual and engagement-based accounting, and it says a firm does not need QuickBooks if it runs CORE (BQE, financial management for architects and engineers). BQE's pricing page lists phased billing, recurring invoices and vendor bill management for pay-when-paid terms among the billing features (BQE pricing).

BigTime is a professional services tool for time, billing and project control. Its billing models include time and materials, fixed fee and item-based billing. Its higher tiers add project templates and project budgeting (BigTime pricing). Its ledger runs through QuickBooks. BigTime's QuickBooks page says time, expenses, invoices and general ledger accounts move between the two products, so most BigTime firms keep QuickBooks as the book of record (BigTime QuickBooks integration).

The practical difference is where the books close. With CORE, the ledger can live inside the same product as the projects. With BigTime, the ledger usually stays in QuickBooks, and the two products have to agree every time you sync.

What each option costs as of October 2026

BQE does not publish a per-user price. Its pricing page describes a Foundations platform with time and expense, billing, project management, reporting and mobile apps. Accounting, CRM, HR and Payroll are separate modules, and each firm gets a custom quote (BQE pricing). Third-party estimates disagree. SoftwareFinder lists a starting point of about USD 7.95 per user a month and an implementation range of USD 2,000 to USD 10,000 (SoftwareFinder, BQE CORE). ITQlick estimates USD 40 per user a month (ITQlick, BQE CORE pricing). Use both as ranges to test, then ask BQE for a written quote.

BigTime's pricing page gives one number: BigTime Essentials starts at USD 20 per user a month. The page shows no billing terms and no user minimums (BigTime pricing). Software Advice puts the Advanced tier at about USD 35 and Premier at about USD 45 per user a month (Software Advice, BigTime). BigTime's own page does not show those two prices, so confirm them before you budget.

Odoo's pricing page lists Standard with all apps and Odoo Online (Odoo pricing). Flectic's pricing calculator shows the Odoo Standard list price at USD 24.90 per user a month on yearly billing in year one, then USD 31.10. That is Odoo's license price, not a Flectic fee (Flectic Odoo pricing calculator).

Assume 40 users at each vendor's starting per-user rate, before QuickBooks, modules and implementation. BigTime Essentials comes to USD 800 a month. BQE comes to about USD 318 a month at the SoftwareFinder starting point, or USD 1,600 a month at the ITQlick estimate. Odoo Standard comes to USD 996 a month in year one and USD 1,244 a month after that. The license line is the smallest part of a move, so compare the implementation effort and the manual work your team stops doing.

The prices above are in USD. Canadian firms should ask for quotes in CAD and confirm how tax applies before they compare totals.

Where a specialist A&E tool fits better

A specialist tool is the better choice in three cases.

The first is a firm under about 15 people whose only pain is time capture and invoicing. A small office with one billing run a month rarely needs a project system, a ledger rebuild and a second database. BigTime Essentials or BQE CORE covers that scope with less setup.

The second is a firm that needs BQE CORE's architecture and engineering reports from the first day, without an implementation project. BQE's help center lists standard project management reports, including a Project Performance report that compares project cost with billable amounts and shows the billable value of unbilled work (BQE CORE, top project management reports). If those reports already answer your monthly review, buying them beats building the same view in Odoo.

The third is a team that is content with QuickBooks as the ledger and BigTime on top. BigTime's QuickBooks page says QuickBooks Online does not currently support automatic syncing and recommends frequent synchronization (BigTime QuickBooks integration). If your bookkeeper is comfortable with that rhythm and your project reports stay in BigTime, a second system adds cost without removing a step.

Where Odoo fits better

Odoo fits when the work crosses departments. Odoo's project features page says a firm can bill clients under fixed price, milestones or time and material. Each timesheet can be set as never invoiceable (for internal or fixed price work), invoiceable at creation, or invoiceable at validation (Odoo project features). Budgets compare expected and actual revenue and costs, and status reports show profitability on the same project record.

Milestone billing suits large or expensive projects. In Odoo 18, each milestone is linked to its own sales order item, so a phase fee is invoiced when its milestone is reached (Odoo 18 documentation, invoice project milestones).

The case for Odoo strengthens when the same firm also runs purchasing for subconsultants and equipment, HR and time off, a CRM pipeline and one ledger. In a specialist-plus-QuickBooks setup, each of those functions is usually a separate tool, and each handoff is a place where project cost or billing data goes stale.

How billing, WIP and the ledger compare

The table below sets the three options side by side on the questions that decide most engineering firm moves.

  • Billing models (BQE CORE: Phased billing, recurring invoices and vendor bill management · BigTime: Time and materials, fixed fee, item-based and more · Odoo: Fixed price, milestones and time and material)
  • Unbilled time and expenses (WIP) (BQE CORE: The Invoices screen pre-fills from approved unbilled time and expenses · BigTime: Not listed on the pricing page · Odoo: Timesheet invoicing set per product, with profitability reports)
  • Ledger (BQE CORE: Full general ledger with cash, accrual or engagement-based accounting · BigTime: General ledger accounts sync with QuickBooks · Odoo: Accounting in the same database as projects, timesheets and purchasing)
  • QuickBooks (BQE CORE: Optional, and works with every QuickBooks Online edition except Simple Start · BigTime: Needed for the ledger, and QuickBooks Online has no automatic sync · Odoo: Not needed when Odoo holds the ledger)

Table sources: BQE pricing, BQE Invoices help article, BQE CORE QuickBooks Online integration, BigTime pricing, BigTime QuickBooks integration, Odoo project features.

WIP is where the comparison gets hard. Neither vendor's public material shows how a WIP balance on a milestone-billed project reaches the ledger, and that is the number a principal or controller reviews each month. Settle that point with a live project before the contract, because it decides how much of the month-end work moves out of QuickBooks.

Where Flectic fits

BQE CORE and BigTime are specialist tools you buy and configure. Flectic is the consultancy that moves a consulting engineering firm of 20 to 100 people onto Odoo when projects, timesheets, billing, subconsultant purchasing and the ledger should share one database. Flectic implements both Odoo and Microsoft Dynamics 365, earns no vendor quota on either and holds no certification from either vendor.

Choose Flectic if

  • Month-end close drags because hours, invoices and subconsultant bills live in separate tools.
  • Project managers need budget against actual by work package before each invoice goes out.
  • You want one ledger and are ready to retire QuickBooks as the book of record.

Look elsewhere if

  • Your pain is only time capture and invoicing. BigTime or BQE CORE is less setup.
  • You need BQE CORE's architecture and engineering reports on the first day, with no implementation project.
  • You want a vendor-certified partner.

The scope is on the Odoo Engineering Services package page, and civil and site-heavy firms can start from the civil engineering package.

What to ask each vendor before you sign

Put these four requests to each vendor in writing, and ask for the answers on one of your own open projects.

  1. Show WIP for one milestone-billed project, with the journal entries that reach your ledger.
  2. Show the monthly billing review for one project that carries subconsultant costs.
  3. Quote in CAD for your user count, including modules, implementation and the QuickBooks connection you would run.
  4. Name the QuickBooks edition and the sync method that the quote assumes.

A vendor that answers all four on your data gives you a fair comparison. If the answer is a product tour, ask again with your project data.

Three mistakes make these comparisons go wrong. The first is treating a third-party price estimate as a quote, which is why the cost section gives ranges and asks for written numbers. The second is assuming the QuickBooks sync runs continuously, when BigTime's own page describes frequent synchronization for QuickBooks Online. The third is comparing license totals while leaving out implementation, the modules a firm adds in its second year, and the hours a controller spends reconciling two systems each month.

What a move to Odoo involves

A move starts with the data you already hold: the client list, open projects with their phase fees, the consultant directory and open subconsultant orders. For the Odoo Engineering Services package, Core configures 16 Odoo apps and includes up to 32 hours of customization. It also covers one source system with up to 8 data objects and one named standard connector. Growth adds 12 apps, plus engineer records, a client query desk and director dashboards.

The work runs in four steps.

  1. Map each work package to its discipline hours, subconsultant costs, milestones and invoice layout.
  2. Configure timesheets, client change requests and the reports your managers review each month.
  3. Migrate open projects with their unbilled time, within the one source system and up to 8 data objects in Core.
  4. Stabilize the launch. Core launch stabilization is 30 business days with up to 10 advisory hours.

Choose the stack from your own numbers

Pick the stack with three numbers from your own books: the hours logged outside the billing tool each month, the days from month-end to invoices out, and the subconsultant bills approved by hand. If the first two are high and subconsultant approvals run through a spreadsheet, Odoo is the stronger fit. If none of them is a problem, keep the specialist tool and tighten its setup.

For a firm that decides to move, Flectic implements the Odoo Engineering Services package for consulting engineering firms of 20 to 100 people, with the scope set out on the Odoo Engineering Services package page. Firms weighted toward civil and site work can compare the Odoo package for civil engineering firms first. For the general selection criteria, read ERP for professional services firms and the Odoo guide for professional services firms.

How Flectic can help

If your engineering firm runs projects in BigTime or BQE CORE and the books in QuickBooks, the question for a call is which hand-offs Odoo would remove and which a specialist tool already handles. Flectic is an independent consultancy that implements both Odoo and Microsoft Dynamics 365, so the answer can be to keep what you have.

For consulting engineering firms of 20 to 100 people in the US and Canada, Flectic implements the Odoo Engineering Services package: work packages that carry discipline hours, subconsultant costs and milestones, with timesheets and billing on the same record. Core is proposed at 12 to 14 weeks and Growth at 14 to 18 weeks.

Bring one open, milestone-billed project and its WIP. We will walk through how it would sit in Odoo. Book a free discovery call.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Does BQE CORE need QuickBooks?

No. BQE says its accounting module can replace QuickBooks, so QuickBooks is optional. A firm that keeps QuickBooks can connect it to CORE, and BQE's integration works with every QuickBooks Online edition except Simple Start.

Does BigTime sync with QuickBooks Online automatically?

BigTime's own QuickBooks page says QuickBooks Online does not currently support automatic syncing, and it recommends frequent synchronization. Ask BigTime to confirm the sync method for your QuickBooks edition before you budget.

How much does BigTime cost per user?

BigTime Essentials starts at USD 20 per user a month on its pricing page, and that page shows no billing terms or user minimums. Third-party listings put the Advanced tier at about USD 35 and Premier at about USD 45 per user a month. Confirm the higher tier prices with BigTime before you compare totals.

When does Odoo make more sense than a specialist tool for an engineering firm?

Odoo suits firms that want projects, timesheets, billing and the ledger in one database, and that also run purchasing, HR or CRM. Firms under about 15 people whose only pain is time capture and invoicing usually keep a specialist tool with separate accounting.

What does the Odoo Engineering Services package include?

The package adds discipline and grade fields, work-package templates, a change-request approval step and invoice layouts. Work packages carry discipline hours, subconsultant costs and milestones, with timesheets and billing on the same record. Core configures 16 Odoo apps, and Growth adds 12 more with engineer records and director dashboards.

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Where to go from here

Talk to a consultantBook a free discovery callA 30-minute call on whether Odoo fits your operation, ending with a recommended first phase or a clear reason to wait.Run the numbersEstimate your Odoo cost$24.90Odoo Standard, per user a month in year onePlan, users, hosting and implementation, with first-year and three-year totals.
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