Subcontractors

Subcontractors helps you track the 1099 crews, specialty trades, and outside companies you hire on a job-by-job basis.

This screenshot shows the Subcontractors enablement state. Administrators can turn it on from Settings → Features when it is available on the account.

When to use this

Use Subcontractors when you work with outside crews that are not W-2 employees but still need to be visible to dispatchers, estimators, and managers. Common examples include excavation partners, electricians on a plumbing job, duct cleaners, remediation crews, or specialty installers.

The workspace is designed to help you answer:

• Which subcontractors are active, preferred, suspended, or inactive.
• Which trades each company covers.
• Who to call or email before assigning the work.
• What rate type and rate are normally used.
• Whether license or insurance dates are coming up for review.

Before you start

• Confirm Subcontractors is included in your plan and enabled under Settings → Features.
• Decide who is allowed to add, delete, or suspend subcontractors.
• Gather current trade, contact, rate, license, insurance, and W-9 details before importing or adding records.
• Review Subcontractor setup if you want new records to default to a specific rate type or require credential fields before a subcontractor can be saved.

Review the subcontractor list

After the plugin is enabled, open Subcontractors from the main navigation. The page shows summary cards for Active, Preferred, Trades Covered, and Credentials Expiring. Use the tabs to narrow the list:

Tab	What it shows
All	Every subcontractor record in the workspace.
Active	Active and preferred subcontractors that can be used for current work.
Preferred	Companies you have marked as preferred vendors.
Credentials Expiring	Active records with license or insurance dates inside the configured reminder window.
Inactive	Suspended or inactive subcontractors.

Each row shows company, trade, contact details, rate, license date, insurance date, status, and available row actions.

Add a subcontractor

1. Open Subcontractors.
2. Select Add Subcontractor.
3. Enter the company name. The button remains disabled until a company is entered.
4. Add the primary contact, phone, email, address, trade, rate type, and rate if you have them.
5. Record license number, license expiration, insurance carrier, policy number, insurance expiration, and W-9 tax ID details when available.
6. Choose the starting status: Active, Preferred, Suspended, or Inactive.
7. Add notes for specialties, regions, payment terms, or job-type limits.
8. Select Add Subcontractor.

If your administrator requires proof of insurance or a license number, the save may be rejected until those fields are filled in.

Manage status and credentials

Use row actions to keep the list clean:

• Mark Preferred promotes an active subcontractor to preferred.
• Unprefer moves a preferred subcontractor back to active.
• Suspend keeps the record but removes it from the normal active list.
• Reactivate brings a suspended or inactive subcontractor back to active.
• Delete removes the subcontractor record after confirmation.

The Credentials Expiring view is based on the reminder lead time configured in settings. The default is 30 days, and administrators can change it to match your company’s credential-review process.

Settings

Open the gear/settings link from Subcontractors, or go to Subcontractors → Settings when available. Administrators can configure:

• Default rate type for new subcontractors: hourly, flat rate, per visit, or negotiated.
• Require insurance on file so a policy number must be entered before saving a new subcontractor.
• Require license on file so a license number must be entered before saving a new subcontractor.
• Expiry reminder lead days so the credentials view and summary card flag upcoming license or insurance expirations at the right time.

The person adding a subcontractor can still change the rate type on the record before saving.

Tips

• Use Preferred for subcontractors your team should call first, not for every active company.
• Keep suspended records when you need history or notes, and delete only records you are sure you no longer need.
• Review the credentials tab weekly if your work requires active licenses or insurance certificates.
• Keep trade names simple and consistent, such as Electrical, Excavation, or Duct cleaning, so filtering and reporting stay useful.

Troubleshooting

The Add Subcontractor button is disabled

Enter a company name first. The form requires a company before the record can be saved.

A new subcontractor will not save

Check whether your company requires insurance or license information in Subcontractor setup. If those policies are on, enter the policy number or license number before saving.

The expiring-credentials count looks wrong

Ask an administrator to check Expiry reminder lead days in Subcontractor setup. A shorter reminder window shows fewer records; a longer window shows more upcoming expirations.

Related articles

• Plugin guides
• Jobs
• Team
• Payments