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Create a Subcontractor

Create a Subcontractor

Summary

In BuilderPal, a Subcontractor represents a dedicated workspace for a specific trade or scope of work — for example, Plumbing, Electrical, or Concrete.

You can create a subcontractor before you’ve hired anyone, allowing you to:

• Plan their scope
• Assign actions
• Upload and organize documents
• Build and send bid packages
• Map out their responsibilities

Think of it as setting up their entire work area ahead of time, so when you award or hire someone, everything is already structured and ready.

Each subcontractor workspace integrates directly with bid requests, bid packages, bid leveling, cost line items, and the overall project cost breakdown.

Prerequisites

  • You must be in an active project
  • Your role must be Admin, Team Business Manager, or Team Project Manager

Steps

  1. Open Subcontractors — From your project sidebar, click Subcontractors.

  2. Click “+ New” — In the top right corner, click + New, then choose Add New Subcontractor.

  3. Select or Create a Trade — You’ll see a list of common trades like Plumber, Electrician, Drywall Installer, Concrete Contractor. Use the search bar to quickly find one, or select the closest match for your scope.

  4. Configure Your Subcontractor —
    Enter the Trade Name (this is the label for this workspace).
    Toggle Access & Permissions to decide if this subcontractor will have access to shared project documents once they’re hired or assigned.
    Add Internal Notes for your team (e.g., past experience notes, screening comments, reminders for bidding — these are never visible to the subcontractor).

  5. Click Create Subcontractor — This saves the subcontractor and adds them to your project.

Confirmation

Once created, each subcontractor gets their own dedicated workspace inside your project with three core tabs:

  1. Details — Contains trade name, permissions, internal notes, and settings.
  2. Actions — You can assign tasks and responsibilities before anyone is hired (these actions can later transfer directly to whoever you award).
  3. Documents — Each subcontractor gets their own document storage area — used for drawings, specifications, uploaded bids, trade-specific files.

The new subcontractor will appear in your Subcontractors list with its trade name and status clearly shown.

FAQ

Can I create a subcontractor before I’ve hired anyone?
Yes — this is the recommended way. You can fully build out scope, actions, documents, and bid packages long before awarding the work.

What are Internal Notes used for?
Anything your team needs to remember: past experience with contractors, screening comments, bidding reminders, insurance notes, etc. The subcontractor never sees these notes.

Will the subcontractor automatically get access to the main project documents folder?
No. Access to shared project documents is controlled by the toggle you set during creation (or later in the Details tab). By default, they only see their own subcontractor workspace.

Do actions, documents, and bid packages I add now carry over when I award the contract?
Yes — everything you build in the workspace automatically becomes available to the awarded contact with no extra work.

Can I have multiple subcontractors for the same trade (e.g., multiple plumbers or multiple concrete contractors)?
Yes. Each workspace is independent, so you can have “Plumbing – Rough-In”, “Plumbing – Finish”, or separate workspaces for different bidders.

Can I change the trade name or permissions later?
Yes — open the subcontractor’s Details tab and edit the Trade Name or toggle permissions anytime.

  • Trades & Cost Breakdown
  • Award a Contact to a Subcontractor
  • Add Actions to a Subcontractor
  • Upload Documents to a Subcontractor
  • Create and Send Bid Packages
  • Invite & Manage Subcontractors
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