Managing subcontractors
Add subcontractors to a project, assign them tasks, track their rates and contracts, and share just their slice of the schedule — without giving them a full BuiltUp account.
- • A project with a scope
Subcontractors are different from teammates. A teammate is someone in your office who logs in to BuiltUp every day. A subcontractor is someone you hire for a specific job, gets assigned specific tasks, sees only their own schedule, and never creates an account. This guide covers how to manage them cleanly.
Add a subcontractor to a project
Open a project, click Subs in the left sidebar (under Track), and click Add sub. A drawer opens with:
- Name — the company or individual
- Trade — what they do (picks from your labour roles list)
- Contact details — email, phone
- Day rate — what they charge
- Insurance / qualifications — optional but recommended for record-keeping
Save, and the sub is now part of this project. You can assign them tasks, send them contracts, and share their schedule slice.
Subcontractors
Add subAssign scope items and schedule tasks
Once the sub is added, you can assign them to:
- Specific scope items — e.g. *"Electrician — 1st fix — Kitchen"*. Useful for tracking who did what for warranty purposes.
- Schedule phases — the Gantt task they're responsible for. This is what they see on their shared schedule.
Assignments are not the same as contracts. An assignment is informal tracking; a contract is legally-binding paperwork. For small jobs you might skip the contract. For anything significant, use both.
Send a sub-agreement
Click the sub's row and hit Send contract. BuiltUp generates a pre-filled sub-agreement with the scope items, rates, and schedule pulled in automatically. You can edit before sending.
The sub gets a secure link, signs in the browser, and their row updates to show the signed contract. All the same mechanics as the client contracts guide — just pointed at the sub instead of the end client.
Contracts
New contractShare the schedule — their slice only
When you share the project schedule from the Progress tab with a subcontractor, BuiltUp filters the Gantt to show only the tasks assigned to *them*. They see their own start date, end date, dependencies, and any weather alerts that affect their work — but not the rest of the job.
This solves the main tension with giving subs schedule access: you want them to know when they're on site, but you don't want them seeing what you're paying the other trades or how much margin you're making.
Subs don't need a full BuiltUp experience — they need their piece of paper and their piece of the schedule. That's what the Subs tab gives them, and nothing more.
Invoicing and getting paid
Turn accepted quotes into deposit, milestone, and final invoices — send them, track payments, and reconcile against your accounting. Includes late fee rules and online payment via Stripe.