Skip to main content
30-day free trial

Subcontractors on your jobs, with a portal of their own

Keep each subcontractor’s trades, day rate and insurance expiry in one place, raise orders to them from the job, and give them a portal where they accept the work, see each order’s value and CIS deduction figure, message the office and add photos from site. Portal logins do not use a Field Forge licence.

Start your free trialSee How It Works

No credit card required · Full access for 30 days · Cancel at any time

The problem it solves

Insurance that ran out months ago

A subcontractor’s insurance lapses and nobody notices until a main contractor asks for the certificate, or something goes wrong on site.

Work agreed on the phone

An order agreed on a call and confirmed by email gets argued over at the end of the month, and nobody can find what was actually agreed.

Photos and questions everywhere

Site photos and questions from subcontractors arrive by WhatsApp, email and voicemail, and never make it onto the job.

How it works

  1. 1

    Keep the record

    Each subcontractor’s record holds their trades, day rate, qualifications and insurance expiry, with an Expiring soon badge 30 days ahead and Expired once the date has passed. Import your list from a CSV, with likely duplicates flagged.

  2. 2

    Order the work from the job

    Raise a subcontractor order from the job’s Purchase Orders tab, with a CIS rate on each subcontractor labour line. The order shows its CIS deduction as a figure for your records, and when the bill is approved and the order closes, its cost goes on the job.

  3. 3

    A portal of their own

    Invite the subcontractor to the portal. Once an order to them is approved they see the job, accept or decline the work, and see each order’s value and CIS deduction figure, the bills recorded against their orders, and the notes you share. They can add notes and photos to the job and message the office.

What you get

  • Subcontractor records with trades, day rate, qualifications and insurance expiry
  • Expiring soon and Expired insurance badges
  • CSV import with likely duplicates flagged
  • Subcontractor orders raised from the job, with a CIS rate on each subcontractor labour line
  • The order’s cost goes on the job once its bill is approved
  • Subcontractor portal: accept or decline the work, with order values and CIS deduction figures
  • The bills recorded against their orders, with each one’s status
  • Notes and photos from site, and a message thread with the office
  • What subcontractors see, set for the whole company and for each job
  • Portal logins use no Full or Lite licence

Related features

Further reading

When CIS Verification Fails on a Friday Afternoon: what to do when a subcontractor’s CIS verification fails.

See Your Field Service Dashboard in Action

A single platform for your entire operation, from quoting to invoicing.

Field Forge: Dashboard

24

Active Jobs

12

Quotes Sent

£28.4k

Revenue (MTD)

7

Scheduled Today

Job Pipeline

Planned
6
Allocated
8
Attended
12
Completed
18

£1,185

Avg Job Value

+8%

32%

Profit Margin

+2%

£4,220

Outstanding

3 invoices

Recent Activity

Boiler service completed at 14 High St

12 min ago

Quote #Q-0047 sent to Apex Build Ltd

34 min ago

Invoice #INV-0093 paid: £1,820

1 hr ago

Subcontractor Management: frequently asked questions

Does each subcontractor need a Field Forge licence?
Not for the portal. A subcontractor you invite to the subcontractor portal is not a team member and uses no Full or Lite licence, and several people from one firm can each have their own login. A subcontractor who should use the engineer app on your jobs is added to your team with the Subcontractor role instead, which does take a licence.
What can a subcontractor see in the portal?
Only their own work. Once an order to them on a job has been approved, they see the job and its site, each order’s value and line items (descriptions and quantities), its CIS deduction figure, and the bills recorded against their orders with their status. They can accept or decline the order, add notes and photos to the job, and message the office. They never see your customer’s price, your margin or anyone else’s orders.
Does Field Forge handle CIS for my subcontractors?
Partly. You set a CIS rate (20% or 30%) on each subcontractor labour line of an order, and the order shows the CIS deduction as a figure for your records; it does not change the order total. Field Forge does not verify subcontractors with HMRC, store their UTR or produce their CIS statements.
Will Field Forge warn me when a subcontractor’s insurance runs out?
On screen. The subcontractor list and record show Expiring soon from 30 days before the expiry date and Expired once it has passed. No reminder email is sent, so it is worth checking the list.
How does a subcontractor accept the work?
Raise a subcontractor order from the job’s Purchase Orders tab. Once it is approved it appears in their portal, where they press Accept contract or Decline, with an optional reason. Their answer is recorded on the order with who answered and when, and your office is notified in the app. The order itself is not emailed to them.
Can I control what subcontractors see?
Yes. Portal Permissions has a subcontractor section where you can hide the line items, CIS deduction, bills, shared notes, messaging and the scheduled date for every job, and each setting can be changed for one job on that job’s portal tab.
30-day free trial, no credit card required

Field Service Software Pricing: Plans for Every Team Size

Affordable field service management software with two licence tiers to fit your team. Start with a 30-day free trial, with no credit card required.

Lite

£19.99/ month

Mobile app access for field technicians. View jobs, update status, and log time.

  • Mobile app only (no desktop access)
  • View assigned jobs & details
  • Update job status
  • Log time entries
  • See upcoming jobs day by day
  • Requires at least 1 Full licence
  • £199/yr if paid annually (save 17%)
Start Free Trial
Most popular

Full

£39/ month

Complete desktop & mobile access for office staff, schedulers, and admins.

  • Everything in Lite, plus:
  • Full desktop & mobile access
  • Create & edit quotes & jobs
  • AI-powered estimating
  • Scheduling & assignments
  • Invoicing, billing & purchasing
  • Client & asset management
  • Team management & settings
  • £390/yr if paid annually (save 17%)
Start Free Trial

Enterprise

Custom

For larger teams with bespoke requirements.

  • Everything in Full
  • Volume discounts
  • Dedicated account manager
Contact Us
Not sure which plan fits, or want to buy a licence for a team?
No card required

Start your 30-day free trial

Quote, schedule, and invoice from one platform. No sales call, no setup fee, no card needed.

Sign up for your free trial

30 days free · No credit card required · Cancel at any time