Systems for General Contractors
Keeping clients, trades and paperwork as organized as the job site.
A custom build or a commercial fit-up runs on dozens of moving pieces: revised drawings, RFIs, change orders, selections, inspections and progress draws. Most of it lives in texts, email threads and the super's truck. We build general contractors a portal where clients, subs and your office work from the same current information, plus the intake that keeps new bids flowing.
Common challenges
What slows down General Contractors
"Which drawings are current?"
Rev C went out Tuesday, but the framer is building off Rev B printed last month. An outdated set on site can quietly turn into rework.
Change orders agreed in the driveway
The homeowner asks for a bigger window, you say sure, and three months later nobody remembers the price. Unsigned changes can eat into both margin and goodwill.
Clients texting the super for updates
Owners want to know what's happening this week. Without a place to look, they call, text and drop by, and your super spends the morning answering questions instead of running the site.
Selections holding up the schedule
Tile, fixtures, cabinets, paint. The client hasn't picked, the supplier's lead time is weeks, and the trades are waiting.
Subs chasing scope and schedules
Your trades want the schedule, the scope sheet and site access info. You resend the same documents to each one, every job.
The solution
The system we'd build for you
Client portal
Each client logs in to see the schedule, recent site photos, approved selections, documents, upcoming decisions and draw status for their project.
Drawings and document control
Current drawings, permits, specs and inspection reports in one place, with old revisions marked superseded so nobody builds off yesterday's set.
Change order approvals
Change orders issued from the portal with scope, price and schedule impact, approved digitally by the client before work starts.
Selections tracker
A list of every decision the client owes, with due dates driven by supplier lead times and automatic reminders as dates get close.
Sub and trade access
Trades log in to see their scope, schedule, site rules and the latest drawings for their work, without seeing the client's financials.
Bid and project intake
A detailed request form capturing project type, location, budget range, timeline and plan uploads, feeding a bid pipeline your estimator can work from.
Draws and holdback tracking
A dashboard of progress draws, holdbacks and outstanding approvals across jobs, working alongside your accounting software where it allows.
Recommended package
Custom Portal
A GC juggles clients, subs, suppliers, drawings, change orders and draws on several jobs at once. That calls for logins, document sharing and job tracking: a Custom Portal.
Popular add-ons for General Contractors
Wherever you are
Just starting, growing or decades in.
Whether you haven't opened yet or you've been at it for decades, here's how we'd help at each stage.
Starting out
Just an idea, or brand new
Going out on your own after years as a carpenter or site super? We'll launch the company for you through Start Your Company: name, logo, web address, site, email, Google listing and a bid request form. The portal can come later, once there are jobs to run through it.
Growing
Busy and getting busier
Running more jobs at once or adding a project manager? This is when a client portal, change order approvals and a selections tracker start saving real hours.
Established
Years or decades in
After decades of builds and trades who've worked with you for years, your systems carry a lot of history. We keep your estimating and accounting tools, start with document control, and phase in the rest so no live job is disrupted.
An example
What it could look like in real life
An illustration of how it could work. The business and details are made up for the example.
Take a GC in Calgary running four custom homes and a couple of commercial renos at once. Drawings fly around by email, change orders live in texts and clients phone the super daily. We build a portal where each client sees their schedule, photos, selections and change orders awaiting sign-off, and trades log in for their scope and current drawings. New bid requests come through a structured form with plans attached. The office sees every job's open decisions and draws on one screen.
Questions we get
FAQ
We already use a construction management platform. Why would we need this?
Maybe you don't. If your platform does everything and clients actually use it, keep it. We can work alongside tools like Procore or Buildertrend, and many smaller GCs find a simpler client-facing layer easier for homeowners, connected where the platform allows.
Can clients approve change orders legally through the portal?
We build digital approval with a timestamp and record of what was approved. Your contract and your lawyer decide what counts as a binding change order.
Can subs see only their own jobs?
Yes. Every login has its own permissions. A plumber sees plumbing scope and schedules, not your margins or another trade's contract.
How long does a portal like this take to build?
Longer than a website, shorter than a framing schedule. We scope it first, launch the core pieces like documents and change orders, then add the rest in phases.
Free 15-minute call
Let's bring the drawings, decisions and draws into one place.
Book a free 15-minute call about how your jobs run today.
- Client portal
- Drawings and document control
- Change order approvals