Vet before you assign, not after
The expensive subcontractor problems start before anyone swings a hammer: an unlicensed sub on a permitted job, a lapsed certificate of insurance, a handshake scope that both sides remember differently. Vet the basics — license, insurance, references, and a written scope — before the sub is on the schedule. Keep the certificate of insurance and W-9 on file in your records system; that paperwork is your liability shield if something goes wrong on site.
Scope access to the job — and only what they need to see
A subcontractor needs to see the job they are on. They do not need to see your margin, your customer’s phone number, or what the other trades are charging. The trap with most software is binary: either subs are locked out (so they go back to texts and calls) or they get the whole job (so your pricing and customer relationship are exposed). The right setup is job-scoped access with field-level control over what is visible.
- Assign the sub only to the jobs they are working — not the whole schedule.
- Decide per job whether they can see customer contact details.
- Decide per job whether they can see financials (your pricing and totals).
- Decide per job whether they can see other trades’ work on the same job.
In Vexor
Vexor connects subs by invite code (no per-seat fee, unlimited connections) and gives each sub read-only access scoped to the jobs you assign. Customer contact, financials, and other-trade visibility are independent per-job toggles, so you collaborate on the work without exposing your margins or your customer.
Keep the job record in one place
The moment subs are off-system, the job record fragments: progress lives in one person’s texts, photos in another’s camera roll, the change order in a phone call nobody wrote down. When a schedule slips or a scope is disputed, you have nothing contemporaneous to point to. The fix is simple in principle — every update, from your crew and your subs, lands on the same job — and it is the single biggest reason to put subs on the system instead of leaving them on text threads.
In Vexor
Subs submit progress updates, photos, and notes against their assigned jobs from the field; those come back to you to review, flag, or approve. Crew updates and sub updates share one job record, so the history is intact.
Keep payment and compliance where they belong
Be clear-eyed about the boundary between managing the working relationship and handling money and compliance. Coordinating a sub — access, assignment, updates, scope — is a different job from paying them, tracking what you owe, and filing their 1099, which lives in your accounting system. Likewise, storing certificates of insurance and license expirations is a records-management task. Run the collaboration in your field software and the payables and document retention in the tools built for them; do not assume one tool does all of it.
In Vexor
Vexor handles the working relationship (invite, assignment, scoped access, field updates) and your customer-side quoting and invoicing. It does not pay subs, track sub payables or 1099s, or store COI/W-9/license documents — keep those in your accounting and document systems.
Step by step
- 1
Vet and paper it
Confirm license, insurance (COI on file), and references, and put the scope in writing before the sub is scheduled.
- 2
Connect the sub
Send an invite code (optionally job-scoped). The sub joins the portal and the request lands in your queue to approve.
- 3
Assign to the right jobs
Add the sub only to the jobs they are working — not your whole schedule.
- 4
Set visibility per job
Toggle customer contact, financials, and other-trade visibility for that sub on that job.
- 5
Collaborate from the field
Subs submit progress, photos, and notes; you review, flag, or approve so the job record stays in one place.
- 6
Close out and pay
Confirm the work, then handle payment and the 1099 in your accounting system — Vexor manages the relationship, not the payable.