How to save time and money with effective subcontractor management

Hiring subcontractors is meant to save you time – not cost you more of it.

That’s where construction project management software kicks in. As a new Buildertrend user, you have tech in your tool belt to get the most out of these relationships and mitigate risks as well. Even better, Buildertrend helps you get back your most valuable resource – your time. That’s why you want to get as many of your subcontractors to use the sub portal as quickly as you can. Tick tock. You’ve got nothing but your own time to lose.

What happens when you manage subcontractors effectively?

Subs are critical for your project’s success because they bring a specialized skill set to the job. The relationship goes both ways; subs need contractors for employment and to oversee the project, and contractors need subs to do those trade-specific jobs to keep the project moving. This is an important relationship to get right.

Here are some reasons why you should effectively manage your subcontractors:

1. Your projects cost less and take less time

When you put the effort into these connections, you invest valuable time into a successful working relationship. Your regular subs will know the important details of your workflow – how to best communicate while the project is in motion, your work standards and your payment procedures.

Rehiring the same subcontractors will give them the assurance they’ll have steady work with you, and you’ll save hours of talking through expectations and signing agreements. From there, you may have an excellent relationship for years. When quality work is just a phone call away, projects stay on schedule and profitable. 

2. There are fewer risks to mitigate

Safety should be your number one concern when hiring new workers. It’s important to protect yourself by setting health and safety guidelines at the beginning of the relationship. Check on licenses and look into past work and safety records. Assuring they have a clean safety background will reduce your risks.

When working with the same subs on multiple projects, you’ll already have everything on file. Plus, your mind will be at ease knowing risks are reduced.

3. You protect your business’s reputation

On one project, you may have an engineer, an electrician, a plumber, a roofer, a carpenter, an inspector … and every one of these construction professionals could be your best or worst business promoter.

Stay on top of your reputation by managing these working relationships in a fair and organized way. When you’ve established open communication with your crew of subs, they’ll raise their hand for each and every job while knowing your standards and respecting your schedule. This will ultimately keep the projects moving and your reputation positive.  

4. You build stronger client relationships 

When you have a good relationship with your entire team, it’ll be reflected onto your client relationships. Subs will share your good work and positive reputation with clients who’ll recommend you to their connections. Everyone benefits from an open line of communication that runs from you to your subcontractors to your clients and back. 

`Plus, subs are extensively trained for the specialty work they do, so the good ones do their jobs well and quickly. It’s never a good idea to have members of your team attempt a job they’re not properly qualified for. Hire the best in their field, keep those relationships strong and your clients will approve.

4 subcontractor management tips

We went through why a healthy contractor/subcontractor relationship makes your life much easier … but maybe you’re still wondering how to get there. We have some ideas to help you succeed in the day-to-day subcontractor management in order to keep that respectful relationship with your subs.

1. Find and address issues promptly

When issues go unaddressed, they typically end up growing instead of simply going away. Finding and solving the small problems is much easier than trying to fix a full-blown crisis situation. If the issue starts boiling over into a lot of phone calls with upset subs, this would be the time to call an in-person meeting to resolve it right away.

Some issues that you’ll need to step in and take care of right away include identifying a potential risky situation, any miscommunication in project details and any changes in the project scope. After identifying and communicating the issues, make appropriate changes to the schedule, to-do’s and change orders.   

2. Communicate regularly

It’s highly important to keep everyone in the loop and practice healthy subcontractor communication. After all, there’s a right way and a wrong way to communicate.

Forget constant phone calls, texts and emails checking in. This method can be counterproductive. Instead, think about it as monitoring progress. Make the best use of your time by communicating in a central location through photos, messaging or checking off to-do’s. A smart subcontractor management software will have all of these capabilities.

Communicating while also documenting and staying in-the-know on job progress. Now, that’s efficient.    

3. Set expectations

It’s best to set clear expectations in the contract that define the scope of work and payment, and then have all involved parties sign on the line. At this stage, you must be clear and concise on the project details and job requirements. Don’t sugarcoat the necessary work and stick to the facts. One of your expectations may be that your sub log into your construction management software.

Jesse Kath, founder of Jkath Design Build + Reinvent, talked to The Building Code about how much time he saves communicating in Buildertrend and how he prefers to use the subs who are on board with tech.

“I’m stepping it up to the people that want to continue to move forward and use technology because it’s just too exhausting to be making those phone calls all day long,” Jesse said.

Jesse has some subs he loves working with who refuse to use technology. He admits that some specialty jobs are hard to come by these days. Jesse said, “But at the same time, they’re making our jobs harder.”

4. Use subcontractor management software

Connect with your subs through a project management software – one that keeps both the contractor and subcontractor in mind as the project progesses.

Jesse also talked about how he chooses to collaborate with his subcontractors.

“If I have to track somebody down to get their subcontractor agreement or their lien waiver or their insurance, or just, ‘Where are you?’ It gets to be exhausting. And I thankfully just in the last half a year, I don’t do that much of that anymore. It’s taken care of by Buildertrend,” Jesse said.  

How Buildertrend helps you manage subcontractors

When it comes to helping you successfully oversee your subcontractor performance, Buildertrend has you covered in all the major areas: scheduling, communication, insurance and time lines.

Buildertrend streamlines all necessary elements to keep everyone up-to-speed on project details and allow for simple communication. If you’re looking for a subcontractor software, learn more below.

1. Simplifies scheduling

Our Schedule feature is for more than just you and your crew to view. Don’t keep it a secret. Share it with your subcontractors.

Instead of receiving a storm of texts or phone calls from subs asking when they work next, it’s clear skies with Buildertrend. All they have to do is check the project schedule to see when they’re needed.

If something changes and dates are pushed back, this management tool can send automatic notifications to subs. That saves you a step, and now you don’t have to stress about whether you remembered to share need-to-know updates or not.

Our smart Schedule feature also gives the details of what’s expected. Link To-Do’s to your subcontractors’ tasks to assign punch lists and define how they can help bring this project to life.

2. Streamlines communication

Remember that storm of texts and phone calls we mentioned before? Scheduling is a big reason for those, but so are other issues and concerns. Safety measures on the job site, contract details, scope of work – these are the things subcontractors want and need to know.

Don’t send everything piecemeal through notes, texts, calls and emails. Bring it all under one roof in Buildertrend. Just like how you communicate with your team, you can use our system to be your one source for every message, every question, every comment.

It’s all organized by job and sub, too. Say goodbye to your days of hunting for subcontractor details. Forge forward the digital way.

3. Ensures everyone’s insured

Keeping track of your subs’ insurance coverage and when it expires is a time-consuming task. Buildertrend takes the work out of it. Store that information and other important agreements for each sub in our system, then elect to receive notifications prior to when certificates expire.

Simple auto-reminders also make time-draining manual processes a thing of the past.

4. Keeps projects moving

A project on pause is one that’s costing you money. Your subs can be the ones unintentionally hitting the pause button, too. Auto-reminders and tools in our app keep things on play. Sending bid packages to subs before work can begin is a great example.

Streamlining the entire process, our powerful platform has the capability to create, compare, send and store bids. Additionally, it notifies subs when a bid package is ready and communicates deadlines to keep things moving at the speed of need.

Get started managing subs in Buildertrend

Schedule a training to see all the ins, outs and priceless value of our subcontractor portal. Or, if you’re not using Buildertrend construction software yet, schedule a demo today.

In a perfect world, your subs arrive right when they’re scheduled, complete their work, communicate as well as any member of your team and save your business tons of days and dollars.

However, construction rarely operates in a perfect world. Simply hiring a set of subs and leaving them to get the job done is not the best course of action. Just like your crew, they need to be managed. But doing so shouldn’t be your full-time job. Make it Buildertrend’s instead.

Managing subcontractor FAQs

Check out these answers to frequently asked questions about managing subcontractors.