How to onboard a subcontractor

What this app is

Getting a subcontractor cleared to work means collecting the same four or five documents every time — a W-9, a certificate of insurance, a license, whatever your contract asks for. Doing that by text and email is the part that eats a week.

This app does the chasing. You add a sub with their phone number, and FieldStone texts them a link, sorts whatever they send back into the right slot, and nudges them about the ones still missing. The sub never makes an account — no password, no app to install, nothing for them to lose.

Step by step

1. 1

   Add the sub

   Open Subcontractor Onboarding and add them with a name and a mobile number. Tick which documents this job needs — the list is yours to set, not a fixed one we picked.
   Delgado Framing(269) 555-0142

   Needs

   W-9InsuranceLicenseSafety plan

   Send request
2. 2

   They get a text

   FieldStone texts the sub a link that is theirs alone. It opens a plain page with the documents you asked for and a button to take a photo. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to remember.
   Ridgeline Roofing needs 3 documents before you start on Oak St. Upload them here — no login needed: fieldstoneapp.com/upload/…

   Delivered 8:04 AM
3. 3

   They send documents back

   They photograph the insurance certificate on the dashboard of their truck and send it. FieldStone reads it and drops it into the right slot on your side — they never have to work out which one it was.
   Their phone

   W-9Cleared

   Certificate of insuranceReview

   Take a photo
4. 4

   You review what arrived

   Arriving is not the same as passing. Each document waits for you to look at it — a certificate that expired last month arrives perfectly well. Approve it and the sub moves toward cleared; leave it and nothing has quietly gone through on your behalf.
   Expires 30 Sep 2026

   RejectApprove
5. 5

   Bounce just one document

   A blurry scan or an out-of-date certificate does not mean starting over. Ask for that one again and the sub gets a fresh link for that document only — everything else they already sent stays where it is.
   W-9Cleared

   Certificate of insuranceRequest again

   LicenseCleared
6. 6

   Let it chase for you

   You do not need to remember who has not replied. FieldStone nudges the subs with documents still outstanding, leans harder as your deadline gets closer, and tells you when someone has gone quiet long enough that you should pick up the phone yourself.
   2 days outReminder sent

   TomorrowReminder sent

   OverdueHanded back to you
7. 7

   Bid the work out first, if you want

   Before you have picked anyone, split the job into trade scopes and invite several subs to price each one. They bid through the same kind of no-login link. The proposals come back side by side so you compare like with like, and awarding one starts their onboarding automatically.
   Framing — 3 bids

   $18,400Award

   $21,900

   $24,150
8. 8

   The second job is faster

   What a sub sent you is kept as their profile. Next time you bring them onto a job, the documents that are still valid carry over and you are only asking for the gaps — and if the sub happens to run on FieldStone themselves, the whole packet is handed over in-app instead of by text.
   On file

   New job — Maple Ave

   W-9Cleared

   Certificate of insuranceCleared

   Safety planWaiting

   Only one thing left to ask for.