Frequently Asked
How the money layer operates.
Subcontractor Audit is a managed service, not self-serve software. These are the questions GCs, subs, owners, and lenders ask most often before a working session.
Engagement model
Is Subcontractor Audit self-serve or a managed service?
Both, tiered by engagement depth. The Associate and Builder tiers are primarily self-serve: sign up, invite your team, and start running projects on the money layer. Portfolio and Clearinghouse Seat engagements include a named operating team that runs pay-app intake, waiver chase, and draw-package assembly alongside your PMs. CFO Chair is a full managed engagement including four-eyes disbursement operated by our staff.
Do I need to talk to sales to get started?
For Associate and Builder, no. You can evaluate the Clearinghouse, wire your first project, and upload pay apps without a demo call. Portfolio, Clearinghouse Seat, and CFO Chair require a scoping call because they include an operating team, custom ERP integrations, SSO or SCIM, and four-eyes disbursement controls tuned to your organization.
Onboarding
How do I get started?
Sign up at /register with your work email. 14-day free trial, no credit card required. Invite your team and your first subcontractors in under 30 minutes - subs join via magic link and never hit a paywall.
What do I need to have ready to onboard?
An active project with its schedule of values, your standard insurance and prequal requirements, and a sub roster with contact emails. If you use Procore, Sage 300 CRE, Foundation, QuickBooks, or Yardi, connect them during setup - we pull projects and commitments automatically. Enterprise deployments with custom ERPs run a 30-day implementation with our team.
Do subs need to sign up for an account?
No. Subs access the portal via magic link delivered to the email you have on file for them. There is no password, no software install, and no seat fee for subs - ever. You only pay for your own workspace.
Multi-party access
How do GC, sub, owner, and lender views stay separated?
Role-based access controls scope every view to the role sitting behind it. Subs see only their own work, projects, and compliance. Owners see draw packages and project ledger state. Lenders see portfolio-level draw readiness, compliance, and lien-risk signals. GC admins see the full picture.
Can multiple owners or lenders share a single project view?
Yes. Each party is invited with a scoped role. Joint-venture owners, mezz lenders, senior lenders, and sureties can each have a role tuned to what they should see and approve. Every action is audit-logged with identity and timestamp.
What does the owner portal actually do?
The owner portal is a draw room. Each draw package is assembled from the live project ledger - approved pay apps, signed waivers, validated insurance, inspection evidence - and routed for approval. Owners can approve, hold, or annotate individual lines, and every decision is written back to the ledger.
What does the lender portal do?
Lenders see a portfolio console across every funded project: approved work-in-place, lien-waiver coverage, insurance breadth, and disbursement status. Evidence bundles per draw are exportable on demand. Anomalies - late lower-tier payments, waiver chain breaks, coverage lapses - surface as signals before they become defaults.
Compliance gates
What is a compliance gate?
A rule that blocks a money-movement action unless required paperwork is in order. A pay app cannot be approved while its associated sub has an expired COI. A waiver cannot be generated against a pay-app line that has not been approved. Disbursement cannot occur without the signed waiver on file. Rules are deterministic and auditable.
What documents are validated automatically?
ACORD 25 certificates of insurance, endorsement forms (CG 20 10, CG 20 37, blanket), W-9s, state-specific statutory lien waivers, G702 and G703 pay applications, certified payrolls (WH-347), bonds, and prequalification forms. AI-assisted extraction with deterministic validation rules.
What happens when a certificate expires mid-project?
The gate closes automatically. The sub is notified through the portal with the specific requirement that lapsed. Pending pay apps for that sub are held. Your operations team receives an alert with a recommended action. The gate reopens as soon as a compliant certificate is validated.
Which state-specific lien waiver forms are covered?
All 12 states that mandate statutory forms: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The platform routes to the correct form based on project location and validates that submitted waivers match statutory language.
Can we export evidence packages for surety or audit?
Yes. Evidence bundles are exportable on demand per project, per draw, or per date range. Each bundle includes the ledger snapshot, signed documents, compliance status, and approval trail. Customers on engaged service receive quarterly packages automatically; ad-hoc exports are unlimited.
Payments & pay apps
Do you actually move money, or just track it?
Both, depending on the engagement. Disbursement is orchestrated through Modern Treasury with ACH and wire rails; bank verification and balance signals flow through Plaid. Customers who prefer to keep initiation in their own treasury system can run the platform in evidence-only mode, where we produce the payment package without sending funds.
How do pay-app reviews work?
G702 and G703 submissions are parsed on upload and cross-referenced to the approved schedule of values. Math is checked line by line. Front-loading is flagged when a line item's percent-complete outpaces expected progress by more than the configured threshold. Our operators review exceptions and present a recommendation; your PM makes the approve/hold decision.
What are the controls around money movement?
Every disbursement requires four-eyes - independent initiation and approval. A third reviewer is automatically added on high-value transactions per customer-defined thresholds. All actions are audit-logged. Access is least-privilege with quarterly reviews.
Retainage
How does retainage tracking work?
Retainage is tracked per sub, per line item, against your contractual percentage. Balances update with every approved pay app. Release workflows tie to milestones - substantial completion, punch list close, final waivers - and require the corresponding evidence before funds release.
Can retainage release thresholds vary by sub or trade?
Yes. You can configure default retainage policy at the portfolio level and override at the project, trade, or individual sub level. The ledger enforces whatever policy is active when the release is initiated.
Security
What security posture do you operate in?
Financial-services posture. AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.3 in flight, US data residency, role-based access with audit logging, four-eyes controls on disbursement, annual third-party pen testing, and SOC 2 Type II in progress with an independent auditor. Full detail on the security page.
Are my documents used to train AI models?
No. Customer documents and ledger data are never used to train third-party models. Our AI vendor relationships include contractual prohibitions on training with customer data.
Who can I talk to for a security diligence review?
Reach out to [email protected]. We share a full security packet under NDA covering architecture, access model, subprocessors, business continuity, and incident response. For engagements, we also support customer-specific questionnaires and vendor-risk reviews.
Integrations
Which systems do you integrate with?
Project management: Procore. ERP and accounting: Sage 300 CRE, Foundation, QuickBooks. Property: Yardi. Draw systems: Built, Rabbet. Payments: Modern Treasury, Plaid. Documents and signature: DocuSign. Custom connectors are part of most engagements - tell us your stack.
Is the Procore sync bi-directional?
Yes. Projects, subs, commitments, and compliance status sync both directions. A compliance change on the platform is reflected in Procore within minutes; a new sub added in Procore enters the compliance workflow automatically. Field mapping is tuned per customer during onboarding.
Can we use Subcontractor Audit alongside our existing ERP?
Yes. The platform is designed to run alongside Sage 300 CRE, Foundation, QuickBooks, or Yardi as the source of record for accounting while acting as the money layer in front of them. Pay-app approvals, waiver events, and disbursements post back to your ERP on your chart of accounts.