In this article, you'll learn how to add subcontractors to your team, get their W-9 signed, put them on jobs and pay them. A subcontractor never gets a login to your CRM. They work from their own crew portal, which only shows them their own jobs and hours.

Note: Subcontractors is an add-on. You need to switch it on in Features before anything in this article shows up. On the free plan the tile shows a Paid plan badge and an Upgrade button instead of a switch.

Switching on Subcontractors

To switch on Subcontractors:

In the menu, click Features.
Under Your crew, find the Subcontractors tile and turn its switch on.
The CRM takes you straight to the setup page. Type your first subcontractor's First name, Last name, Mobile phone and Pay rate ($/hr), then click Add & send their W-9.

Once it's on, Subcontractors shows up in the menu with Team. On the phone app you'll find it in the drawer under Features.

Adding a subcontractor

You can add a subcontractor from the Team page, the same way you'd add anyone else.

To add a subcontractor:

In the menu, click Team.
Click Add New. The Add team member panel opens.
Click Subcontractor.
Type their First name and Last name.
Type their Mobile number. The invite is texted there, and it's the number they'll sign in with.
Check the Pay rate. It's per hour.
Click Invite.

Adding a subcontractor from the Team page

You can also add one from Subcontractors, on the People tab, with + Add subcontractor. That form has an optional email, and its rate starts on your Starting pay rate from the Payments tab.

What happens after you invite them

They get a text saying you need their W-9 before you can pay them, with a link to fill it out and sign it on their phone. On that form they also pick a password. If you've turned on Venmo by link, they paste their Venmo link there too.
As soon as the signed W-9 is saved, they get a welcome text with the link to their crew portal. It tells them to sign in with their phone number and that password, and how to add it to their home screen on iPhone or Android.
The welcome text also points to the Review Monster CRM app on Google Play, which signs them into the same portal if they'd rather use an app on Android.

On the Team list, a subcontractor shows No 1099 yet, 1099 form sent or 1099 on file, so you can see who still owes you a W-9.

Tip: If they lost the W-9 text, open their profile from the Team list, click Actions and pick Send 1099 form (W-9). It reads Resend 1099 form (W-9) once one has gone out. On the People tab you'll also find Resend link for someone who hasn't signed yet, and Resend invite for someone who's lost their login. Resend invite texts them a new password, and their old one stops working.

Changing their rate

On the People tab, click a person's rate to change their hourly rate or add a per-mile rate. Leave the mileage box blank if they don't get mileage. On the phone app, tap edit next to the rate.

Giving them jobs

A subcontractor is added as a field tech, so they show up in the team picker on a job like everyone else. Put them on a job the same way you'd assign anyone. The CRM doesn't text them about the job. It shows up under Upcoming work in their portal.

What your subcontractor sees

Their whole world is the crew portal. From there they can:

Clock in, Start break, End break and Clock out.
See This week and Upcoming work, with only the jobs they're assigned to and the customer's name. They never see the customer's phone number or email.
Open a job and use its Job, Images and Payments tabs: tap Navigate, add photos and videos, see and edit the items being charged, and take payments.
Change the job's status with the status picker: Pending, On my way, Done or Canceled. Picking Done asks Send the customer a review request? first.
On the Today tile, tap a time to change their own clock-in and clock-out times, add mileage if you pay it, and snap a Receipt for something they paid for themselves.

Everything they add lands on the job in your CRM, just like your own team's work. Any time they change lands in Crew to pay with an edited flag.

The Subcontractors page

To open the Subcontractors page:

In the menu, click Subcontractors.

The page has six tabs on the web:

Day board: who's working on a day, with Clock in, Break and Clock out buttons for each person, and + entry to add hours by hand. Use Add someone to this day… to clock in someone who isn't on it yet.
People: everyone you've added, their rate, what you owe them and whether their W-9 is signed.
Pay: unpaid hours for each person, ready to pay.
1099: your year-end list, with Export CSV. Anyone over the filing threshold with no signed W-9 is flagged Needs W-9.
Activity: a log of clock actions, edits, invites and W-9 views.
Payments: your Starting pay rate and Starting mileage rate for new subcontractors, and how you pay your crew.

On the phone app, the page has every tab except Pay, and its Payments tab is a list of payments you've made, each with a Needs entry tick for your books. The rates and pay settings are on the web.

Paying your subcontractors

You can pay from the Pay tab, or from the Crew to pay block on your Home screen, which only shows up when someone's owed money. Open a person there to see their hours, mileage and receipts, pick how you paid them, check the amount and click Done to record it.

If you've turned on Venmo by link on the Payments tab, the Pay tab gives you a Pay in Venmo button per person that opens Venmo with the amount filled in. You press Pay in Venmo, then I paid them to record it. Mark paid records cash or anything else you paid by hand.

Recording a payment from the Pay tab

Note: Every payment you record stays marked Needs entry in the Payments list until you tick it off for your books. The CRM doesn't guess whether a bank line will match it.

Working with subcontractors