01
Self-service onboarding
You send a link, the subbie completes the form on their phone. UTR, insurance PDFs, CIS, bank, address, principal contact. Five minutes start to finish.
Phone formUTR checkHMRC verifyAuto-CIS band
Subcontractor portal · Module 05
Bring your supply
Bring your supply
chain on.
Free of charge.
Subbies onboard themselves in five minutes — UTR, insurance, CIS band, RAMS templates, the lot. Packages go out from your screen, applications for payment come back from theirs. CIS auto-applied, retention auto-held, insurance flagged before it lapses. The portal your supply chain actually opens.
§ 01The subbie chase
Forty subbies.
One email folder.
Six insurance certs lost.
Most UK SMEs we onboard are managing forty-odd subbies through a folder on Dropbox, an inbox, and a notebook somebody owns. It works until the principal contractor asks for a pre-qual pack on a Tuesday. Then it does not.
Pre-qual
Subbie's PL insurance lapsed three weeks ago. Nobody noticed. Now they're on site.
Liability gap
Friday afternoon
Subbies email their AfPs in Word docs. Office manager re-types into Sage, applies CIS by hand.
≈ 5 hrs / week
Onboarding
New subbie, fortieth chase email for UTR, insurance and method statement. Not on site for week one.
Programme slip
RAMS
RAMS sent on Monday, signed on the back of an envelope, photo lost on the foreman's phone.
Audit gap
CIS letter
HMRC asks for the CIS verification log. Half is in Sage. Half is in email. Half is missing.
Penalty risk
Pay-less
Subbie raises a £18k AfP. You disagree on £4k of it. The pay-less notice never goes in.
£4k stuck
Retention
Subbie chases retention release four months after handover. You forgot to release it.
Reputation
SMAS / CHAS
Pre-qual response due Friday. Subbie compliance evidence is in twelve different folders.
Bid risk
// The pattern
A portal subbies actually open is the first half of the fix.
CIS auto-applied, insurance flagged, RAMS signed on phone, retention on the calendar. See what is in the box →
§ 02What is in the box
Nine capabilities.
One portal. Free
for the subbie. Free for you.
We do not charge per subbie, per package, or per application for payment. The portal exists to put your supply chain on the platform — that is the whole point of consolidating onto Unibuild in the first place.
02
Insurance vault
Public liability, employer's liability, professional indemnity, vehicle. Expiry dates tracked. Subbie gets pinged 30 days out, you see it on the dashboard, work cannot start without cover.
PL · EL · PI30-day alertPDF on fileBlock on lapse
03
Work packages
Send a package with scope, drawings, RAMS, value and dates. Subbie accepts on phone. Acceptance is a contract entry, not a "did you see my email?".
Scope · drawingsAcceptanceNEC / JCTAudit trail
04
Applications for payment
Subbie raises on the portal. CIS band auto-applied, retention auto-held, domestic reverse charge auto-applied. Approved, queued, paid Friday. Pay-less notice triggered if you disagree.
Auto-CISRetentionReverse chargePay-less
05
RAMS sign-on
Subbie operatives sign today's RAMS at the gate, on phone. Same flow as your direct employees. The audit trail covers everyone on the gate, not just the lads on payroll.
QR clock-inRAMS signPhoto verifyAudit trail
06
CIS & UTR
UTR verified against HMRC on first invoice. CIS band 0/20/30% per worker, refreshed monthly. Deduction certificates issued automatically. Monthly CIS300 export ready on the 5th.
UTR checkHMRC verifyCertificatesCIS300
07
Pre-qual evidence
SMAS, CHAS, CCS, Constructionline, Achilles, ISO 9001 / 14001 / 45001, references. One bundle, one click, when the principal contractor asks. Cuts pre-qual from a fortnight to an afternoon.
SMAS · CHASConstructionlineAchillesISO bundles
08
Performance log
On-time, on-spec, on-safety. Per package, per project, rolling. Useful for re-engagement decisions and for the subbie's own pre-qual story. Honest, both ways.
On-timeOn-specSafety scoreReferences
09
WhatsApp bridge
Two-way WhatsApp Business — packages, RAMS reminders, payment notifications all flow through the channel subbies actually read. The end of "did you see my email?".
WA BusinessTwo-wayPer-subbie threadPinned to project
§ 03From invite to first AfP
Four steps.
Same working week.
The subbie goes from a link in WhatsApp to a paid invoice in your bank within seven days. Each step is one screen on their phone, with the next step queued automatically. We measured the median across the firms we have onboarded.
You invite,
they onboard.
You send a link from the platform — WhatsApp, email or SMS. Subbie taps it on phone, completes one form. UTR, insurance PDFs, CIS, bank, contact. Five minutes flat.
- Phone-first form, no app to install
- UTR verified live against HMRC
- Insurance PDFs uploaded, expiries parsed
- CIS band auto-detected from HMRC
Median time5 min
You issue,
they accept.
You send a package — scope, drawings, RAMS, value, dates. Subbie sees it on the portal, on phone, in WhatsApp. They accept with a finger swipe. The acceptance is signed, dated, contract-grade.
- Package linked to project and trade
- Drawings and RAMS bundled in
- NEC / JCT clauses pre-applied
- Acceptance recorded as a signed PDF
Median accept2 hrs
They work,
they raise.
Subbie clocks in by QR on the gate, signs RAMS on phone, does the work. End of the week, they raise an AfP on the portal — gross, supporting photos, day-work sheets attached. CIS, retention and VAT auto-applied.
- Same QR clock-in as your lads
- RAMS signed at the gate
- AfP raised in three taps
- CIS · retention · VAT auto-applied
Median raise3 min
You approve,
they get paid.
QS reviews, approves or raises a pay-less notice with reason. Approved AfPs queue for Friday's run. Subbie sees the payable date, the net, the deductions and the payment confirmation when it lands.
- One-click approve / pay-less
- Friday batch payment run
- Deduction certificate auto-issued
- Retention scheduled to release
Median paidby Fri
§ 04Why the principal cares
The subbie's portal
is your pre-qual.
And your audit trail.
For a small SME the portal is a tidy way to manage subbies. For a principal contractor it is the spine of every CDM 2015 file, every SMAS / CHAS pre-qual, every client audit. The same data, three different jobs.
// View 01
Director
Subbies on the books. Aged insurance. Aged retention. Pay-less ratio. Performance log per subbie, rolling. The list of who you would invite back, and who you would not.
- Subbie ledger, on the books
- Aged insurance, aged retention
- Performance score, rolling 12 mo
- Tendered vs awarded vs delivered
// View 02
QS / commercial
AfPs in the queue, by subbie, by package. Pay-less notices. Retention schedule. Variations by subbie. The number you bring to the cost report on the 28th.
- AfP queue, by package
- Pay-less notices, with reasons
- Retention schedule, release dates
- Variations · by subbie
// View 03
SHEQ / pre-qual
Insurance, RAMS, training, accreditation. Per subbie, per project, per package. The bundle the client asks for at audit, ready in a click. The CDM 2015 file writes itself.
- Insurance · RAMS · training
- SMAS · CHAS · CCS · Achilles
- CDM 2015 file, live
- Audit bundle, one click
§ 05A Tuesday on a subbie's portal
One Tuesday.
Both sides of the gate.
A real Tuesday between a 32-person main contractor and a 4-person M&E subbie running an active package. Every event below touches one record on both sides — no "did you see my email?", no spreadsheet on Sunday night.
06:30
Gate
Gate
Subbie operatives clock in by QR.
Same QR poster as the main contractor's lads. Today's RAMS for their trade pulls up automatically. They sign, the system stamps. The cabin TV shows them on site.
RAMS sign-on · Workforce
09:14
Package
Package
You issue PKG-0247 to BJK Electrical.
£42.8k M&E first fix on south gable. Drawings A-12 r3 attached, lift plan v3 attached, NEC4 clauses pre-applied. Subbie sees it on phone before the kettle has boiled.
Work packages
10:42
Accept
Accept
BJK accept the package on phone.
One swipe, signed PDF stored against the project on both sides. Acceptance is a contract entry. Programme bar moves on the project. QS sees the commitment at the next refresh.
Work packages · Programme
13:00
Insurance
Insurance
Insurance expiry alert · 18 days.
Public liability for one of the labour-only subbies expires in 18 days. Subbie gets the alert on phone, you see it on the dashboard. New PDF uploaded by 14:30. Cover never lapses.
Insurance vault
15:42
AfP
AfP
BJK raise AfP #14 on the portal.
£8,420 gross. CIS 20% auto-applied, retention 5% auto-held, VAT reverse charge applied. Net £6,315 queued for Friday. QS approves with one tap. Audit trail signed.
Applications for payment · CIS
17:15
Close
Close
Director closes the day on one screen.
42 subbies on the books, 9 packages out, 4 AfPs awaiting approval, 3 insurance expiries inside 30 days. Phone goes in the drawer. Nobody chased anyone.
Insight
§ 06The questions every contractor asks
The questions every contractor
asks in the demo.
The full list lives at /faqs. These eight are the ones we hear in every supply-chain conversation.
01Do subbies have to pay to use the portal?+
No. Never. The subbie portal is free for the subbie and free for you. The whole point of consolidating your supply chain onto a single platform is undermined the moment you charge anyone to be on it. Onboard a labour-only gang for a fortnight, drop them when the job ends, the bill does not move on either side.
02Will subbies actually use it, or ignore it like the last portal?+
Adoption is the product. Onboarding is one phone form, five minutes. Packages, RAMS reminders and payment notifications go via WhatsApp Business too — the channel they actually open. They get paid faster on Unibuild than on email. Adoption per subbie is reported in your dashboard, so you see the rollout, not guess at it.
03Does the CIS verification actually hit HMRC?+
Yes. UTR is verified against HMRC on first engagement, the band (0/20/30%) is fetched and stored on the subbie record, and refreshed monthly. Deduction certificates are issued automatically with each payment. Monthly CIS300 export is ready on the 5th, with the audit trail HMRC accepts on the first read.
04What if a subbie's insurance lapses mid-job?+
The portal pings the subbie 30 days out, 14 days, 7 days and on expiry day. You see the same alerts on the dashboard. If a policy actually lapses, the subbie's gate access is blocked at the QR until they upload a new PDF — work cannot start without cover. Liability gap closed before it opens.
05Can we send pay-less notices through the portal?+
Yes. Pay-less notices are a one-click action against any AfP, with the reason captured against the record and the contract clock observed (5 days for JCT, 7 days for NEC). The subbie sees the deduction with the reason, the audit trail is signed, the figure flows to the project P&L. No spreadsheets, no awkward emails.
06How does retention release work without us forgetting?+
Retention is held automatically on every AfP and every certificate, at the contract percentage. Release dates land on the project calendar. The subbie sees the schedule on their portal — they do not chase you because they can see when it is due. Most firms recover an unbudgeted five-figure retention in their first year on the platform, money that was already theirs.
07Does it help with SMAS, CHAS, Constructionline pre-quals?+
Yes. The data the schemes ask for — insurances, RAMS, training, accreditations, references, performance — lives against the subbie record from day one. When the principal contractor asks for the pre-qual bundle, you click once and get a tidy PDF / ZIP in the format they wanted. Most firms cut pre-qual from a fortnight to an afternoon.
08Can subbies use the portal on phone? Most don't have a desk.+
Yes. The portal is mobile-first. Onboarding, RAMS sign-on, packages, AfPs, insurance upload — every flow is built around a phone in a glove on a wet Tuesday. There is a desktop view for the office staff who run a busier subbie firm, but nothing requires it.
§ 07 · No card. No lock-in.
If your subbies
do not open it in week two,
we should not be paid.
✓
Free for subbies
Always. No per-subbie, per-package, per-AfP fee.
✓
5-min onboarding
Self-service phone form. UTR verified live.
✓
WhatsApp bridge
The channel subbies actually open.
✓
HMRC-recognised
CIS, UTR verify, MTD VAT, RTI.
✓
UK data, UK support
UK office, working hours, real phone number.
✓
Cancel by email
One sentence. We export the lot in CSV and PDF.
Next step
Onboard your supply chain.