The Forge for Construction
Commercial general contractors and specialty subcontractors run several concurrent projects at once, each with its own bid history, subcontractor roster, compliance documentation, draw schedule, and change-order trail. Revenue and margin leak in the gaps between those threads: a bid goes out and no one tracks whether it converts, a subcontractor's certificate of insurance lapses mid-project without anyone noticing, a change order is agreed verbally on site but never reaches the billing record, a draw request is submitted without matching actual percent-complete in the field, and job costs are not visible until the month-end close — after the budget is already blown. The Forge ties the bid-to-contract pipeline, subcontractor coordination, billing, and job costing together so project managers, superintendents, and ownership share one current view of every job, not a reconciliation exercise at closeout.
How can general contractors and specialty subcontractors get real-time job-cost visibility and stop losing margin to untracked change orders?
The Forge gives each project one record that carries the bid, signed contract, subcontractor roster with compliance status, schedule, change-order log, draw requests, and job costs as they accrue. Change orders are documented and acknowledged before work begins, subcontractor insurance and lien-waiver status is tracked automatically, draw requests are checked against field progress, and ownership sees job costing, retainage, and portfolio-wide schedule status without waiting for the month-end close.
Speaking the language of this industry
- Schedule of values
- The itemized breakdown of a contract's total price by phase or component, used as the reference point for every draw request and percent-complete calculation.
- Draw request / pay application
- A periodic billing submission (often AIA-style G702/G703) requesting payment for work completed to date against the schedule of values.
- Retainage
- A percentage of each payment withheld until a project reaches substantial completion or a contractually defined milestone, protecting the owner against incomplete work.
- Change order
- A documented amendment to a contract's scope, price, or schedule, created when work is requested outside the original agreement and requiring acknowledgment before it is billable.
- Lien waiver
- A document in which a subcontractor or supplier waives their right to file a mechanic's lien for a specific payment, typically required before or alongside that payment.
- Punch list
- The list of outstanding, typically minor, corrective items identified near project completion that must be resolved before final acceptance and final payment.
- Substantial completion
- The contractually defined point at which a project is usable for its intended purpose, even if minor punch-list work remains — the date that typically starts retainage-release and warranty clocks.
- Certified payroll
- A weekly payroll report required on public (prevailing-wage) projects, documenting hours, classifications, and wages paid to confirm compliance with prevailing-wage law.
- Notice of completion
- A jurisdiction-specific filing that starts the statutory clock for lien-filing and final-payment deadlines once a project is finished.
- Backcharge
- A cost deducted from a subcontractor's payment to cover corrective work, damages, or costs the GC incurred because of that subcontractor's performance.
Where this industry loses time and margin
Bids go out and no one tracks whether they convert to a signed contract
Every submitted bid becomes a tracked record with a follow-up cadence and an owner, so a bid that goes quiet is visible to the estimator and the principal before the opportunity is simply forgotten.
See how The Forge fixes this →Job costs are not visible until the month-end close, after the budget is already blown
Labor, subcontractor draws, and material costs post against the project's job-cost record as they occur, so budget-versus-actual is visible in real time instead of discovered at close-out.
See how The Forge fixes this →Subcontractor insurance certificates and lien waivers expire without anyone noticing
Each subcontractor's compliance documents carry an expiration date on the project record, with alerts before a certificate lapses so a non-compliant sub is never on site unnoticed.
See how The Forge fixes this →Change orders are agreed verbally on site and the paper trail never catches up to the invoice
A change order is logged against the project the moment it is requested, routed for owner or architect acknowledgment, and held from billing until that acknowledgment is on file — so the final invoice matches what was actually agreed.
See how The Forge fixes this →Draw requests are submitted without matching real percent-complete in the field
Draw requests reference the project's schedule of values and the superintendent's logged progress, so a pay application reflects what has actually been built, not an estimate.
See how The Forge fixes this →Running six projects at once means the schedule lives in the PM's head, not a system anyone else can see
Every active project's schedule, crew and subcontractor assignments, and milestone status live on a shared board, so ownership and other PMs can see conflicts and slack before they become a missed date.
See how The Forge fixes this →Retainage held across a dozen projects is never reconciled until the year-end audit
Retainage withheld and due for release is tracked per project against contract terms and substantial-completion dates, so released retainage is billed as soon as it is contractually owed.
See how The Forge fixes this →Punch-list items get fixed in the field but never marked closed, so final payment stalls
Punch-list items are tracked individually from identification to verified close-out, and a project cannot move to final billing while open items remain unresolved on the record.
See how The Forge fixes this →You will recognize these
- A bid is submitted and no one follows up until the prospect calls to say they went with someone else
- A subcontractor's certificate of insurance expired two weeks ago and no one on the project knew
- A verbal change order on site never makes it into the contract file before the invoice is disputed
- A draw request goes out for 70% complete on a job that is visibly behind that mark in the field
- Two superintendents double-book the same crew because neither could see the other's schedule
- Job costs are a surprise at the month-end close instead of a running number anyone could check
- Retainage sits uncollected for months after a project reaches substantial completion
- A punch-list item is fixed but final payment is held up because no one can confirm it was closed
- The same subcontractor insurance certificate is requested by three different PMs because no one can find the last one
What The Forge tracks as a record
Project
The core unit of work — a contracted job carrying its schedule, budget, subcontractor roster, change orders, and billing history from bid to closeout.
Bid / Estimate
A priced proposal for a prospective project, tracked for value, stage, and follow-up status until it converts to a signed contract or is lost.
Subcontractor
A trade partner assigned to one or more projects, carrying insurance, licensing, and lien-waiver compliance status alongside their scope and schedule.
Change order
A documented scope, price, or schedule amendment against an active project, tracked from request through acknowledgment to billing.
Draw / pay application
A periodic billing request tied to the project's schedule of values and logged field progress, tracked from submission to payment.
Punch-list item
A single outstanding corrective item identified near completion, tracked from identification through verified close-out.
Compliance document
An insurance certificate, license, or lien waiver tied to a subcontractor or project, carrying an expiration or requirement date.
What The Forge coordinates
- 1
Bid to signed contract
An opportunity is estimated, submitted as a bid, and followed up automatically until it converts to a signed contract carrying scope, schedule, subcontractor plan, and schedule of values — one thread from estimate to kickoff.
- 2
Subcontractor onboarding to compliance tracking
A subcontractor is added to a project with its insurance certificate, license, and lien-waiver requirements tracked against expiration and milestone dates, so compliance status is visible before, not after, a lapse.
- 3
Change order to billing adjustment
A field-requested change is logged, priced, and routed for owner or architect acknowledgment before work proceeds, and the acknowledged change updates the schedule of values used for the next draw.
- 4
Substantial completion to final closeout
Punch-list items are logged and tracked to verified close-out, retainage release is triggered against contract terms, and the project cannot close in the system until outstanding items and final billing are resolved.
What leadership can see and control
Job cost versus budget
Real-time labor, subcontractor, and material cost against the original budget, by project and by cost code, without waiting for a monthly close.
Bid pipeline and win rate
Open bids by value and stage, and conversion rate by estimator, project type, and client.
Subcontractor compliance status
Which subcontractors on active projects have current insurance, licensing, and lien-waiver documentation, and which are approaching expiration.
Draw and billing pipeline
Pending draw requests, approved amounts, and billed-versus-collected totals across every active project.
Retainage outstanding
Retainage held per project against contract terms and substantial-completion status, showing what is collectible now.
Change-order exposure
Change orders pending acknowledgment or unbilled work performed under a change order not yet approved, by project.
Who can see and do what
Owner / Principal
- Sees portfolio-wide job costing, bid pipeline, and cash position across every active project
- Sees subcontractor compliance status and change-order exposure firm-wide
- Approves change orders or draws above a firm-defined value threshold
- Configures role permissions and project-visibility scoping
Project Manager
- Sees full detail on assigned projects — budget, schedule, subcontractors, change orders, and draws
- Logs and routes change orders for owner or architect acknowledgment
- Submits draw requests and punch-list updates for assigned projects
- Cannot view job costing or bid data for projects they are not assigned to
Superintendent / Field Supervisor
- Sees the daily schedule, crew and subcontractor assignments, and open punch-list items for assigned projects
- Logs field progress against the schedule of values and reports change requests from the field
- Cannot approve change-order pricing, billing, or contract terms
Subcontractor (portal-scoped)
- Sees their own assignments, schedule, and compliance-document requirements
- Submits compliance documents (insurance, license, lien waivers) for their own record
- Cannot see other subcontractors' pricing, the owner's contract terms, or projects they are not assigned to
Accounting / Billing Admin
- Sees draw requests, retainage status, and billed-versus-collected totals across all projects
- Generates pay applications from approved schedule-of-values and change-order data
- Flags billing that does not match logged field progress or unacknowledged change orders
- Cannot edit project scope, subcontractor assignments, or change-order pricing
What this industry has to stay ahead of
- OSHA jobsite safety documentation — incident logs, toolbox-talk records, and required postings tracked per project, though The Forge does not perform safety inspections or certify compliance itself
- Lien-law and notice-of-completion deadlines — jurisdiction-specific windows for preliminary notices, lien filings, and notice-of-completion recording that a project's documentation record can surface but does not itself determine
- Prevailing-wage and certified-payroll requirements on public work — hours and classifications feeding certified-payroll reporting, with the actual filing remaining the payroll system's and the contractor's responsibility
- Subcontractor license and insurance-certificate compliance — current, valid documentation tracked per subcontractor per project, distinct from the licensing authority's issuance and renewal process
- Retainage-release timing statutes — many jurisdictions set maximum timeframes for releasing retainage after substantial completion; The Forge can flag approaching deadlines but does not determine the statute that applies in a given jurisdiction
- Contractor licensing and bonding status per jurisdiction the firm operates in, tracked on the business record but issued and renewed outside The Forge
What may be replaced, and what stays
Commonly used in this industry
- Construction project-management and scheduling platforms
- Estimating and takeoff software
- Accounting and job-costing software
- Payroll and certified-payroll reporting systems
- Document management for plans, permits, and lien waivers
- Draw-schedule and progress-billing (AIA-style) tools
Integration categories above describe how this industry typically connects its systems. Current connector status per app is tracked on the Integrations page — status changes as connectors are validated.
What The Forge may replace
Tools and manual processes that may no longer be necessary.
- Spreadsheet-based bid trackers and job-cost logs
- A paper or shared-drive folder of subcontractor compliance documents
- Manual change-order logs kept in email threads
- Disconnected punch-list tracking apps or paper lists
- Per-PM personal schedules that no one else can see
- Manual retainage-reconciliation spreadsheets
What The Forge may integrate with
Systems you keep — The Forge becomes the layer above them.
- Your construction project-management or scheduling platform
- Your estimating and takeoff software
- Your accounting and job-costing system
- Your payroll and certified-payroll reporting system
- Your document-management or plan-hosting tool
What runs without someone remembering to do it
- 1
Expiring compliance-document alert
A subcontractor's insurance certificate or license approaching its expiration date generates an alert to the project manager and the subcontractor before it lapses on an active project.
- 2
Change-order acknowledgment gate
Work logged under a change order that has not yet been owner- or architect-acknowledged is held from the next draw request, preventing a billing dispute over unapproved scope.
- 3
Draw-versus-progress mismatch flag
A draw request claiming a percent-complete that does not match the superintendent's logged field progress is flagged for review before it is submitted.
- 4
Punch-list closeout reminder
Open punch-list items approaching the target closeout date without a logged resolution are escalated to the project manager and superintendent.
- 5
Retainage-release trigger
A project reaching its contractual substantial-completion or retainage-release milestone automatically flags the outstanding retainage for billing instead of waiting for a manual review.
- 6
Bid-follow-up escalation
A submitted bid that passes its follow-up window without a response is escalated from the estimator to the principal so it does not go quiet.
What a typical view looks like
Job-Costing Board
A per-project, per-cost-code view of actual cost against budget as it accrues, so overruns are visible while there is still time to act.
- Actual versus budgeted cost by cost code
- Labor cost trend
- Subcontractor draw totals
- Projected cost at completion
Subcontractor Compliance Dashboard
A firm-wide view of subcontractor insurance, licensing, and lien-waiver status across every active project.
- Certificates expiring in 30/60/90 days
- Subcontractors out of compliance
- Lien waivers outstanding by project
- Compliance status by trade
Draw and Billing Pipeline
Every pending and submitted draw request across active projects, checked against field progress and change-order status.
- Draws pending submission
- Draws submitted versus collected
- Retainage outstanding by project
- Billing-to-progress variance
Multi-Project Schedule Board
A portfolio-wide schedule showing every active project's milestones, crew and subcontractor assignments, and slack, so conflicts surface before they cause a delay.
- Projects by phase
- Crew and sub double-booking flags
- Milestones at risk
- Open punch-list items by project
What implementation looks like
A commercial GC running five concurrent build-outs with a rotating subcontractor roster
A retail build-out is estimated and submitted as a bid on a Tuesday. The follow-up cadence keeps it visible to the estimator, and it converts to a signed contract the following week with a schedule of values and an assigned project manager. Before mobilization, three subcontractors are added to the project — their certificates of insurance and licenses are logged with expiration dates, and one is flagged as expiring mid-project, prompting a renewal request before it lapses. Two weeks in, the electrical sub identifies additional conduit work not in the original scope. The change is logged on the project record, priced, and routed to the owner's rep for acknowledgment before the work proceeds — no verbal agreement left to reconstruct later. At 60% complete, the PM submits a draw request; the system checks it against the schedule of values and the superintendent's logged field progress, catching a mismatch before it goes out. Meanwhile, ownership opens a portfolio view showing job costs against budget on all five active projects, three subcontractor certificates approaching expiration across the portfolio, and $84,000 in retainage now eligible for release on a project that reached substantial completion last week. At closeout, six punch-list items are tracked from identification to verified fix — the project cannot be marked complete in the system, and final billing cannot go out, until all six are closed.
Where most businesses like this start
Forge Pro
$750/moAdvanced operational control for established businesses preparing to scale.
Contractors running several concurrent projects need workforce and scheduling data — crew assignments, subcontractor role-scoping, field-progress logging — layered on top of the client and project record, which is exactly what Forge Pro adds over Core. The role-based dashboards and advanced reporting in Pro also match how job costing and subcontractor compliance need to be seen in real time, by project and by trade, rather than assembled after the fact.
- Everything in Forge Core
- Advanced workflow orchestration
- Employee and contractor management
- Scheduling and hours visibility
- Payroll and outgoing wage summaries
- Role-based dashboards and advanced reporting
- Expanded integrations and priority support
- Quarterly platform optimization review
Commonly added
- Advanced integrations
- Advanced reporting
- Priority support
Every plan launches Guided or Managed — see plan and launch-path details for the full comparison.
What a typical launch looks like
Project and subcontractor data migration
2-3 weeksActive projects, subcontractor rosters, current compliance documents, and open change orders are migrated so the firm starts with one current project record instead of a blank system.
Billing and compliance workflow configuration
1-2 weeksDraw-schedule structure, change-order routing, retainage terms, and compliance-document expiration rules are configured to match how the firm's contracts actually run.
Integration connections
1-2 weeksEstimating/takeoff, accounting, and payroll systems the firm keeps are connected so bids, job costs, and labor hours flow without re-entry.
Training and go-live
1 weekProject managers, superintendents, and accounting staff are trained on their role-specific views before the firm cuts over from prior tracking methods.
Typical timeline for a business of this profile — not a contractual commitment. Actual duration depends on data readiness, integration count, and whether you choose Guided or Managed Launch.
Where this typically goes next
Where contractors on this blueprint typically grow next inside The Forge
- 1Add advanced integrations for specialized estimating, takeoff, or industry-specific project-management platforms beyond the standard set
- 2Layer on advanced reporting for deeper job-cost variance and subcontractor-performance analysis as project volume grows
- 3Add a second office, division, or bonding entity as a distinct business, moving toward Forge Operations for cross-entity reporting
- 4Formalize custom industry modules for public-works certified-payroll and prevailing-wage reporting as government work grows
- 5Adopt priority support once the firm's dependence on uptime during active-project hours increases
Explore by the problem you feel most
Estimates go out and disappear
A proposal is sent, and from that moment forward nobody tracks whether the customer opened it, has questions, or went with a competitor. The estimate ages silently until someone finally asks what happened.
ExploreWe cannot see labor cost until payday
Overtime, unapproved hours, and weak-margin jobs are invisible until the payroll run closes. By then the money is already spent and the only option is to absorb it.
ExploreWork falls through the cracks
A job is sold, then it depends on someone remembering to hand it off, order the parts, and schedule the crew. When one step is missed, the work stalls and nobody notices until the customer calls.
ExploreWe do not know what is profitable
Revenue comes in. Expenses go out. But nobody can say which jobs, services, clients, or crews actually make money — and which ones quietly lose it.
ExploreConstruction — questions
See The Forge configured for how construction actually operate.
The $500 Blueprint credits toward implementation if you move forward within 30 days.