What clients and trades see in their portals
How the client portal and the contractor portal work, what each one shows, and what to check before you share.
Every project has two portals: one for your client and one for your contractors and trades. Each person signs in with their own details and only sees the projects you have added them to.
When things appear
Some things show as soon as a person can sign in. Others wait until you share them. One switch shares the whole schedule, and keeps sharing it.
| What | When your client sees it |
|---|---|
| Project dashboard, and messages with the team | As soon as they can sign in |
| Schedule items | When you turn on Client access. Every item that isn't archived is shared, and every item you add after that is shared automatically |
| Invoices | When you use Send to Client, if the invoice has schedule items on it |
| Documents | When you send them to the client |
| Drawing packages | When you send the package to the client |
| What | When a contractor sees it |
|---|---|
| Project dashboard, and their own topic in Messages | As soon as they can sign in |
| Schedule items | One at a time, when you share them with that contractor |
| Files | One at a time, when you share them with that contractor |
| Drawing packages | When you issue the package to that contractor |
Something missing? See My client or contractor can't see something.
The client portal
Your client can:
- see the project dashboard: budget, payments and anything waiting on them;
- approve, send back or reject pieces, or say they will order a piece themselves;
- read and download invoices you have sent;
- open documents and drawing packages you have shared;
- message the team, and comment on individual pieces.
The contractor portal
A contractor can:
- open drawing packages issued to them, see version history and request a revision;
- see items you have shared with them, and raise an issue on an item;
- open files you have shared and mark up PDFs;
- message the team in their own private topic;
- keep their insurance and trade certificate up to date.
Their Dashboard also shows the project's name, address and dates, the lead designer and your client's name. Contractors can't see other trades' topics.
Check before you share
- Prices reach clients. See Add markup or hide prices. Your client sees a unit price and line total for each piece in Procurement, and the totals at the top. The price is the product's trade price where one is set (less any line discount), otherwise its retail price. No markup is added. In the product details your client also sees the retail price and the supplier link. Check the figures before you turn on Client access.
- Supplier names reach clients and trades on every shared piece in Procurement.
- Prices reach trades in Messages. When an item is shared into a chat, the card shows its total price.
- Drawings are not filtered by approval stage. Once a package is shared with a client or issued to a contractor, they see its files, including files you add or update later, even if the package has gone back to Draft. Remove their access first if you need to rework a package.
- Only invoices with schedule items reach the portal. An invoice with no pieces from the schedule on it does not appear in the client's Finances, even once it is sent. They still get it by email when you use Send to Client.
- Emails go out at fixed times. Clients get emails at about 10:00 and 16:00, contractors at about 08:00, 12:00 and 16:00, on weekdays in your studio's time zone. Anything they have already seen in the portal is left out.