Setup guide

Getting started for main contractors, step by step.

From a new account to your first payment notice issued on time: projects, packages, inviting subcontractors, assessing applications and keeping track of every deadline. Have one live project, a subcontract order and its pricing breakdown to hand.

Your checklist: the Getting started list at the top of your Projects page follows these steps and ticks them off as you go. Steps 1 to 6 are the setup; steps 7 to 10 are what happens each month.

1. Sign in and secure your account

  1. Open the link in your welcome email, or sign in at app.constructicore.com.
  2. Click your initial at the top right, then Two-factor sign-in, and scan the code with an authenticator app. Tick "Don't ask again on this device for 30 days" on a computer you trust.

2. Company details and logo

Go to Settings, then Company. Your logo, address and company details go on every notice you issue, so check them before the first one.

3. Invite your team

Go to Settings, then Team, and invite your commercial manager, QSs and anyone else who assesses or approves payments, each with the right role. Everyone signs in with their own login and every assessment and notice is recorded against their name. You can require two-factor sign-in for the whole company.

4. Create your first project

On Projects, click New project and enter the job, its client and dates.

Using Procore? You can bring projects and commitments in from Procore instead of retyping them. See connecting Procore.

5. Add a package

Each subcontract you let is a package. On the project, click Add a package and enter the subcontractor and the contract sum. Then, on the package:

  1. Contract sum analysis: the breakdown the subcontractor will apply against. Use Paste from Excel: copy the description and value columns, paste them in, Check pasted rows and save. Blank rows are ignored.
  2. Payment terms: the application date, due date, and the payment notice, pay less notice and final date periods from the subcontract. Every deadline for every application is worked out from these.
  3. Compliance before payment: choose the documents you need before you pay, typically the signed subcontract and insurances. The subcontractor uploads them and you can see what is still missing.

6. Invite the subcontractor

On the package, send the invitation to your subcontractor's contact. They get an email link and, when they accept, the package is set up in their own account with your contract sum analysis and payment terms, so their applications arrive in exactly the format you assess. Whether invited subcontractors use Constructicore free or on their own plan depends on your plan (see step 10).

Subcontractor not on Constructicore? You do not need them to be. On the package's Applications tab, Log an application received by email or post: enter what they applied for to date on each line and attach their PDF. The deadlines are worked out from the payment terms, and the notice is emailed to them.

7. Receive applications

Applications appear on your Projects page under Applications waiting for your notice, soonest deadline first, with the subcontractor's PDF attached. Reminders go to the people who can issue notices, in the app and by email: when the payment notice is due soon, due today and missed, the pay less deadline, and the final date for payment.

8. Assess and issue the notice

  1. Open the application and assess it line by line, or use Assess in Excel instead and upload the completed sheet.
  2. Contra charges come from the package's Contras tab, where each one is recorded with its evidence and sent to the subcontractor; the total to date is deducted in each assessment. Add notes, then Save the assessment.
  3. When you are ready, Issue and email the notice. The notice states the sum and the basis on which it was calculated, and goes to the subcontractor's notice contacts. The issue date and time are recorded.

Found a defect after issuing the payment notice? Open the issued notice and choose Reassess for a pay less notice; the payment notice stands until the pay less notice is issued, before its deadline.

Constructicore works out the dates from the payment terms you entered and states them as facts; it is not legal advice. Check your subcontract, and take advice on any disputed notice.

9. Payments, variations and questions

  • Record the payment on the assessment when it is made, so both sides can see what has been paid.
  • On each package you can Issue an instruction, answer requests for information and respond to early warnings and change events. Variations the subcontractor raises come through on the package for your response.
  • Reports and payments shows payments due across every project and package, and the Payment schedule (CSV) gives your accounts team the list to pay from.
  • Payment runs gather everything due by a date, flag missing or recently changed bank details, compliance problems and CIS, and once approved produce a bank file (including Telleroo's pay run format). Marking the run paid records each payment and sends the remittances.
  • Cost report and cash flow shows each package against its budget, the anticipated final cost, six months of cash going out and the retention you hold. At the end of a package, set practical completion and agree the final account on the Package tab; the statement goes to the subcontractor.

10. Your plan

Your first project is free for 90 days. After that, choose a plan in Settings, then Billing, to keep adding packages and inviting subcontractors. Assessments and notices on existing packages always carry on, so no deadline is ever missed because of billing. The Supply Chain Pass option lets the subcontractors you invite use Constructicore free for your packages.

Help and feedback

Use the Feedback tab on any page of the dashboard to tell us what is unclear or missing; it tells us which page you were on. Or email info@constructicore.com.

Subcontractors you invite have their own guide: getting started for subcontractors.