Guides / Managing Subcontractor Bids Without the Text-Message Back-and-Forth

Managing Subcontractor Bids Without the Text-Message Back-and-Forth

Updated 2026-07-29

Subcontractor pricing usually lives in a text thread

A bid comes back as a text message or a phone call, and then someone has to remember to type that number into the job's actual cost tracking later — if it ever gets typed in at all. Trades Chaser's subcontractor book of business turns that into a structured flow with a permanent record.

Keep a real book of business

Build a list of the subcontractors you actually work with — electricians, framers, specialty trades — with their contact details and job history in one place, instead of scattered across a phone's contact list.

Request a bid with no login on their end

• Send a bid request as a link — the subcontractor opens it and submits pricing with no account to create
• Attach it to a specific job so the scope is clear from the start
• See every bid request's status — pending, submitted, declined — from one screen

An accepted bid logs itself into job costs

Once a bid comes back and you accept it, log it straight into that job's costs with one click — no re-typing a number you already have in the system. That keeps your real job cost accurate without a manual reconciliation step at the end of the month.

Built for how subcontractor relationships actually work

This isn't dispatch or scheduling software for a subcontractor workforce — it's a record-keeping and bid-request tool for the subs you already call when a job needs a specialty trade, so that relationship produces a clean paper trail instead of a memory of a phone call.