What is the difference between a client and subcontractor portal?

A client portal serves the customer following their project; a subcontractor portal serves a person carrying out assigned work. They may reference the same job, but they should not automatically expose the same information or actions. Define the purpose of each view before choosing software or sending access links.

Vio includes both portals in Crew and Complete. Office does not include either. That package description establishes which access types are offered, not a guarantee that every field or permission you imagine is implemented. Use a demo to confirm the actual workflow and the security controls verified for your setup.

Start with the questions each person asks

A client may want to know what is happening on their job and whether a decision is waiting on them. A subcontractor may need the scope, location, timing and instructions for their assignment. The office may need the full project and financial records. Begin with those practical differences rather than giving everyone the owner's screen.

Write down the information each person must see and what they must not see. Consider contact details, internal notes, estimates, invoices and project costs separately. The fact that someone is working on a job does not establish that they need every record associated with the customer.

Define what the client can do

Ask which information the client needs to read and whether they need to submit anything. A read-only update view, a document approval and a payment action are different capabilities. Confirm the supported actions rather than inferring them from the word “portal”.

Identify where a client response goes and who handles it. If a customer sends an update but nobody in the office sees it, the portal can add another inbox instead of simplifying communication. Agree which channel is used for urgent changes and which information belongs in the project record.

Define what the subcontractor can do

A subcontractor's access should reflect the assignment and your agreement. Ask whether they need only instructions or also a way to record progress, add photos or flag a problem. Those are evaluation questions; do not assume each one is included until you see it demonstrated.

Also distinguish the subcontractor's agreed compensation from the price charged to the customer and the company's overall margin. Decide which financial information belongs in that view. If the subcontractor works on several jobs, test how assignments are separated and how old assignments appear after completion.

Test the actual outside view

Use separate sample identities for the owner, client and subcontractor. An owner's preview can be helpful for layout, but it does not prove the restrictions experienced by another person. Open the same sample job from each view and inspect which data is returned.

• Can the participant see only the intended job or assignment?
• Are internal notes and financial records appropriately restricted?
• What happens if a link to another record is opened directly?
• Can the participant change information they should only read?
• What happens when their access is removed?

Ask the provider which tests have been completed and which remain open. With Vio, some security checks are still being completed. Confirm what is verified for your setup instead of treating a reassuring label as evidence of a completed control.

Plan the lifetime of access

Access begins when a person needs it and should change when their role changes. Decide who issues it, who can remove it and what happens when an assignment ends. A former subcontractor or a customer from an unrelated job should not retain unintended access merely because someone forgot a link existed.

Check how the system handles lost access and account recovery. Ask whether links expire, whether sign-in is required and what happens if a link is forwarded. These questions matter even when everyone involved is acting honestly. A simple workflow still needs a clear owner for access decisions.

Check the phone experience with real tasks

Many outside participants will use a phone. Test the task they actually need to complete: find the latest scope, read an instruction or locate an update. Check the view at a small screen size and with the kinds of documents you use. Do not judge it only from a wide desktop screenshot.

If more than one language is relevant to your team, ask to see the supported experience and the parts that remain untranslated. Confirm what happens to free-text notes and attachments. A translated menu does not necessarily translate every instruction entered by the office.

Compare packages and user terms

For Vio, Crew is $2,500 once and adds both portals to Office. Complete is $3,000 and adds AI for one year, renewing yearly. Extra logins are listed at $50 each. Confirm who counts as a login in your agreement instead of assuming every portal participant is charged the same way.

The Vio portal overview and pricing page are the starting points. Ask Ray for current hosting and AI renewal terms. The right package depends on the workflow you have tested, not only the number of feature names in a comparison table.

Does a portal replace all messages?

Not automatically. Decide where urgent changes, approvals and ordinary updates belong. A portal is useful when it provides a reliable record; it is less useful if it becomes an unattended inbox beside several others.

Should a subcontractor see the owner's view?

Only grant the information and actions appropriate to the role. Define the requirements first and test them with a separate sample account. A restricted menu alone does not prove that underlying records are protected.

What should I bring to Ray?

List one client's update needs and one subcontractor's assignment needs, using redacted examples. Book a Vio demo or email info@withvio.com. Ask to follow the same sample job through all three views before choosing your package.