How WayPoint works for builders, homeowners and subs

Start a job and choose what your client sees

Create a job with its name, type and dates, then pick Fixed Price or Cost Plus. On Fixed Price, your client sees the contract price, change orders and draws, but not your costs, your markup or what you pay your subs. On Cost Plus, they also see your costs by trade (including overhead and profit) and what each sub is paid.

A budget you check and lock

WayPoint drafts a budget by trade for the job. Every line carries a tag that says where its number came from: Estimated (from your questionnaire), Takeoff (measured from your plan), Bid (priced by your sub) or Contract (signed). When it's right, lock it. The starting budget is frozen at that point, and the working budget keeps up as bids and selections come in. If you upload your floor plan, WayPoint marks the rooms it finds, and you can move markers or add a room it missed.

Bid requests to your subs

From a budget line, send a bid request to up to three of your subs, with the scope and a deadline. Subs answer from their own WayPoint login, and each bid comes back to the job with a price and an estimated number of days. Accept one, and the budget updates. The subcontract is put together from the contract you uploaded to your company profile, with an exhibit for this job's scope, schedule and the accepted price. The sub signs when they send the bid, and you counter-sign when you accept it.

Change orders you both sign

Write the change order: what changed, the reason, the cost and schedule impact, and details for your client. It goes to your client to sign in their login. You counter-sign, and only then does the budget move. Every signed change order is filed under Files > Signed Change Orders with both signatures, the date, and the price before and after. If your client sends you a change request instead, you answer it with a price, and if they accept, a change order is created for both of you to sign.

Draws your client approves

When the work is done, request the draw from Budget > Payments: the amount, what it covers, any receipts or photos, and your full name typed as your signature. Your client sees what the draw covers and your receipts, and taps "Approve draw" or "Decline" in their login. When the payment lands, you record it. You can also lay out every draw for the job once, from a template such as "Standard residential", "Simple" or "Five equal draws", and request each one from the same list.

Selections with due dates

Your client's selections fall into four groups: before framing, framing complete, before drywall, and drywall complete. Each group is due 30, 60, 90 or 120 days after your start date, and your client sees the same dates in their login. If a group runs late, a daily check moves the job's target finish date out one day for each day late.

Your client, your subs and your office on the job

Invite your client and your subs from the job by email or text. They tap the link, create their login and are added to the job; subs see the tasks you assign them. Invite your office as Company Owner or Staff Member (three team logins are included). Subs post updates from their own login, tagged to a room or the whole site. You can reply, mark a post "Needs fix", or hide it from your client; the person who posted it and your team still see it.

Approve payment requests

When your builder asks for a payment (a "draw"), it shows at the top of your My Project page: the amount, what it covers and any receipts your builder attached. WayPoint records your builder's signature at the moment they send the request. To approve, type your full name and press "Approve draw"; you can also decline it. Approving records your approval and signature. It does not move money (see "Does approving pay my builder?" below).

See your contract price and every signed change order

The Budget page starts with your original contract, lists each signed change order with the date it was applied, and shows the current contract total. On a cost-plus job it also shows how much the budget has moved since it was locked. The Payments page shows the contract total, what has been paid, what is left, the next payment, and your payment schedule. On a cost-plus job, once your builder confirms it is cost plus, you also see their costs by category; on a fixed-price job, their costs and markup stay private.

Make your choices before they're due

Your next choice and its due date sit at the top of your home screen, with a countdown that turns amber at 7 days or fewer and red on the day it's due. The Selections page lists every choice room by room and by phase, with its allowance. Open one to see the allowance and due date, pick an option or approve it at the allowance, or add your own product for your builder to review. On your project page, each group says "Make by … or project slips", and a late group shows how many days the project is slipping.

Ask for a change, and sign change orders

Tap "Request a Change", pick the kind of change (add something new, change an existing item, remove something, upgrade materials or finishes, or other), choose the room, describe it, and add photos or a product link. Your builder reviews it and can send back a quote with materials, labor and any schedule impact; if you accept, that amount is added to your contract as a change order. When your builder writes a change order, it waits at the top of your project page for your typed signature, or you can decline it. Your builder counter-signs before anything is applied to the budget.

Keep one signed record

Documents → Signed Records lists your deposits, every draw with your builder's signature and your approval, and every signed change order, marked "Fully executed" once you have both signed. "Download signed record" saves it as a PDF that also lists the finishes chosen for your project. Your approved selections have their own PDF too.

Messages and crew updates

Messages is a thread between you and your builder, kept separate from the builder's thread with their subs. When your builder and their crews post updates, the photos show on your home screen and on your project's Photos tab.

Still looking for a builder?

WayPoint Marketplace (waypoint.contractors) is where you look for a builder or a trade. Post your project, choosing "Hire a contractor (GC)" for the whole job or "Hire a specific trade", with your city and ZIP. Any bids you get come back in one list, lowest price first, each with its own message thread. If WayPoint Marketplace members who do that kind of work are near your project, they are listed with an "Ask to bid" button (up to 3 open requests per project). Contractors see your city and ZIP; your street address, email and phone stay private until you accept a bid.

No account yet? Tell us about your project at waypoint.contractors/start and a real person on our team replies within one business day. We're starting in north Georgia. Somewhere else? Send your project anyway and we'll tell you plainly whether we have builders near you yet.

Bid invites with the scope your builder sent

When a builder invites you to bid, you get an email if you joined by email, or a text if you said yes to texts. Either way, the request shows on your WayPoint home screen under "Action Needed", with its deadline.

Open it to read what your builder sent: the scope, what's included and what's not, their notes, and, when the bid has them, counts by room. Each count says where its number came from; check every count against the plans before you price.

Price it from your phone with your total, an optional labor and materials split, your start date, how many days and any exclusions. Before you send, you tick five WayPoint commitments (for example: payments on this job go through WayPoint Pay, and change orders and weekly progress updates go through the app), then type your full legal name. Sending the bid is your e-signature on the builder's contract and project exhibit. Before your first bid, add your contact and insurance details on your Company Profile; WayPoint won't send a bid without them.

Your tasks and your trade's schedule

My Tasks shows only the tasks your builder assigned to you, sorted by due date, each with its room. Tap Start when you begin and Complete when you finish. Your home screen also shows "Your schedule": your trade's phases, taken from the builder's own schedule. When your builder moves a date, you see it there.

End-of-day updates, filed by room

On your phone, tap Post in the bottom bar. Add photos, type what you got done or record a voice note (up to 3 minutes; it's turned into text you can edit), and tap the room. Each update is dated and filed by room on the job's Updates tab, so you keep a record of your work. Your builder sees every update; the homeowner sees it too, unless the builder hides it or keeps it to the team.

Your subcontract and payment requests

When your builder sends your subcontract through WayPoint, you review and sign it under Contracts. After an award, the bid page has a place to upload your papers, like a certificate of insurance or a W-9. On a job where your builder awarded your bid and set up your pay schedule in WayPoint, tap Request payment. It's prefilled from that schedule: you pick the milestone, enter the amount, and attach the signed lien waiver your builder asks for (and an invoice if you use one). Your builder reviews it, and the Payments tab shows where each request stands. If you see "No awarded bid on this project", ask your builder.

List your business by trade and ZIP

Sign up yourself at waypoint.contractors with your name, business name and mobile number. We text you a 6-digit code, so there's no password to remember. Tap the trades you do (or add one that's not listed) and type the ZIP where you work. Homeowners looking near that ZIP can then find your business as a "WayPoint Marketplace member" and ask you to bid. They see your business name, trades, town and how far away you are, never your phone, email or street address.

Homeowner projects in your trades

When a homeowner asks you by name, you get an in-app alert plus an email (or one text, if you have no email on file and texts are on). Open it and answer "Send a price", "I'll price it by…" or "Not for me". Browse Jobs lists open homeowner projects that hire your trade directly; you bid with your price, how many days, and a note. WayPoint Marketplace is new, so there may be no homeowner projects near you yet. When a new one matches your trades and area, we email you once a day (add an email in Settings if you signed up with your phone).