What Is a Contractor Network?
An organisation that brings work to a group of independent contractors. What varies is how it earns, how much it handles, and how work is allocated.
The short answer
A contractor network is a group of independent tradespeople who receive work through a shared organisation.
A contractor network is an arrangement where an organisation brings work to a group of independent contractors, and usually handles some or all of the customer-facing side: generating enquiries, checking contractors, booking visits, preparing quotations or administering payment. The contractors remain independent businesses. What varies from one network to the next is how it earns its money, how much of the process it handles, and how work is allocated.
The term covers quite different models, and it's easy to confuse networks with lead platforms and directories. Here's how to tell them apart and what to ask before you join one. It sits alongside the wider guide on getting more work as a contractor.
The main types
What contractor network can mean
Coordination networks
The network generates the enquiry, appoints a contractor to it, and handles much of the process around the job: booking, quoting, follow-up and payment administration. It usually earns from work that goes ahead.
Referral groups
Trades who pass work to each other. Often informal, sometimes membership-based. The contractor who does the job keeps the relationship with the customer.
Franchise networks
Contractors trade under a shared brand and systems, usually paying fees in return. More support and structure, and more ongoing cost.
Larger firms' approved trades
Bigger builders keep a list of trades they bring in on their own projects. You work for that firm rather than directly for the homeowner.
Installer networks
Manufacturers and suppliers sometimes keep a list of approved installers and pass on enquiries for their products.
Directories and lead platforms
Sometimes described as networks, but they work differently: they sell a listing or leads, and you handle the customer from there.
The key difference
Coordination network or lead platform
The simplest test is what happens after the enquiry reaches you. This is how the models generally work; individual terms vary.
Lead platform or directory
- You pay for the listing or the lead
- The same enquiry may go to several trades
- You contact, visit, quote and chase
- You collect your own payment
- It earns whether or not you win the job
Coordination network
- Often nothing to pay per enquiry
- One contractor appointed to the job
- The network books, quotes or chases, depending on the model
- Payments may be administered for you
- It earns when the work goes ahead
How they earn
Follow the money
The quickest way to understand any network is to ask how it's paid. Some charge a membership. Some add a fee to the customer's price or take a share of each job. Some charge per enquiry, which puts them closer to a lead platform whatever they call themselves.
None of these is wrong in itself. But the model tells you whose interests line up with yours. A network that earns only when the work goes ahead has a reason to send you enquiries that convert. One that earns per lead has a reason to send you more leads. The fuller comparison is in lead generation vs a contractor network.
Before joining one
Questions to ask any network
What does it cost, and when?
Joining fees, subscriptions, per-lead charges, or a fee on completed work. Get it in writing.
Who else gets the enquiry?
One contractor, or several? If several, you're back in a price comparison.
What does the network actually handle?
Just the introduction, or the visit, the quotation, the follow-up and the payments too?
Who holds the contract with the customer?
Are you the customer's main contractor, or working for someone else who is?
How is work allocated?
By rota, by track record, or by who pays more? It tells you what the network rewards.
When are you paid, and by whom?
Who collects the deposit and balance, and how quickly they reach you.
If you pay before you hear about any work, and several contractors receive the same enquiry, it's working as a lead platform, whatever it calls itself. If one contractor is appointed and the organisation stays involved until the job is paid for, it's closer to a coordination network. Plenty of arrangements sit somewhere between the two, which is why the questions above are worth asking.
Our version
How Mortaro's network works
Mortaro runs a coordination network. We generate the enquiries ourselves, appoint one contractor to each, book the site visit, turn your trade-rate price into a professional quotation, follow it up, and administer the deposit and balance to you. The construction contract is between you and the customer. There's nothing to pay to join; our fee is added on top of your price. The detail is in how contractor networks work.
Joining is by invitation, and it starts with you telling us about your business. See how do I join the network?
For the full picture of how we work with contractors, see working through the Mortaro contractor network.
Straight answers
Contractor network questions
Is working through a network the same as working for another firm?
Not necessarily. On a larger firm's approved list you usually work for that firm. In a coordination network you may contract directly with the customer as their main contractor. Ask which applies before you join. The general trade-offs are in working for other firms vs direct customers.
Do contractor networks charge fees?
Some do and some don't. Memberships, per-lead charges and fees on completed work all exist. Ask exactly what you'll pay, when, and whether it comes out of your price or sits on top of it.
Do I stay an independent business?
In most models, yes. You keep your own company, insurance and methods. What changes is who brings the work and how much of the admin around it you handle yourself.
For contractors
Tell us about your business
Your trade, the areas you cover and the size of work you take on. A person reads every enquiry, and if it looks like a fit we will send you the full application.