Keep certificates of insurance, licenses, W-9s, and subcontractor agreements in one encrypted vault, linked to the jobs they cover. BD Project Tools warns you 45, 30, 15, and 7 days before anything expires, so the renewal is in hand before the GC asks for it.
Say you run 8 subs. Each one owes you a current certificate of insurance, a W-9, and a signed subcontractor agreement. Add your own liability policy, your workers' comp certificate, and your contractor license, and you're keeping track of 27 documents. The certificates and licenses all renew on different dates.
Most shops track that in an email inbox and a memory. Then a sub's certificate lapses on a Friday, the general contractor or property manager asks for a current one Monday morning, and your crew sits in the truck while somebody digs through email.
The fix isn't a better filing cabinet. It's a system that knows the expiration date and tells you before it arrives, early enough to get the renewal without a fire drill.
The vault is an office tool, built for a computer or tablet. Project managers reach the documents for their own jobs from the job page.
Drop the file into the vault and pick a type: COI, License, W-9, Subcontractor Agreement, Contract, Check Image, Receipt, or Other. If it expires, enter the expiration date.
One click sets up the starter folders: COIs, Subcontractor Agreements, W-9s, Licenses, Contracts, Lien Waivers, Safety & Compliance, Receipts & Source Documents, Check Images, and Signed Documents. Add your own folders, or change the starter set for your company.
Link the document to a job or a customer. It shows up in the Documents section of that job's page, so the project manager running the job can pull up the sub's COI without calling the office.
You get a heads-up 45 days out, again at 30, 15, and 7 days, and on the day it expires. It arrives as one daily digest in the app, by email, and as a push notification. Anything already expired stays on the office's digest every day until it's handled.
When the new certificate comes in, upload it as a new version and update the expiration date. The old one stays in the version history, and the warnings start over from the new date.
The Expiring Documents dashboard groups every current document by how soon it expires, and shows the job or customer it belongs to.
Sample data for illustration. Your dashboard lists your own documents.
Storing files is easy. Knowing what's current, who touched it, and that it hasn't changed is the part that matters when someone asks for proof.
Every file is encrypted with AES-256-GCM before it's stored on BDB's servers. Each time a file is opened, it's checked against the fingerprint saved at upload, so a file that changed in storage is refused instead of served.
Warnings at 45, 30, 15, and 7 days and on the expiration date, in one daily digest. Admins and office managers get them, plus the project manager on any job the document is linked to.
Tie a COI to the job it covers, or a contract to the customer it's with. The job page shows its documents, and the expiration dashboard shows which job each one belongs to.
Upload a renewed certificate or a revised agreement as a new version. The current copy is what everyone sees, and the earlier versions stay on file.
When there's a dispute or an insurance claim, put the document on legal hold. Nobody can edit, move, replace, or delete it until the hold is released.
Every view, download, upload, and change is recorded with who did it and when, in a log that can't be edited. Export up to 10,000 entries to CSV. Search by title or file name, and download a stack of documents as one zip file.
A W-9 has a tax ID on it. A subcontractor agreement has your pricing in it. Access to the vault is set per person on the Users page, so those documents stay with the people who need them.
Full management by default: upload, organize, link, set legal holds, and read the audit log.
See and add documents on the jobs assigned to them, and nothing else in the vault.
Other field roles don't see the vault unless you change their access on the Users page.
Every sub brings a COI, a W-9, and an agreement. Keep them filed by type, tied to the jobs they're working, and get warned before a certificate lapses mid-project.
General contractors and property managers want a current certificate before your crew starts. Have it ready, and pull a stack of documents as one zip when a prequalification packet is due.
Your own license and insurance policies renew on their own schedules. Put the dates in once and let the warnings come to you instead of finding out from an inspector or a customer.
Give a document an expiration date and BD Project Tools watches it for you. You get a heads-up 45 days out, again at 30, 15, and 7 days, and on the day it expires. Alerts come as one daily digest in the app, by email, and as a push notification on devices where push is turned on. Admins and office managers get them by default, along with the project manager on any job the document is linked to. Anything already expired stays on the office's daily digest until you replace it.
Every file is encrypted with AES-256-GCM before it is written to storage on BDB's servers, so the stored copy can't be read without the vault key. When a file is opened, BD Project Tools checks it against a fingerprint saved at upload, and a file that was altered in storage is refused instead of served. Every view, download, and change is written to an audit log that can't be edited after the fact.
Upload the new certificate as a new version of the same document and update its expiration date. The old certificate stays in the version history, and the alert schedule starts over from the new date.
Not unless you let them. Full vault access goes to admins and office managers by default. A project manager can see and add documents on the jobs assigned to them, and nothing else. Other field roles don't see the vault.
Yes, through the Customer Portal. The Document Vault is for your company's own records. Documents you trade with a customer live in that customer's portal folders.
No. The Document Vault is part of the full BD Project Tools platform, which is included on every plan. It is turned on for new companies by default, and you can switch it off in Settings if you don't need it.
Keep your COIs, licenses, W-9s, and agreements encrypted, filed, and tied to the jobs they cover, with warnings well before anything lapses. Included with every Best Decision Project Tools subscription.
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