The Client Portal is a separate login for your customers. They sign in at a clean, simple page and see only their own work orders and quotes — never anyone else's. It isn't a window for them to peek at your business — it's where they DO their work. They open requests, ask questions, watch jobs move along, approve quotes, and sign off when a job is done. You spend less time on the phone repeating yourself, they spend less time chasing you. Everybody wins.
Submit new work orders
Right at the top of their portal there's a + Submit Request button. They click it, pick a location, pick a category (HVAC, Plumbing, etc.), write a short description, attach a photo from their phone if they want, and hit Send. The request lands on your side as a new open Work Order so your office can dispatch it. No more "hey can you call my office and leave a voicemail" — they just type it in.
Comment + ask questions on a work order
Every Work Order has a comments thread. The client can drop a note — "the lockbox code changed to 4521", "the tenant won't be there until 2pm", "any update?" — and it's right there with the WO. You and your tech see it. No texts on three different phone numbers, no email chains nobody can find later.
Track status live
There are five statuses a Work Order moves through: Open (submitted, waiting to be dispatched), Active (a tech is on it), On Hold (paused for parts or approval), Pending Authorization (there's a quote sitting on it waiting for the client to approve), and Complete (the work is done). The portal updates in real time as your office or your tech changes the status — no refresh needed. A lot of the "did you get my request?" calls just disappear once people can see it for themselves.
See and approve quotes
When you send a quote on a Work Order, every client user on that account sees a Pending Quotes banner across the top of their portal. They click in, see what's being proposed and the price, and approve or decline right there. Once approved, work resumes. The WO sits in the Pending Authorization tab until they make a call, so nothing falls through the cracks.
Sign off on completion
When your tech marks the work complete, the client can review what was done and sign off right inside the portal. That signature is captured against the Work Order so you have a clean record that the customer accepted the job.
(Owner-only) Reports tab
The first person you invite on the client side becomes the "owner" on their side. The owner gets one extra tab the rest of their team doesn't see: Reports — spend by location, repeat-issue detection (3+ Work Orders at the same site/category — usually a sign something needs replacing instead of patched again), and other roll-ups across their account. It's gated to the owner so dispatchers and field staff don't get lost in numbers they don't need.
The owner can also invite their own teammates from inside their portal. Those non-owner users (their dispatchers, facility managers, building staff) see the Work Order list, submit requests, comment, and approve quotes — they just don't get the Reports tab.
One login can hold multiple contractors
Property managers usually deal with more than one contractor — an HVAC shop, a plumber, an electrician, a janitorial service. Used to be they'd need a separate login for each one. Not anymore.
If a property manager already has a TradelyHQ login (because some other contractor invited them first), the next contractor that invites them just gets added to their existing login. Same email, same password, no new account. They sign in once and see one merged Work Order list across every contractor they work with — with a contractor filter chip strip across the top so they can flip between you and the others.
When they hit + Submit Request, they pick which contractor it goes to before they fill in the rest. That request only shows up on YOUR side. The plumber doesn't see your HVAC jobs, you don't see his. Same login, separate buckets.
What clients CANNOT do
- See another contractor's Work Orders, even if they're a client of both of you
- See your other clients, your tech list, your own internals
- See your costs / margins on a job
- Edit a Work Order once it's submitted (they can comment, not edit)
- Reopen a closed Work Order after 3 business days post-completion
Inviting a client
From your admin portal, open Clients → pick the client → Invite owner. The owner gets an email with a secure sign-in link and chooses their own password when they click it. Once they're in, THEY invite the rest of their team from inside their own portal.
The trust + privacy piece
The portal doesn't show your tech-rate, parts cost, markup %, or anything internal. Your data and their data are completely separate — they cannot see another company's stuff, ever. Even if the same person logs in and works with two different contractors through TradelyHQ, neither contractor sees the other's jobs or anything else. Your business stays your business.