Adding a contractor: external firm vs in-house surveyor

Selecting + Add contractor asks one question first: is this an external firm that runs its own organisation, or an in-house contractor surveyor who works for you? The two paths create genuinely different kinds of account.

What it is

External firm — they use HSP creates a separate contractor organisation, ring-fenced from yours — they manage their own surveyors, insurance and accreditation records, and only ever see the work you send them. In-house contractor surveyor — they work for you is for a sub-contractor with no account of their own: you create their sign-in directly inside your own organisation, they sign in as one of your own surveyors, and their work consumes one of your surveyor seats. There’s no invite, subscription or claim step for this second path at all — more than one surveyor can share the same contractor firm label.

Before you start

Both paths need module-admin access to Contractors; adding an in-house contractor surveyor also needs member-management permission, since it creates a real sign-in.

How to do it

Open Contractors and select + Add contractor.
Choose External firm or In-house contractor surveyor.
For an external firm, enter the company name (email/phone optional) and save — see Invite codes and grants for what happens next.
For an in-house contractor surveyor, enter their name and the contractor firm they work for, then select Add contractor surveyor.
Copy the generated password shown once on screen and hand it to them directly — it’s never stored or shown again.

How it integrates

An in-house contractor surveyor is checked against your licensed surveyor-seat count before the account is created, exactly like any other surveyor invite — see Seats: what is billed and what is free. Their sign-in is flagged internally so their firm label is visible on the Contractors screen even though, everywhere else in the portal, they behave exactly like any other surveyor of yours: same job list, same evidence rules, same app. An external firm, by contrast, never becomes a member of your organisation at all — see Invite codes and grants for how that relationship is bound instead.

Common problems

I need more than one surveyor for the same in-house contractor. Add each one separately with the same contractor firm label — the portal groups them together automatically.
Adding an in-house contractor surveyor fails with “no seats available”. You’re at your licensed surveyor-seat limit — add seats on the Billing page or free one up first, same as any other surveyor invite.
I want the contractor to eventually run their own account instead. That’s the external-firm path, not this one — an in-house contractor surveyor’s sign-in always stays inside your organisation and can’t be converted later.