What prequalification actually costs a small contractor

The subscription is the visible cost. It's rarely the biggest one.

The visible cost: subscriptions

As of 2026, small contractors commonly pay in the range of several hundred to a few thousand dollars per year per portal, depending on company size, client count, and tier, sometimes with a separate setup fee. Multiple hiring clients can mean multiple portals, each with its own bill.

The real cost: hours and lapses

• Initial setup is routinely a multi-week effort of gathering documents, writing or sourcing programs, and answering long questionnaires.
• Maintenance runs year-round: certificate renewals, annual filings, questionnaire changes. Call it a few hours a month when nothing goes wrong, and much more when something does.
• Lapses are the expensive part. A dropped score doesn't send you an invoice. It just removes you from bid lists, and you find out when a client you've worked with for years "went another direction."

The build-or-buy math

If your own loaded hour is worth $75-150 and portal upkeep takes 3-6 hours a month done attentively, doing it yourself costs $225-900 a month in your time, plus lapse risk, plus the 9pm tax on your attention. That's the honest comparison to make with any management service, ours included: not "can I do this," because you can, but "is this the best use of the hours."