Client portal
Available onBuilder
The client portal is a web page for your client about their job. You give them one link; on it they see what you have chosen to share, approve variations, download their progress claims, look at photos from site and send you a message. There is no login, no app and no password. The link itself is the key, the same way shared colour schedules and call-up confirmations work.
Give your client one address instead of a stream of emails, and the “can you send me the contract again?” calls stop.
What the client sees
Section titled “What the client sees”The page has seven tabs. Each one shows only what you have shared or what belongs to that client.
| Tab | What is on it |
|---|---|
| Home | A welcome line you write, your contact details, and what is new: the latest documents, photos, variations, claims and messages |
| Documents | Every file in the job’s Client Documents folder, plus any other job file you ticked as shared. Open or download |
| Selections | A button into their colour selections page, if you have shared one, with how far through they are |
| Variations | Every variation sent to them with its status, opening the same approve / decline page as before, and a form to ask for a change |
| Claims | Their progress claims with the PDF, whether each is paid, part paid or awaiting payment, and the running totals: contract, claimed, paid, outstanding |
| Photos | Site-diary photos shared with the client, grouped by day - either every photo (the job’s share all photos switch) or only the ones ticked |
| Schedule | Only when you switch it on for the job: the stages and tasks with their dates and percent complete, a today line, and what is running late. Never cost, suppliers, call-ups or notes |
| Messages | A chat with your team. What they write lands in Messages as a Client chat on the job, and on the team’s phones |
Money on the page is only ever the client’s own figures: their claims and their variations. Nothing about cost or margin leaves the server.
Setting a client up
Section titled “Setting a client up”Client links are managed on Project settings, in the Client portal card under the clients list. Each client of the project gets their own link for the costing you have selected.
- Add the client (name and email) under Clients if they are not there yet. Their link is made for the selected costing the moment you add them, so they appear in the Client portal card straight away, ready to send. Nothing is emailed yet.
- In the Client portal card press Invite. Write a personal line for the email if you like, and a welcome line that sits at the top of their page. Press Send invitation. The email goes (you are copied in), and the card shows when it was sent.
- Or press the link button to copy the link and send it by text or however you prefer. A client added before links were made automatically - or one you want on a different costing - shows Make link instead; press it first.
The card also shows when the client first opened the page and how many times, so you know whether the invitation landed.
Revoke stops a link working immediately; anyone opening it sees “this link is no longer valid”. New link afterwards issues a fresh address. Deleting a client from the project revokes their link too.
What the old variation portal became
Section titled “What the old variation portal became”Before September 2026 the same link opened a page that listed only variations
(ClientVariation.aspx?p=). Those addresses still work: they redirect to the new page. The
per-variation links (?t=) are unchanged and are what the Variations tab opens.
In this section
Section titled “In this section”Selections in the portal
Section titled “Selections in the portal”The Selections tab is the client’s selections schedule, shown inside the portal as soon as the job has one. The client makes and confirms choices there exactly as they would through a separate selections link, each confirmation lands in the chat, and the home page shows the latest selection activity. There is nothing extra to set up: the portal link is the key.