FOR TRADE CONTRACTORS IN CANADA AND THE US
Find the clauses that cost you money before you sign.
Upload a subcontract, purchase order, or bid package. In about two minutes you get every risky clause quoted back to you, what it could cost you, and the wording to send the GC.
$49 USD per contract. Your first full report is free. No credit card to try a clause.
[PLACEHOLDER] Report screenshot goes here (captured from a real report in Phase 7)
SEC. 02 / LIVE DEMO
Paste a clause. See what it does to you.
Pick where the job is, paste one clause from a contract you've been sent, and we'll tell you what it means for your company.
Your result shows up here: how risky it is, what it means, what it could cost, and wording to send back.
SEC. 03 / SCOPE
What we check in every contract
- 01Pay-when-paid and pay-if-paid
- Whether you get paid only if the owner pays the GC, and whether that's even enforceable where the job is.
- 02Holdback and retainage
- How much gets held, and whether it's released when your work is done or when the whole project closes.
- 03Liquidated damages
- Daily penalties passed down to you, including delays you didn't cause.
- 04No damages for delay
- Clauses that give you more time but no money when the job stalls.
- 05Indemnity
- Whether you're covering the GC for their own mistakes.
- 06Notice deadlines
- 48-hour and 7-day windows that quietly kill your claims if you miss them.
- 07Changes and extras
- Whether you have to proceed on disputed work, and how pricing gets set.
- 08Back-charges and set-off
- The GC's right to deduct from your pay, and what notice they owe you.
- 09Flow-down
- The prime contract obligations you inherit without ever seeing that contract.
- 10Termination for convenience
- Whether they can walk away, and what you're paid if they do.
- 11Lien rights and waivers
- Anything that waives or limits your lien or bond claims.
- 12Insurance and bonding
- Coverage limits, additional insured requirements, and waivers of subrogation.
- 13Warranty
- How long, when it starts, and what it covers.
- 14Disputes and venue
- Where you'd have to fight, under which law, and who pays the lawyers.
We also list the protections that are missing, such as no cap on your liability or no price escalation clause for materials.
SEC. 04 / JURISDICTION
The same clause means different things in different places.
A pay-when-paid clause in Manitoba doesn't play out the way it does in Texas. Most provinces now have prompt payment laws that set hard deadlines for when a contractor has to pay you. Several US states won't enforce pay-if-paid at all. Others will, if the wording is clear enough.
SubcontractCheck knows the payment, holdback, and lien rules for every province, territory, and state, and it tells you when the law already protects you and when a clause really does take something away.
ONE CLAUSE, TWO JOBS
"The Contractor shall pay the Subcontractor within ten (10) days after receipt of payment from the Owner for the Subcontractor's Work."
Job in Manitoba
For contracts signed on or after April 1, 2025, Manitoba's prompt payment rules require the contractor to pay you within 7 days of being paid, or by day 35 after your proper invoice if the owner hasn't paid, unless they send a notice of non-payment and commit to adjudication. The clause can't push those deadlines back.
Source: The Builders' Liens Act (Manitoba), as amended by S.M. 2023, c. 30
Job in California
California courts treat pay-if-paid as unenforceable because it works as an advance waiver of lien rights. Timing language like this is generally allowed, but the state's prompt payment law separately requires a contractor to pay a sub within 7 days of receiving payment.
SEC. 05 / OUTPUT
Every finding comes with the clause, the cost, and a way out.
[PLACEHOLDER] Annotated report screenshot goes here (Phase 7)
- 1The exact clause, quoted word for word with its section number, so you can find it fast.
- 2What it could cost you, in dollars or days, based on your contract value.
- 3What the law says where the job is, so you know if you're already protected.
- 4Wording to send back, written as a redline plus a short email you can paste to the GC.
SEC. 06 / PRICING
Pay per contract, or check everything.
One contract, $49 USD
A full report on one contract up to 60 pages, PDF export, and French or English. No subscription.
Check one contractUnlimited, $99 USD a month
For estimators and PMs who see contracts every week. Unlimited reports (fair use), saved history, and PDF exports. Cancel from your account any time.
Start UnlimitedYour first full report is free when you create an account. Trying a single clause never needs an account.
A construction lawyer is the right call for big or unusual contracts. SubcontractCheck helps you know which ones those are, and walks you in with your questions already written.
SEC. 07 / WHO
Built in Manitoba
SubcontractCheck is built by Ben Baker in Anola, Manitoba. I've spent twelve years in sales and run a few businesses, and I kept watching trade contractors sign contracts they didn't have time to read. This is the tool I'd want if I were running a crew. If something in a report looks wrong, email me directly at [CONFIRM: email] and I'll read it.
Operated by 14926668 Canada Ltd., [CONFIRM: city, province], Canada.
SEC. 08 / FAQ
Questions contractors ask
01Is this legal advice?
No. It's an automated first read that points out risk and gives you language to negotiate with. It doesn't replace a lawyer, and for large or complicated contracts you should talk to one.
02What happens to my contract?
We use it to write your report and then delete the original file. We keep the report so you can come back to it, and you can delete it any time. We never use your contracts to train AI models. Our data is stored in Canada.
03What can I upload?
Subcontracts, purchase orders, bid packages, supply agreements, and standard forms such as CCA 1 and AIA A401, as PDF or Word. Scanned PDFs work too.
04Which places do you cover?
Every Canadian province and territory and all 50 US states. Quebec contracts are reviewed under Quebec civil law rules.
05Can I get the report in French?
Yes. Choose English or French for any report, whatever language the contract is in.
06How accurate is it?
Every quote in a report is checked against your document before you see it. The analysis can still miss things or get context wrong, which is why every finding shows you the original clause so you can judge for yourself.
07Can I cancel?
Yes, from your account page, in two clicks. No emails or phone calls.
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