Contractor access guide
Invite contractors without opening your finance workspace
Setup: about 5 minutes · Plans: Solo, Team and Firm
The Contractor role is a restricted submission identity for an external worker, subcontractor or consultant. It is not a lighter version of Member access. Contractors enter through their own portal, submit work to one organisation and track only what they submitted. Owners and admins retain control of review, coding and ledger publication.
What the Contractor role includes
A contractor can upload an invoice or supporting file, enter the invoice number, dates, amount, notes and line items, log time where enabled, and view the status of their own submissions. Status changes let them see whether their item is submitted, under review, approved, rejected, synced, paid or voided. They can return to the portal without joining your main team.
They cannot open the organisation dashboard, browse supplier bills, see bank or accounting data, view another contractor's work, change ledger accounts, approve a cost, manage integrations, invite users, alter approval rules or access billing. Their upload enters an admin review flow. The roles and permissions guide shows when to use Contractor instead of Member or Expense Submitter.
Create one contractor record for each person rather than sharing a field-team login. Individual identities keep submission ownership, status updates and deactivation clear. Use the email address the contractor controls and expects to use on their phone. If one subcontracting company has several workers but only one person submits its invoices, invite that responsible person; do not create accounts for workers who never use the portal. A contractor invitation grants access to the organisation that issued it only.
How seats are billed
A pending invitation does not count as an active seat. Billing follows active contractors, and the count is reconciled when a contractor accepts, is deactivated, reactivated or deleted.
| Plan | Included active seats | Additional seats |
|---|---|---|
| Solo | None | $5 per active contractor each month |
| Team | 5 | $5 per active contractor above five each month |
| Firm | Unlimited | No per-contractor charge |
Deactivating an active contractor releases the chargeable seat while preserving the account and submission history. Deleting removes the contractor and their submissions, so use deletion only when that record should be removed. Current base-plan allowances appear on the pricing page.
Send the invitation
- Open Contractors and select Invite contractor.
- Enter the person's full name and email. Phone, hourly rate and notes are optional. Set the default expense account required by your ledger workflow.
- Select Send invite. Sumext emails a single-use link and also shows a copyable link as a manual fallback if delivery fails.
- The contractor opens the link within 14 days, creates or signs in to their account using the invited email address, and accepts access.
The email match is deliberate. A link opened while signed in under another address cannot attach that user to the contractor record. Once accepted, the link cannot be used again.
The mobile PWA flow
The contractor portal is a progressive web app, so there is no App Store or Play Store account to manage. After accepting, the contractor opens app.sumext.com/portal in Safari or Chrome. On iPhone, they use Share → Add to Home Screen. On supported Android browsers, they use the browser menu → Add to Home screen or Install app. The Sumext icon then opens a standalone, portrait mobile view scoped to the portal.
From the home screen they select the relevant submission action, take a clear photo or choose a file, complete the required details and submit. A success state confirms delivery, and My submissions holds the status history. The full contractor portal guide covers the day-to-day submission experience.
Resend, replace or revoke an invitation
Sumext does not present a separate resend button for a pending contractor. While the original 14-day link remains valid, resend the invitation email or the copied fallback link to the same address. Do not send that link to a different person.
If the link expired, was exposed or the email address is wrong, delete the still-pending contractor record and create a fresh invitation. The new record receives a new token and expiry. Deleting a pending record also revokes its old invitation because there is no contractor left to activate. For an invitation that has already been accepted, choose Deactivate rather than trying to revoke the used link. Deactivation blocks the contractor's active role and releases a billable seat; Reactivate restores it later.
Common onboarding failures
No email arrived. Ask the contractor to check spam and filtered mail. The admin should use the copyable link shown after creation. If Sumext reported an email configuration error, the invitation still exists and the copied link is the fallback.
The link says expired or already used. Links expire after 14 days and are single use. Replace an expired pending invitation; an already-used link means the contractor should sign in and open the portal directly.
The email does not match. Sign out of the unintended Sumext account, then sign in or register with the exact invited address. If the invitation contains a typo, replace it rather than sharing credentials.
The seat limit is reached. Deactivate an inactive worker, add a Solo or Team overage seat, or move to a plan with the required allowance. Only owners and admins can invite or change contractor status.
The portal opens as a normal browser tab. The account still works. Home-screen installation is optional. Re-add it from Safari or Chrome if the standalone icon was removed.
A submission cannot post. This is not an onboarding failure. Contractor work waits for review, and missing vendor, account, tax or integration details must be corrected by an owner or admin.