The 2026 Subcontractor Benchmark
How Do You Stack Up?
Answer 15 questions and get your ITB Chaos Index — plus how your whole operation scores across estimating, follow-up, project handoff, and profitability vs. subcontractors your size. Free.
~9 min · 15 questions · Free
Based on a survey of 100+ U.S. commercial subcontractors
Sourced · Segmented by size + CSI division · Updated 2026
This survey is owned and operated by TradeAtlas. Riffle is a clearly labeled paid sponsor — they get one contextual placement on the results page if their product is relevant to your answers. (Our software directory is separate, and listings there are never paid for.) Your data is de-identified in aggregate reporting.
What You Walk Away With
Your ITB Chaos Index
A simple score for how much bid volume your inbox is really juggling — vs. peers.
Your Peer Benchmark
Bids/week, miss rate, and tech-openness against subs your size and CSI division.
A Tailored Tool Shortlist
Layer-coded software picks for the gaps your answers reveal. No fluff.
Sample · ITB Chaos Index
More overloaded than 82% of peers your size.
The Reality for Commercial Subs in 2026
Subcontractors win work by answering invitations to bid — but ITBs now arrive faster, and across more channels, than any inbox was built for. We surveyed 100+ U.S. commercial subs to map where bids are won, lost, and quietly dropped.
miss at least one ITB every month
channels a single ITB can arrive through
a week lost to bid triage & chasing docs
of revenue most subs invest in software
Source · TradeAtlas Subcontractor Survey · N=128 · Synthetic sample for preview
What the 15 Questions Cover — 6 Operations Pillars
ITB & Estimating
How invitations to bid land and get captured, and how you build estimates — spreadsheets or integrated takeoff.
Follow-Up
Whether post-bid follow-up is systematic, and if you can see which submitted bids actually got worked.
Handoff & PM
How a won job moves from estimate to execution — change orders, POs, submittals, and job costing.
Profit & Stack
Whether you can see estimated-vs-actual margin, and how connected the tools you already run are.
Built for Commercial Subcontractors
Estimators, PMs, Owners — Anyone Who Bids Weekly.
Answers are anonymous and aggregated. Residential-only shops and GCs are welcome too — we'll just calibrate a lighter benchmark.
~9 min · 15 questions · Free