Commercial subs: a trade-tech shelf tuned to how you work.
Research, rankings, and playbooks for specialty subs. Set three dials and the whole page re-sorts to your shop — no login, no sales call.
The subcontractor hub
We Mapped the Trade Software Ecosystem
Subcontractors run on software built for their customers — a stack-level analysis of the gap in construction tech.
The Sub Stack Report
Independent research on how commercial subcontractors actually buy, run, and get squeezed by software.
- Read nowWe Mapped the Trade Software Ecosystem. Almost None of It Was Built for Subs.
Subcontractors run on software built for their customers — a stack-level analysis of the gap in construction tech.
Read the report - Coming soonThe Bid Desk: How Subs Actually Decide What to Chase
ITB volume, bid/no-bid criteria, and why win rate is the number almost nobody tracks by GC.
- Coming soonJob Costing Shouldn't Arrive a Month Late
Why cost data reaches the field after the decisions that needed it, and what closing that loop requires.
- Coming soonWorking Inside Someone Else's Platform
RFIs, submittals, and the operational cost of every GC mandating a different system.
- Coming soonCertified Payroll Is Still Done by Hand
Prevailing-wage compliance, audit exposure, and the administrative load on public work.
The stack around you
Showing the commercial stack for specialty subcontractors.
Regulations & Certifications
Business Operations
Field Execution
Ecosystem & Networks
Tools built for subs
Vendors named with sourced claims in our Sub Stack Report research — the same standard every vendor in that research is held to. Ordered on merit — tier, then rating. Placement is never paid.
Commercial vs. Residential, Trade by Trade
Same trade, two different businesses. Licensing, contracts, cash cycle, and software stack — broken down side by side.
- Plumbing
Two states have no statewide license at all — and California's C-36 covers both sides of the trade under one credential.
Read the breakdown - Electrical
The widest no-state-license footprint of any trade compared — three states leave it entirely to municipalities.
Read the breakdown - HVAC
Splits three ways, not two: residential, commercial capital-projects, and commercial service-contract all run different stacks.
Read the breakdown - Roofing
The most fragmented licensing landscape found yet — a genuine three-way split between licensed, registered, and unregulated states.
Read the breakdown - Painting
The lightest regulatory footprint of any trade in the series — only 7 of 15 states issue a real competency license.
Read the breakdown
Latest reads
Free tools from TradeAtlas
No login, no sales call. Built from the same independent research — the numbers can't be bought.
Answer a handful of questions and get your Trade Card — how your stack stacks up, gap by gap.
Score your stackWhere the work is heading in your trade and state — hiring signal by month.
Check your marketAdd your shop to the 2026 research. Results published free, in full.
Take the surveyWhere demand is moving
Hiring signal by trade, August 2026. Computed from government and job-board data — not vendor claims.
Monthly movers · shareable
Auto-rendered from the biggest Shortage Signal swings this month. Two export sizes for the trade press and social.