> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tread.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Multi-Contractor Projects

> One project, multiple contractors — separate billing, shared dispatch, unified reporting.

## When to use this

Use multi-contractor projects when several contractors share one job number — a highway, a subdivision, a large site — but each one bills separately. Common on public-works projects where six to eight contractors run the same job site under the same owner.

## How it works

A [project](/concepts/orders-projects) is the container for all work tied to a job number. Tread lets you attach multiple [customers](/onboarding/master-data/customers) (the contractors) to one project. Each [order](/concepts/orders-projects) (the day's work) is tagged to the customer paying for it.

Dispatch sees one project on the board. Billing splits cleanly — each contractor gets their own invoice for their own loads, with no manual sorting. Reports can roll up to the project (everything that happened on the highway) or down to the contractor (just what Contractor A owes you).

This setup also keeps the data clean for the owner. If the owner asks "who hauled what on this job?", one report pulls every contractor and every load tied to the project.

## Setup

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create the project once">
    Projects → New Project. Use the shared job number as the project name. Set the project [site](/onboarding/master-data/sites) to the work zone.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Attach each contractor as a customer">
    On the project, add each contractor under **Customers**. They must already exist in [Customers](/onboarding/master-data/customers) — invite them as [Connected Customers](/concepts/connected-ecosystem) if they're not.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Tag each order to the right customer">
    When you create an order under this project, pick the contractor paying for that day's work in the **Customer** dropdown. Tickets and rates flow to that contractor only.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pull the unified project report">
    Reports → Projects → pick the project. The report rolls up loads, hours, and revenue across every contractor. Filter by customer to see one contractor at a time.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Common pitfalls

<Warning>
  **Creating a separate project per contractor.** A regional hauler tried this on a six-contractor highway job. Reporting back to the owner became a manual spreadsheet exercise. One project with multiple customers is the right model — don't split it.
</Warning>

<Warning>
  **Forgetting to tag the order to the customer.** An untagged order falls back to the project default and bills the wrong contractor. Confirm the customer on every new order before dispatching.
</Warning>

## Related

* [Orders & Projects](/concepts/orders-projects) — project as the container, order as the day
* [Connected Ecosystem](/concepts/connected-ecosystem) — how contractors connect to your company
* [Customers](/onboarding/master-data/customers) — set up each contractor before attaching
* [Exports & Reports](/workflows/exports-reports) — pulling project-level vs customer-level data