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How to set up a branded client portal for your contracting business

Your logo. Your subdomain. Your license on the page. Here's how to set up a portal where clients read estimates, sign, and pay before they put the phone down.

By Homefront Pro·5 min read·Updated September 14, 2026

When a homeowner gets estimates from three different pros, the one who wins isn't usually the cheapest. It's the one who looks most put-together when the paperwork arrives. A PDF attached to a generic email looks the same whether it came from a one-person shop or a company that's been around for 20 years. It doesn't build trust. It doesn't show your license or your insurance. It doesn't give the client a clear path to say yes. You do professional work. Your paperwork should match.

A branded client portal changes that. When you send an estimate through Homefront, your client gets a link to your own page at smithroofing.homefront.pro. They open it and see your logo at the top, your business name, your license number, your contact information. The estimate is laid out with the full scope, line items, and any photos you attached. They can read through everything, tap your phone number with a question, sign with one tap, and pay a deposit before they close the browser. No back-and-forth over email. No asking them to print, sign, and scan. The client stays in one place from first look to approval.

Setup takes about five minutes. This guide walks through picking your subdomain, uploading your logo and brand color, adding your license and insurance credentials, testing the portal before you invite anyone, and turning on Spanish for clients who prefer it. Do these once and every estimate you send going forward carries your full professional presence.

Your logo, license number, and insurance details appear on every estimate and invoice in the portal. Clients see your credentials before they sign, not after.

Step by step

  1. 1

    Pick your subdomain

    Go to Settings and open the Branding section. Your subdomain is the part that goes before .homefront.pro. Most pros use a short version of their business name: smithroofing, acepaving, jrplumbing. Keep it close to what your clients already associate with you. Once you set it, this address appears on every estimate link, invoice notification, and payment confirmation you send. You can change it later, but any links already sent will stop working. Old email threads, texts with estimate links, anything already out there breaks. Pick something you'll stick with from the start. If your business name is long, a short version or initials work fine as long as they make sense as a URL.

  2. 2

    Upload your logo and set your brand color

    Under Branding, tap Add logo. Use a PNG or JPG file with a transparent or white background. Homefront places your logo at the top of every portal page and on every PDF you send. Below the logo upload, set your primary color. This controls button colors and accent details throughout the portal. Use your exact hex code if you have one. If not, pick the closest match in the color picker. When your client opens an estimate or invoice link, they land on a page showing your logo, your name, and your color scheme. It reads like a page you built for your business, not a piece of software someone else made.

  3. 3

    Add your license, bond, and insurance details

    Go to Settings and add your license number, bond number, and insurance details. These appear on every estimate page in the portal. A homeowner comparing three bids doesn't always call each pro to ask for credentials. They read the paperwork. When yours is the one showing a valid license number and proof of insurance, that information does real work before you say a word. You don't need to upload certificates. Type the relevant numbers and expiration dates. Clients see them as part of the estimate review, right next to the scope and price. That kind of detail tells a homeowner you're the kind of pro who has the paperwork together before anyone asks. [screenshot: portal-credentials-display.png]

  4. 4

    Preview the portal as your client will see it

    Before you send anything to a real client, send yourself a test estimate. Open the notification on your phone the way a client would. Check that your logo is loading, your business name shows, your brand color is applied, and your credentials appear on the estimate page. Tap through the signature flow from start to finish. If you've set a deposit, walk through the payment step too. [screenshot: portal-client-view.png] Pay attention to how it looks on a phone screen. That's where most clients open the link. If anything is missing or looks off, fix it before the first real send. This test takes about three minutes and catches problems before a client you want to impress sees them.

  5. 5

    Turn on bilingual mode for Spanish-speaking clients

    If you work with clients who prefer Spanish, go to Settings and turn on the bilingual option. When you add a client, mark their preferred language as Spanish. Every document you send that client comes through in Spanish from that point: portal pages, estimate PDFs, invoice notifications, and the signing flow. You don't translate anything or maintain a second set of templates. The language preference is stored on the client record. The legal record of the signature carries the same weight either way. If a client's preference changes, update the record and the next document goes out in the updated language.

  6. 6

    Send your first estimate through the portal

    With branding set, credentials filled in, and a test completed, open the app and create an estimate. Add line items, scope description, and an expiration date. Turn on a deposit amount if you want one tied to the approval. Tap Send. Your client gets a notification with a link to the portal. They open it, see your name and logo, read through the estimate, sign, and pay the deposit in the same session if one is required. You get a notification when they sign. The estimate locks at that point. [screenshot: portal-estimate-signed.png] From your end: build the estimate, review it, send it. The portal handles the rest.

  7. 7

    Use the portal history when a client has a question later

    Over time, every client's portal builds a history: estimates, approvals, change orders, and invoices. This is what makes the portal different from PDFs scattered across email threads. When a client calls months after a project and asks about the scope they approved or an amount they paid, you both open the portal. You're looking at the same record. There's no 'can you resend the estimate from March' or 'I thought the invoice said something different.' Everything the client agreed to and every payment they made is in one place. That record also matters when you're pulling project totals at tax time.

Common questions

Can I use my own domain name instead of a Homefront subdomain?

Not yet. Your portal lives at yourname.homefront.pro for now. Custom domains are on the roadmap. In practice, most clients don't look at the URL. They tap the link in the notification and they're in your portal with your logo and business name at the top. The link works in any browser on any device, no account and no app required.

What does a client see when they first open the portal?

They land on a page with your logo and business name at the top. The estimate shows the full scope description, line items, photos you attached, and your license and insurance credentials. They sign and pay without creating an account. After they approve, the estimate stays in the portal history along with any invoices or change orders you send later. The client has one page for everything tied to the project.

Does a client need to create an account or remember a password?

No. The notification includes a link that opens the portal directly. No account, no password. If a client loses the original message, they can go to your portal address, enter their email or phone number, and get a fresh link sent to them. The link is tied to their session and works on any device. Clients never hit a login screen asking them to remember something they set up months ago.

Can I show the portal in Spanish to some clients and English to others?

Yes. The language preference is set per client record. Mark a client as Spanish-speaking and every document you send them arrives in Spanish: portal pages, PDFs, notifications, and the signing flow. Clients set to English get the default. You can change a client's language preference at any time from the client record, and it applies to the next document you send. No separate templates to maintain.

What if a client needs to reference an old estimate or invoice?

Approved estimates, invoices, and change orders stay in the portal history as long as the client record is active in Homefront. The client opens the portal link and the project history is there. If a question comes up about what was included in the original scope or what a payment covered, both of you can pull up the same record in seconds. No digging through email on either end.

How does a client contact me from the portal?

Your phone number and email appear on every estimate and invoice page in the portal. The client taps to call or taps to email, and it opens in their phone app. There's no built-in chat window inside the portal. Most home service clients prefer calling or texting anyway, and your contact details are right there the moment they have a question.

Related

  • Client portal
  • E-signatures
  • Bilingual portal
  • Online payments
  • Built for general pros
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