If you’re a general contractor shopping for a way to stop chasing certificates of insurance, you’ve probably run into both names: Billy and Lumber. Both serve construction companies. Both talk about compliance. Both integrate with the ERPs and project management tools you already use.
But they are not the same kind of software, and treating them as interchangeable is the fastest way to buy the wrong tool.
The short version: Billy is purpose-built for subcontractor and vendor COI tracking. Lumber is a construction workforce management platform (payroll, time tracking, HR, safety) whose “compliance” features center on your own employees, not your subcontractors’ insurance.
If your problem is expired COIs, missing additional insured endorsements, and subs showing up on site uninsured, only one of these is designed to solve it.
Billy
Construction compliance platform. Collects, reviews, and monitors COIs, W-9s, and licenses from the subs and vendors you hire.
Lumber
Construction workforce platform. Payroll, time tracking, HR, safety, and credential management for the people on your payroll.
What is Billy?
Billy is a construction compliance platform that automates the collection, review, and tracking of certificates of insurance and related vendor documents. General contractors use it to verify that every subcontractor and vendor on a project carries the coverage the contract requires, and to keep that verification current through the life of the job.
Beyond COIs, Billy tracks the other documents that gate a sub’s payment or site access: W-9s, business licenses, and any custom compliance document you need on file.
Core capabilities
- Automated COI collection. Subs or their brokers upload documents through a link, with no login required, which removes the biggest friction point in getting certificates back.
- AI Review Assistant. Reads incoming COIs and checks them against your project requirements, flagging limit shortfalls, missing endorsements, and expiration issues so reviewers spend time on exceptions instead of every certificate.
- Managed or self-service plans. Run compliance in-house, or let Billy’s team handle intake, review, and follow-up for you.
- Subcontractor prequalification. Screen subs before award, not after mobilization.
- Deep construction integrations. Native connections to Procore (including a side panel), Autodesk, CMiC, Sage 300, Sage Intacct, JD Edwards, Viewpoint Vista, Trimble ProjectSight, Acumatica, and DocuSign. Project and vendor data flows in automatically, so there’s no double entry.
- Insurance Wallet for subcontractors. Subs store their documents once and share them with every GC that requires them, which shortens the back-and-forth on your end too.
Billy describes itself as built by builders for builders, and the customer base is primarily general contractors managing dozens to hundreds of subs across active projects.
What is Lumber?
Lumber is an all-in-one construction workforce management platform. Its own description covers payroll, time tracking, safety, compliance, field productivity, and worker rewards for building contractors.
Lumber’s product menu tells the story:
- Payroll. Certified payroll, prevailing wage, union payroll and remittances, tax filing, workers’ comp reporting
- Field operations. Time tracking, schedule and dispatch, equipment tracking, job costing, safety management
- HR and benefits. Applicant tracking, onboarding, benefits administration, credential management
- Financial services. Workers’ compensation insurance and earned wage access
- AI agents. Union agent, certified payroll reporting agent, paper timecard agent
Lumber is a strong platform for what it does. If your pain is certified payroll on public work, union remittances, or getting field hours into job cost, it’s worth a look.
Where “compliance” means something different at Lumber
This is the part that trips people up. Lumber’s Credential Management module tracks your workers’ certifications, licenses, and training records (OSHA cards, trade certifications, NCCER credentials) with renewal reminders and reporting. Lumber’s workers’ comp offering is insurance for your payroll.
Neither of those is subcontractor COI tracking. As of this writing, Lumber does not market a module for collecting, reviewing, or monitoring certificates of insurance from the subcontractors and vendors you hire. If you’re evaluating Lumber specifically for COI tracking, confirm this directly with their team before you assume it’s covered.
Billy vs. Lumber: side-by-side for COI tracking
| Billy | Lumber | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Subcontractor and vendor compliance (COIs, W-9s, licenses) | Workforce management (payroll, time, HR, safety) |
| Tracks subcontractor certificates of insurance | Core function | Not a marketed feature |
| Reviews COIs against project requirements | AI-assisted, plus optional managed review | No |
| Endorsement checks (additional insured, waiver of subrogation, primary & non-contributory) | Yes | No |
| Expiration monitoring and automated follow-up with subs | Yes | No |
| Tracks your own employees’ credentials and training | No | Credential Management |
| Payroll, certified payroll, union reporting | No | Yes |
| Managed-service option for COI review | Managed plan | Support via LumberCare, not COI review |
| Procore integration | Yes, including side panel | Listed among 20+ integrations |
| ERP integrations | Sage 300, Sage Intacct, CMiC, Viewpoint Vista, JD Edwards, Acumatica | 20+ ERP, payroll, and HR apps including Acumatica |
| Built for | General contractors, owners, brokers | Contractors running their own crews |
Which one should you choose?
Choose Billy if…
- You hire subcontractors and need proof they’re insured before they mobilize and while they’re on site.
- Someone on your team is still tracking COIs in a spreadsheet or an email folder.
- You’ve been burned by an expired policy, a missing additional insured endorsement, or a claim that landed on your own policy because a sub’s coverage lapsed.
- You use Procore, Autodesk, CMiC, Sage, Viewpoint, JD Edwards, ProjectSight, or Acumatica and want compliance status visible where your PMs already work.
- You want the option to hand the whole review-and-chase process to a managed team.
Choose Lumber if…
- Your biggest headache is payroll: prevailing wage, certified payroll reports, union remittances, or multi-state tax filing.
- You need field time capture, scheduling, and job costing for your own crews.
- You want to track employee certifications and training renewals in one place.
- You’re looking for a bundled workers’ comp program tied to your payroll.
Can you use both?
Yes, and plenty of GCs do. They solve different problems. Lumber (or any payroll and workforce system) manages the people on your payroll. Billy manages the risk that comes from everyone who isn’t: your subs, their sub-tier, suppliers, and vendors.
If you run self-performed crews and also hire subs, the realistic stack is a workforce platform for your employees and a dedicated COI tracking platform for third parties. Trying to force one tool to do both usually means the subcontractor side gets handled manually, and that’s where the uncovered claims come from.
What to look for in COI tracking software
If you’re comparing Billy to any platform, not just Lumber, these are the questions that separate real COI tracking from a document folder with reminders:
- Does it review, or just store? Uploading a PDF isn’t compliance. The tool should read limits, dates, endorsements, and certificate holder language and compare them to your requirements.
- Can requirements vary by project and trade? A roofer on a high-rise needs different coverage than a painter on a tenant fit-out.
- Who chases the sub when something’s wrong? Automated reminders help. A managed team that calls the broker helps more.
- Does it live inside your PM or ERP system? If your PMs have to log into a separate portal, they won’t.
- Is there an audit trail? When a claim surfaces two years later, you need to show what was on file and when it was reviewed.
Billy was designed around all five. Lumber was designed around a different set of problems.
Frequently asked questions
Does Lumber track certificates of insurance?
Lumber tracks your own employees’ certifications, licenses, and training through its Credential Management module. It does not currently market a subcontractor or vendor COI tracking product. Confirm current capabilities with Lumber directly.
Is Billy a payroll platform?
No. Billy focuses on subcontractor and vendor compliance documents: certificates of insurance, W-9s, business licenses, prequalification, and related paperwork. It integrates with ERPs like Sage and Viewpoint but does not run payroll.
Does Billy integrate with Procore?
Yes. Billy connects to Procore and offers a side panel so project teams can see vendor compliance status without leaving Procore. Project and vendor data sync automatically.
Can subcontractors use Billy?
Yes. Subcontractors can use Billy’s Insurance Wallet to store and share their compliance documents with the GCs that require them.
What if I need both payroll and COI tracking?
Use a workforce platform for your employees and a dedicated COI tracking platform for third parties. Most construction ERPs and PM tools integrate with both.
Bottom line
“Billy vs. Lumber” is less a head-to-head and more a category question. Lumber is a workforce and payroll platform. Billy is a construction compliance platform built for COI tracking.
See how Billy handles COI tracking
Watch it review a certificate against your project requirements, or start with the free spreadsheet template if you’re not ready to leave the spreadsheet yet.
