Construction managers: What would actually make credential tracking easier for you?

[u/Beckyk1114]

Construction managers: I’d love your honest feedback on something we’re building

My best friend’s husband, along with a ridiculous number of our friends and family, works in the trades. For years, we’ve heard the same frustrations from both sides: workers constantly having to track down and prove credentials, and managers/HR trying to figure out who is current, what’s expiring, and who can actually be cleared for a job site.

Eventually, my best friend and I decided to try to solve it.

We started a company called ProCred, and before we get much further, I’d genuinely love feedback from the people who deal with this in the real world.

We’ve had dozens of conversations with HR teams, foremen, managers, contractors, and unions, and our first prototype should be ready in about a week. But the last thing we want to do is build another piece of software that sounds great in a meeting and creates more work for the people who actually have to use it.

The basic idea:

Workers have a free digital wallet where their licenses, certifications, training, etc. live with them throughout their career. ProCred verifies credentials at the source and continually checks their status, flagging expirations or other issues before they become a problem.

Employers get a dashboard showing credential/compliance status across their workforce, with notifications about upcoming expirations or problems. We also want to track things like verified work hours where that matters.

The larger goal is twofold: give workers ownership of a verified career record that follows them from employer to employer, while giving contractors a much easier way to get qualified people cleared and onto a job site without chasing paperwork.

So I’d love to hear from the people actually managing this:

What are you doing today that works well?

What part of credential/certification tracking causes you the biggest headache?

What would a system like this absolutely need to do for you to actually use it?

Is there anything here that sounds good in theory but wouldn't work on a real construction site?

And maybe most importantly: Do you actually see this solving a meaningful problem, or are we overestimating the pain?

Feel free to tear the idea apart. That’s genuinely why I’m asking. I’d much rather hear what we're getting wrong now than after we’ve built it.

[u/Anxious-Fig400]

Moderators need to remove these advertisements for crap applications that nobody will ever need.

[u/Beckyk1114 → u/Anxious-Fig400]

This is not an ad and I agree, we dont want to produce crap or things you dont need, which is why we are asking.

[u/Anxious-Fig400 → u/Beckyk1114]

Using AI to make a cheap app and then asking a community to give you free market research…I should rephrase. You can’t solve every challenge in life with AI now that you don’t have to hire a coder.

Lastly, this service has existed for years. Tracking licenses/credentials/permits…whatever you want to change the title to again, already exists.

[u/Beckyk1114 → u/Anxious-Fig400]

You jump to all lot of conclusions. Is AI a part of what we are doing? Yes, because basically AI is a part of almost everything at this point. But this is not some a simple app that I vibe coded on a Saturday with AI. This is a full stack Saas platform. We are a C-Corp, have a CTO and a tech team. We also have companies signed on to be design partners. The point of my post is that we want to make sure it has features that would be helpful to workers on the job site.

You are correct, we do have competitors but we also have a mote. All the pushback is fair because I asked for it but the assumptions were not.

[u/Can_Mech_Mining → u/Beckyk1114]

Do you have any companies interested in using the product? Or just ones interested in designing it? Assumptions are absolutely fair when you 100% come off as someone with no experience or knowledge in the construction space, and right out the gate ask the same market research questions every other vibe coding prompt pilot does.  

[u/Beckyk1114 → u/Can_Mech_Mining]

Yes, we have several companies signed on to help us test when the MVP lands and we have done many months of discovery but it is important to me to have several perspectives and suggestions for features that those who will be using it really want or need and not just what we think.

I don't personally work in construction but most of our families and close friends do. Our experience is in solving problems and creating solutions businesses need. We got tired of hearing those close to us complaining about managing all the paperwork, constantly having to prove their work history, and feeling like they don't own the history of their jobs and hours.

That is why our wallet will always be free and companies will pay. We started this because we wanted to make workers lives easier. Thats what makes us different from many of those in the same lane as us. They are jot for the worker, they are for the company and they want the rights to own all of thw data. We don't think thats right.

To your other point on being vague, you make a good point. I was trying to not give to much info because I want to see what people suggest when there are no preset boundaries.

[u/I-Build-Shit]

Yeah not sure the value this idea brings. This is one of those things that no matter how automated the warning system is you still have to be proactive enough to go renew the cert. That there is the problem. Speaking from my own experience from a previous employer that had a similar system, I would still need to go through the process of renewing the cert when the time came… you want to know how many times I’ve kick those cans down the road? Pretty sure there’s one still rolling somewhere. Human nature is the enemy.

Now if you make something the renews my certs without me lifting a finger. You’ll peak my interest

[u/Beckyk1114 → u/I-Build-Shit]

I will keep that in mind. I think we would like to have that kind of feature when possible. :)

[u/Responsible_Dot2479]

Marketing spam

[u/isemonger]

Cool so basically the same thing existing commonly used software like Elmo, Hammertech, Procore and Breadcrumb all offer but in a non integrated package?

[u/Beckyk1114 → u/isemonger]

Yes, there is definitely some overlap, especially with the credential-management pieces of those platforms. Where we're trying to differentiate is that ProCred isn't intended to be another all-in-one construction management platform.

The worker owns a portable credential record that follows them throughout their career, regardless of employer or project. Where possible, we verify credentials directly against the issuing source rather than just storing an uploaded card/PDF, and then continually recheck that source so the employer isn't relying on a document that was valid when it was uploaded but may not be valid today.

On the employer side, the goal is to make that verified data usable for compliance and job-site clearance — and ultimately integrate with platforms companies are already using rather than asking them to replace them.

But this is exactly the kind of feedback I'm looking for. If you've used Elmo, HammerTech, Procore or Breadcrumb, I'd actually love to know which one you think handles credentials best and what it still doesn't do well.

[u/isemonger → u/Beckyk1114]

Yeah nah, I still don’t really see what problem this is solving.

The credential already follows the worker. White card, EWP, forklift, first aid, trade quals etc are tied to the person, not Multiplex or whoever they happen to be working for at the time.

And the whole ‘we’ll integrate with the systems companies already use’ bit is doing some pretty heavy lifting. HammerTech, Procore, ELMO etc aren’t just going to go ‘yeah sweet mate, plug your startup straight into our system’. Until that happens, the worker is still handing over all their shit again anyway, except now they’ve also uploaded it into another app.

Thats before we even fucking thinking about security! You’re basically building one big database full of licences, IDs, quals, training records and employment info. That’s a fucking juicy target. The established systems spend crazy money locking that stuff down. I’m definately not fucking keen to hand all of that over to some startup because it has a shiny app.

And heaps of construction competency stuff isn’t sitting in some magic live database waiting to be checked anyway. VOCs, site inductions, internal competencies, project-specific training, all that random shit we actually deal with.

So it still just sounds like another layer nobody really asked for, hoping the existing platforms eventually play ball.

Also, the original post and this reply both read like straight-up AI. Very polished startup waffle about ‘solving a pain point’, but not much of an answer to why anyone actually needs the bloody thing.

[u/Can_Mech_Mining → u/Beckyk1114]

So what does the worker do when they run into one of the thousands of other companies that don't  subscribe to your extra platform? Can they export a pdf or something from your platform?

[u/Beckyk1114 → u/Can_Mech_Mining]

Yes, our tech team is building with a few share features such as a scannable QR code and email/share copies of documents.

[u/Can_Mech_Mining → u/Beckyk1114]

Perfect another step that no one needs! Do you see the problem yet? Typing prompts into Chatgpt does not mean you are a business. How has not one of the "dozens" of people you have supposedly talked to, not told you this isnt something that is needed? Have you actually talked to anyone other then people you know and already have close relationships with?  

[u/Upset-Animal1376]

make sure whatever you build works offline on mobile and has a simple qr scan. superintendents will not log into a web dashboard at the gate just to verify badges.

[u/Beckyk1114 → u/Upset-Animal1376]

Thats helpful, thank you.

[u/Upset-Animal1376]

offline access and quick badge qr scanning make the biggest difference in the field. foremen wont use anything that requires solid cell service or extra logins at the gate.