Which Roles Inside Subcontractor Firms Make Tech Decisions?

If you’ve ever tried rolling out software inside a subcontracting business, you already know the truth: buying the tool is the easy part. Getting everyone to use it is the real project.

Our 2025 Subcontractor Survey dug into this exact question. We wanted to understand who actually drives technology decisions inside subcontractor firms. Owners? PMs? Estimators? Admins? A mix of all of them?

The answers help explain why some teams adopt new tools fast while others get stuck in “maybe later” mode.

Here’s what you should know.

Owners Still Hold the Pen, but Not the Whole Process

Owners remain the final decision-makers at most subcontractor firms, especially in companies under 30 employees. They approve budgets, define priorities, and usually feel the pain of inefficiency the most.

But the survey showed something important: owners aren’t always the ones choosing the software. They’re the ones blessing the purchase, but they rely heavily on their teams to surface problems and evaluate solutions.

Owners tend to focus on:

• Whether the tool saves real time
• How quickly it pays for itself
• Whether it helps prevent costly mistakes

In other words, they care about results, not features.

Project Managers Have Outsized Influence

If there’s one group that shapes tech adoption more than people realize, it’s project managers. They’re in the work every day, juggling RFIs, subs, schedules, and a stack of ITBs that never quits.

Interestingly, PMs were also the most cautious group in the survey. Only 52% consider themselves early adopters. Many described themselves as “open but cautious,” which is a polite way of saying they’ll try something new if it genuinely helps, not because it’s shiny.

Why PMs influence decisions:

• They feel efficiency problems first
• They know where the current process breaks
• They’re the ones who must live in the system

If a tool saves PMs hours each week, it survives. If it adds steps, it dies fast.

Estimators Push for Clarity and Speed

Estimators showed up in the survey as optimistic and tech-forward. Many self-identified as early adopters, especially inside 11–30 employee firms, where 94% of people said they were comfortable trying new tools.

This tracks with the workload. When estimators are submitting 15–30 bids a week, the pressure to evaluate cleanly and produce pricing quickly is real.

Estimators care about:

• Clear ITB organization
• Fast takeoff and pricing
• Reducing double entry
• Clean handoffs to PMs

They play a big role in recommending tools, even if they aren’t the ones signing the contract.

Admin and Support Staff Shape Adoption More Than People Think

Admins rarely get credit for influencing tech decisions, but they’re often the first to say, “this isn’t working.”

They’re the ones who:

• Reconcile bids
• Track documents
• Chase people for updates
• Keep the business moving

In the survey, admins leaned strongly toward early adoption. They see firsthand how messy emails and spreadsheets get, so anything that centralizes data gets their vote.

External research backs this up. In SMB construction firms, admin teams are involved in over half of tech evaluations because they manage the workflow bottlenecks owners don’t always see.

The Larger the Firm, the More Committees Get Involved

Once firms cross 60 employees, tech decisions slow down. Not because anyone dislikes software, but because each decision impacts dozens of people.

We saw:

• More involvement from operations
• More input from finance and accounting
• More emphasis on training
• Longer evaluation cycles

This lines up with industry patterns too. Large subs adopt tech in waves: pilot, adjust, retrain, expand. It’s not resistance. It’s logistics.

Why These Roles Matter for Tech Adoption

The survey points to one clear takeaway: Tech decisions inside subcontractor firms are shared decisions.

Owners approve the spend, but PMs and estimators determine whether a tool actually sticks. Admins and support staff push for organization. Larger firms involve operations to avoid rollout headaches.

If you want software to take root in a subcontracting business, you need buy-in from each group:

Owners: Show ROI and simplicity
PMs: Show how it cuts the noise
Estimators: Show faster bidding and fewer mistakes
Admins: Show cleaner workflows
Ops (in bigger firms): Show smooth rollout paths

That mix determines whether tech becomes part of daily work or sits unused like a gym membership in February.

What This Means for Subcontractors

If your firm is exploring new tools, here’s the simple approach we see working best:

• Let the team closest to the problem evaluate options
• Keep owners focused on business outcomes
• Standardize early so training is easier
• Choose tools that reduce steps, not add them
• Roll out in small pilots, especially if you’re a larger shop

At RiffleCM, we’re building software that respects how subcontractor teams actually operate: multiple roles, shared workflows, no room for clutter. Tools only work if everyone can use them without extra friction.

Join the waitlist at rifflecm.com.