People & HR

How to onboard a new hire as Construction and Contractor Founders

People & HRFor Construction and Contractor Founders3 apps10 steps~20 min to set up

Bringing on a new framer, foreman, or office coordinator when you're running a 15-person GC means you're the one printing out the employee handbook, texting them the Dropbox link, reminding them to fill out the W-4, tracking down their subcontractor insurance cert, and answering the same questions about PTO and tool allowances for the third time that week. Nothing is in one place. The 'system' is a folder, a text chain, and your memory. A new hire's first week burns 4-6 hours of your time that you don't have — and if they quit in 90 days, you do it all over again.

Build this on Starch → See the apps used

People & HRFor Construction and Contractor Founders3 apps10 steps~20 min to set up

Outcome

What you'll set up

A single onboarding checklist and wiki that every new crew member or office hire walks through without pulling you in for each step

An automated task queue that assigns Day 1, Week 1, and 30-day follow-up items to the right people and pings you only when something is overdue

A searchable knowledge base covering job site rules, tool checkout procedures, subcontractor COI requirements, and your change-order process — so the answer to 'how does that work here?' is always one search away

The Starch recipe

Apps, data, and prompts

The combination of Starch apps, the data sources they pull from, and the prompts you use to drive them.

Apps used

Knowledge Management Task Manager Email Agent

Data sources & config

Knowledge Management connects directly to Notion (scheduled sync) so any SOPs or job-site rules you already have in Notion pull in automatically. Task Manager runs standalone with no external sync needed — tasks are created and assigned inside Starch. Email Agent connects directly to Gmail (scheduled sync) to send onboarding emails and track whether the new hire has replied or clicked through; if you use Outlook, it connects to Outlook the same way. Buildertrend and CoConstruct are reachable through browser automation — no API needed — so Starch can confirm a new hire has been added to the right project in your field software.

Prompts to copy

Build me an onboarding wiki for field hires that covers our safety rules, tool checkout process, how we handle change orders, and where to find the project folder for each job. Organize it so a new framer can find answers in under a minute.

Create a new hire onboarding task list with P1 tasks for Day 1 (sign I-9, submit direct deposit form, get added to Buildertrend), P2 tasks for Week 1 (shadow site walk, review COI requirements for subs, read change order SOP), and P3 tasks for 30-day check-in. Alert me if any P1 task is overdue by end of Day 1.

Set up an email template that goes out automatically when I add a new hire, with links to the onboarding wiki, the Dropbox folder for their project, and a checklist of what they need to submit in the first 48 hours.

Run these in Starch → or paste them into your favorite agent

Walkthrough

Step-by-step

1 Connect Gmail or Outlook to Starch (scheduled sync) so the Email Agent can send onboarding messages and flag any replies that need your attention.

2 Connect Notion to Starch (scheduled sync) if you already store any SOPs, safety policies, or job-site rules there — Knowledge Management will pull them in and make them searchable.

3 Open Knowledge Management and type: 'Build me an onboarding wiki for field hires covering safety rules, tool checkout, change order process, and how to find the project folder for any job.' Starch drafts the structure; you fill in your specifics.

4 Add a section to the wiki for subcontractor COI requirements — what you need from subs before they're allowed on site, and who to send the cert to. This is the question new hires ask most.

5 Open Task Manager and create your onboarding task template: Day 1 (I-9, direct deposit, Buildertrend access), Week 1 (site walk, SOP review, tool checkout walkthrough), 30-day check-in (performance conversation, any outstanding paperwork).

6 Set overdue alerts on all P1 tasks so you get a notification — not a daily nag, just a flag — if anything from Day 1 isn't marked done by end of business.

7 Use Email Agent to draft the onboarding welcome email: links to the wiki, the Dropbox project folder, and a plain-English list of what the new hire needs to submit in 48 hours. Save it as a template you can send in one click the next time someone starts.

8 For field hires, use Starch browser automation to confirm they've been added to Buildertrend or CoConstruct — Starch navigates the site and checks the project roster so you don't have to log in and look.

9 After the first hire goes through the new system, ask Knowledge Management: 'Which sections of the onboarding wiki got searched most in the first two weeks?' Use that to find gaps — if everyone is searching for something and not finding it, add it.

10 At the 30-day mark, Task Manager surfaces the check-in task. Run a short conversation and use Knowledge Management to log any policy clarifications that came up — so the next hire gets the answer baked in, not from you.

See this running on Starch

Connect your tools, describe what you want, and the agent builds it. Closed beta is free.

Try it on Starch →

Worked example

April 2026 — Onboarding a new lead carpenter, Marcus

Sample numbers from a real run

Founder time spent on onboarding (old process)	5
Founder time spent on onboarding (with Starch)	1
Hours saved in first 90 days (3 hires at same rate)	12
Outstanding P1 tasks flagged and closed by Day 1 end	3
Wiki searches by Marcus in first two weeks (no calls to founder)	14

Marcus starts on a Monday framing a 4-unit residential build in an outer suburb. You're on the job site by 7am and can't spend the morning walking him through paperwork. The week before, you'd set up the onboarding task list in Task Manager — P1 items are I-9, direct deposit form, and getting added to Buildertrend under the right project. Email Agent sent Marcus the welcome email automatically when you added his name: links to the onboarding wiki, the Dropbox folder for the job, and a plain-English list of what he needs to submit by Tuesday. By end of Day 1, Task Manager flagged one overdue P1 — he hadn't submitted direct deposit yet. You got the alert, texted him in 30 seconds, done. Over the next two weeks, Marcus searched the wiki 14 times: change order process, tool checkout, what to do if a sub shows up without a current COI. Zero calls to you. At the 30-day mark, Task Manager surfaced the check-in task. You had a 20-minute conversation, he flagged that the COI section wasn't clear on who to contact at your insurance broker, and you updated the wiki in two minutes. The next hire gets the right answer without asking.

Measurement

How you'll know it's working

Founder hours spent per new hire onboarding (target: under 1.5 hours)

P1 onboarding tasks completed by end of Day 1 (target: 100%)

New hire questions directed to founder in first 30 days (target: under 3)

Time-to-productive on job site (days from start date to first unsupervised task)

90-day retention rate for field hires

Comparison

What this replaces

The other ways teams handle this today, and how the Starch version compares.

A shared Dropbox folder and a Word doc checklist

Free and you already have it, but there's no task tracking, no overdue alerts, no search, and you're still the one answering every question the doc doesn't cover.

Gusto or Rippling onboarding module

Good for payroll paperwork and benefits enrollment, but doesn't cover the job-site-specific knowledge your crew actually needs — tool checkout, change order rules, Buildertrend access — and costs $8-12 per employee per month on top of your payroll fees.

Procore's team management tools

Built for commercial shops with 50+ people and a dedicated PM; priced accordingly, and overkill for a 15-person crew where you're already paying for the field software and don't want another platform.

Notion wiki (standalone)

Notion is a solid place to store SOPs, but without task tracking or email automation you're still manually chasing paperwork and answering the same questions — Starch connects to your existing Notion data and adds the task and email layer on top.

On Starch RECOMMENDED

One platform — knowledge management, task manager, email agent all running on connected data. Setup in plain English; numbers stay current via scheduled syncs and live agent queries.

Try it on Starch →

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Does Starch connect to Buildertrend or CoConstruct to add the new hire to the right project automatically?

Buildertrend and CoConstruct don't have formal API connectors in Starch's integration catalog, but both are web-based platforms you can log into — so Starch can automate them through browser automation. No API needed. You'd describe what you want: 'When I mark a new hire task complete in Task Manager, add them to the active project in Buildertrend.' Starch handles the navigation.

We already have some stuff in Notion — job site rules, a few SOPs. Can Starch use that?

Yes. Starch syncs your Notion data on a schedule, so Knowledge Management pulls in whatever pages and databases you already have. You don't have to rebuild from scratch — Starch ingests what's there, makes it searchable, and you add the gaps on top.

What if I use QuickBooks Payroll and need to make sure new hire tax forms are filed? Can Starch handle that?

Starch syncs your QuickBooks data on a schedule and can surface employee and payroll records. For W-4 and I-9 filing, it can remind you and track the task, but the actual submission to a government portal would depend on your payroll setup. If you file anything through a web portal directly, Starch can automate that through browser automation — no API needed.

Is Starch SOC 2 certified? We're working on a commercial project where the GC is asking about data security.

Not yet — Starch is not SOC 2 Type II certified. If your GC or owner requires SOC 2 documentation from your software vendors, that's worth knowing upfront. It's on the roadmap.

How is this different from just emailing the new hire a checklist?

A checklist email gets ignored, lost, or answered with a phone call 20 minutes later. Starch tracks which tasks are done, flags what's overdue, and gives the new hire a searchable wiki so they're not calling you to ask where the COI template lives. The email is one piece — the task tracking and knowledge base are what cut your time from 5 hours to under 1.

Task Manager is listed as currently in development. Can I use it today?

Task Manager is in beta — you can request access. If you want to run onboarding task tracking right now while you wait, Knowledge Management and Email Agent are live today and cover the wiki and communication pieces. The task tracking piece can be handled manually or through a simple checklist inside the wiki in the interim.