Understanding Your Q Score

What is the COMPASS Q Score?

If you're new to COMPASS, we know why you're here: you want a Q Score so you can get prequalified and grow your business.

The COMPASS Q Score was built on a simple idea: every subcontractor deserves to be assessed consistently. Today, it's the construction credit score that provides a standardized, independent assessment of a subcontractor and is relied on by more than 400 General Contractors. It is based on a subcontractor’s operational expertise, financial capacity, and health & safety track record.

1. The Construction Credit Score

   Think of it like a credit score. The Q Score provides General Contractors with a standardized, independent assessment of your company before prequalification. And unlike before, you get something back from every submission - a score that represents your business every time a GC looks you up.

2. A Standardized, Independent Assessment

   Before COMPASS, every General Contractor evaluated subcontractors differently. As an independent third party, COMPASS applies the same methodology to every subcontractor, creating a consistent benchmark that General Contractors can use alongside other information when assessing a subcontractor..

3. Based on Financial Capacity

   Subcontractors finance projects by covering labour, materials, and equipment long before payment arrives. That's why financial capacity is a core component of the Q Score. It helps General Contractors understand whether you have the resources to successfully take on additional work.

   The Q Score is also based on your operational expertise and health & safety track record because General Contractors need a complete picture to make confident, consistent decisions.

Every subcontractor is assessed using the same independent methodology, giving General Contractors a consistent starting point for prequalification and making it easier to compare companies fairly.

What goes into the COMPASS Q Score?

When a general contractor decides to partner with a subcontractor, they’re taking a risk. Before they commit, they’re going to have questions.

• Do you have the financial capacity to finish the job?
• Have you done projects like this before?
• Is someone going to get hurt and derail the project?

That's what the COMPASS Q Score is designed to answer. It's the construction credit score that provides a standardized, independent assessment of a subcontractor. It provides General Contractors with a consistent benchmark that can be used alongside other information when assessing a subcontractor.

The Q Score is based on:

• Operational Expertise

  Experience matters, but so does the right kind of experience. If your average project is $100,000 and you’re bidding a $4 million job, that's important context. GCs want to know whether you’ve successfully performed work of a similar size and complexity. They want to know you have a strong history.

• Financial Capacity

  Subcontractors finance projects out of pocket, so GCs awarding you work need to know you can see it through to substantial completion. Financial capacity measures exactly that: you have the resources to take on the job and successfully deliver.

• Health & Safety Track Record

  Safety isn’t just about compliance, it's about people. GCs pay close attention to safety performance because a serious injury affects everyone involved. And beyond the human impact, injuries can stop work, trigger investigations, or derail the entire project.

A subcontractor can have strong financials but have taken on several oversized contracts. They can have decades of experience but a spotty health & safety record.

The Q Score brings all three areas together into one standardized, independent assessment, giving General Contractors a consistent starting point for prequalification and helping them make informed decisions.

If you don’t have a Q Score - the construction credit score, GCs don’t have an easy way to get to know you. Why make it harder for them to justify issuing you a contract?

Why Do I Need a COMPASS Q Score?

Because you want to grow your business.

Before a General Contractor can award you a contract, first they need to prequalify your company. On COMPASS, that process begins with a Q Score.

The COMPASS Q Score is the construction credit score that provides a standardized, independent assessment of a subcontractor. It's a consistent benchmark that General Contractors can use alongside other information when assessing a subcontractor.

• Get Found

  General Contractors are always looking for subcontractors.

  When General Contractors search the COMPASS network, they're looking for subcontractors that are open to new opportunities. An up-to-date Q Score indicates that you’re willing to be considered, while a missing Q Score means you won’t show up in their search.

• Get Prequalified

  Finding your company is only the first step. An in-depth evaluation comes next.

  General Contractors need confidence that you have the operational expertise, financial capacity, and health & safety track record to successfully complete the project.

  The Q Score gives them a consistent starting point for prequalification, helping them compare companies fairly and focus their due diligence where it's needed most. It's why the Q Score is used as a consistent benchmark and relied on by more than 400 General Contractors.

• Get Hired

  Prequalification comes before every contract.

Without a Q Score, it’s hard to get your foot in the door. You’re harder to find, and even harder to prequalify.

Prequalification is the gateway to new work. The Q Score is how you get through it.

What does a Q Score say about me?

The COMPASS Q Score is the Construction Credit Score that provides a standardized, independent assessment of a subcontractor. It's used as a consistent benchmark that General Contractors can use alongside other information when assessing a subcontractor.

But that's just what the Q Score is. What does having one actually say about your company? It says you're willing to participate.

A Q Score means you're willing to be evaluated using the same standardized, independent assessment as every other subcontractor. It tells General Contractors you believe every subcontractor should be measured by the same standard.

Does that mean every company with a Q Score is perfect? Of course not.

Every business has strengths, and every business has areas it can improve. The difference is that companies with a Q Score choose to participate in the process instead of avoiding it.

Red flags don't end the conversation. Hiding them does.

General Contractors aren't looking for perfect subcontractors. They're looking for companies they can understand, evaluate, and prequalify with confidence. A Q Score helps make that possible.

If you believe in your company, you should want to be evaluated against the same standardized, independent assessment as everyone else. After all, wouldn't you want every subcontractor on your jobsite to have a Q Score? Shouldn't you expect every General Contractor you work with to have a rigorous prequalification process?

We might be biased, but the answer seems pretty obvious.

Q Score. The Construction Credit Score.