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Ranked Contractor Picker

When you open the Dispatch drawer on a work order, the contractor picker isn't a plain dropdown. It's a ranked shortlist with explanations.

What you see​

Suggested contractors for WO-4420 (trade: PLUMBER)

  [✓] Harbour Plumbing      — trade match + preferred + insurance current
  [ ] Acorn Pipes & Gas     — trade match + insurance current (expires 2026-06-30)
  [ ] Southside Mechanical  — trade match + insurance expiring in 18 days

  Show all contractors…

The top candidate is pre-selected. You can override with one click or click Show all to reveal the full directory.

How the score is computed​

score = 0
if contractor.trades contains workOrder.trade: score += 40
if contractor.preferred: score += 20
if insurance_current: score += 15
  elif insurance_expires_within_30d: score += 5
  elif insurance_expired: score -= 50

Score range: -50 to +75. A contractor without a trade match usually doesn't appear at all unless the picker has fewer than 8 trade-matching results, in which case the picker falls back to partial matches to give you something.

The weights are deliberately simple and rules-based, not AI. Three reasons:

  1. Explainability — a PM should be able to look at the chip and understand why it's first.
  2. No LLM dependency for a dispatch-critical surface.
  3. Weight tuning from feedback is trivial when it's four if statements.

AI-driven contractor matching (incorporating historical completion rate, PM satisfaction, on-time %) is on the roadmap.

API​

GET /api/v1/work-orders/{id}/suggested-contractors

Returns up to 8:

{
  "suggestions": [
    {
      "contractorId": "C-harbour-plumbing",
      "businessName": "Harbour Plumbing",
      "score": 75,
      "reasons": ["trade match", "preferred", "insurance current"],
      "insuranceExpiresOn": "2027-06-30"
    }
  ]
}

See also​