Construction companies live and die by contractors.
Electricians, engineers, architects, inspectors, IT vendors, consultants—your projects depend on outside people getting access to your systems so work can move forward.
The problem?
Giving access is easy. Remembering to take it away… not so much.
That’s how you end up with:
Old accounts still active
Former contractors who can still log in
“We’ll remove it later” turning into never
Let’s talk about how construction companies can securely grant and automatically revoke contractor access—without chasing spreadsheets or relying on memory.
Construction environments change constantly:
Contractors come and go
Projects start and end
Teams scale up and down fast
But access doesn’t always follow the same schedule.
When contractor accounts aren’t removed:
Old logins become security risks
Sensitive data stays exposed
Audits get uncomfortable
Insurance questions get awkward
At TotalCare IT, we see this all the time. Not because anyone is careless—but because access management usually lives in someone’s head instead of a system.
Manual access management relies on:
Emails
Sticky notes
Calendar reminders
Someone remembering at the right time
That works… until it doesn’t.
Forgotten accounts—often called “ghost accounts”—are one of the easiest ways attackers get into systems. No one monitors them because no one thinks they exist.
Security shouldn’t depend on someone’s memory—especially in a fast-moving construction environment.
Instead of managing each contractor individually, construction companies should use group-based access.
Here’s the idea:
All contractors go into one clearly labeled group
Access rules apply to the group
Removing someone from the group removes access everywhere
No hunting through systems. No missed accounts. One change handles everything.
In Microsoft Entra (formerly Azure AD), create a group with a clear name like:
“External Contractors”
“Temporary Project Access”
This group becomes your control point.
When a contractor starts:
Add them to the group
When they finish:
Remove them from the group
Simple. Clean. Repeatable.
Contractors shouldn’t be logging in with just a password.
You can require:
Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
Limited session durations
Secure sign-in methods
This ensures that even if credentials are compromised, access isn’t easily abused.
Think of it like issuing badges instead of keys—and setting them to expire.
Not every contractor needs access to everything.
A consultant might need:
Teams
A specific SharePoint folder
They probably don’t need:
Financial systems
HR data
Company-wide file access
Using access policies, you can:
Allow only specific apps
Block everything else
This follows the principle of least privilege—which is just a fancy way of saying “don’t give out extra keys.”
Here’s where the magic happens.
Instead of relying on reminders, you can:
Set access to expire automatically
Require re-authentication after a set period
Instantly revoke access when someone is removed from the group
Once a contractor’s job ends, access ends too—automatically.
No cleanup days. No “oops, we forgot.”
Contractors usually use their own laptops and phones. That’s fine—but it needs guardrails.
You can:
Require secure authentication methods
Limit access from risky devices
Block access if security requirements aren’t met
This protects your systems without trying to manage someone else’s hardware.
Once this is set up:
Contractors get access quickly when they start
Access is limited and secured automatically
Access disappears the moment the job ends
No spreadsheets. No guesswork. No lingering accounts.
At TotalCare IT, we help construction companies:
Design secure contractor access systems
Set up automated access policies
Reduce risk without slowing down projects
Eliminate forgotten accounts for good
We understand how fast construction environments move—and we design systems that keep up.
If your contractor access process depends on someone remembering to clean up later, it’s only a matter of time before something gets missed.
The fix isn’t more effort—it’s better automation.
Contact TotalCare IT today and let’s lock down contractor access without adding work to your plate.