The complete guide
Everything that happens between a signed client and a live sub-account
Seven stages, in the order they actually happen, each one linked to the field note that covers it properly. Written for agencies rolling out many client accounts rather than tending one.
A GoHighLevel sub-account is one client’s CRM: contacts, conversations, pipelines, calendars, workflows, funnels, phone numbers and reporting, sealed off from every other client you run. The agency account one level above owns the plan, the snapshots, the white-label branding and the team users. In the API the sub-account is still called a location, which is the older name and the one you meet the moment you touch anything programmatic.
That structure is simple. What is not simple is everything that has to be true before a sub-account is worth handing to a client — a compliant messaging registration, an authenticated sending domain, a phone number, connected integrations, a filled custom-value layer, and automation whose sequences reliably stop. None of that arrives in a snapshot, and all of it is per client.
This page is the map. Each stage below links to the note that covers it in full; the whole set is the method we use on every build.
The seven stages
From an empty agency list to an account you would put your name on
Stages one to five are one account. Six and seven are what changes when there are forty.
01
Understand the structure
One agency account on top, one isolated workspace per client underneath. What is walled off, what is shared, and where the identifier you will need for everything programmatic actually lives.
02
Create the account in the right order
Creation is four fields. Making the account ready to receive a blueprint is twelve settings, three of which have lead times measured in days rather than minutes.
03
Choose and load the blueprint
Snapshot, template or clone — they are three different operations. Then the load itself: empty destination, conflict list first, sending held back, links re-pointed, test pass before publish.
- GoHighLevel snapshot vs template: what the difference actually means for your agency
- What is actually inside a good GoHighLevel snapshot
- Free GoHighLevel snapshots: what is actually in them, and what the free one costs you
- How to load a snapshot into a GoHighLevel sub-account without breaking it
- GoHighLevel snapshot not loading: a diagnosis order that finds the cause in ten minutes
04
Make it maintainable
The two decisions that determine whether a second builder can work on this account: where the client-specific strings live, and whether anything in it is named after what it does.
05
Test, then launch
Almost every workflow starts correctly. Far fewer stop correctly. The pre-launch pass is a full customer journey ending in a reply and a STOP, not a spot check on the first message.
06
Repeat it at volume
Interface, API, or self-serve provisioning. The creation mechanism changes at scale; the per-account credential work does not, which is where the real bottleneck sits.
07
Brand it, resell it, or hand it over
White label changes what the client sees. SaaS mode changes what they buy. A transfer moves the whole account to another agency — with exclusions worth knowing before you promise anything.
Pick by trade
The kits, grouped the way agencies actually buy them
Every kit carries the same nine components. What changes is what those nine are configured to say and do for that trade.
Home service contractors
HVAC, plumbing, roofing, painting, construction, cleaning, auto repair and car wash — the trades where a missed call is a lost job.
8 kits
Clinics & wellness
Dental, chiropractic, spa, gym, salon and pet care — diary-led businesses where the empty chair is the cost.
6 kits
Professional services
Legal, mortgage, insurance, real estate, recruitment and marketing agencies — long sales, document chases and renewals.
6 kits
The whole catalogue
All 22 kits including the hospitality pair — restaurants and childcare centres — filtered by category in one grid.
22 kits
Or hand it over
The three services that map straight onto these stages
Same method, run by us, handed back with the build sheet.
Sub-account setup & go-live
Stages two to five for one account: created, kit loaded, all nine components configured, every path tested, build sheet returned.
Bulk sub-account provisioning
Stage six for a whole portfolio: ten, fifty or two hundred accounts created, configured from your client data, tested as one batch.
Snapshot loading & migration
Stage three on its own, plus the account moves in stage seven — conflict report first, sending held back, links re-pointed, nothing lost silently.
Straight answers
The questions that come up on every rollout
A sub-account is one client’s isolated workspace inside your agency account — its own contacts, conversations, pipelines, calendars, workflows, funnels, phone numbers and reporting. It is still called a location in the API. The agency account above it holds your plan, your snapshots, your white-label settings and your team users.
It depends on the agency plan. The entry tier caps you at a small fixed number; the higher tiers lift the cap. Because the cap sits at agency level rather than per client, the real constraint at scale is usually how fast you can build and launch an account, not how many you are allowed to create.
No, and no snapshot can. A snapshot carries structure — workflows, pipelines, calendars, forms, templates and custom-value definitions. It never carries phone numbers, messaging compliance registration, domains, integration credentials, contacts or conversation history. Every kit here ships with a load sheet that names exactly what is still yours to configure.
Yes, through the platform’s sub-account transfer flow, using the receiving agency’s relationship number. Contacts, conversations, pipelines, calendars and workflows travel. Phone-number continuity depends on the telephony arrangement on both sides, compliance registration is re-done, and white-labelled sub-accounts are excluded from the standard path.
A standard sub-account is one you build, configure and maintain for a client. A SaaS sub-account is created automatically when a customer subscribes to a plan you defined, with your snapshot loaded and usage rebilled at your markup. The second one changes what the snapshot has to be, because nobody configures it afterwards.
Loading a kit is a click; the work either side of it is the build. Our kits are delivered 1–2 business days of purchase confirmation with 12 hours of dedicated installation support to be used within 14 days, and our done-for-you sub-account setup hands back a configured, tested, live account with its build sheet.
More from here: every note in one place on thefield notes index, the five-stage system each kit ships running inhow the complete system works, one-timekit and service prices with no subscription attached, thefrequently asked questions, and thebuild standard every kit is held to.
Stage three, solved
The blueprint is the part you should not be rebuilding
Twenty-two kits, one per niche, nine components each, delivered 1–2 business days with 12 hours of installation support.
No call required to buy a kit · replies within one business day