Subcontractor compliance checklist

Prequalification and ongoing compliance are different jobs

Prequalification answers one question: should this company be on your list at all? It looks at financial standing, safety record, licensing, capacity, and references, and it happens once.

Ongoing compliance answers a different question: is this company still allowed on this job today? That means current insurance, current endorsements, current licences, and paperwork that reflects the scope it is actually performing. A subcontractor can pass prequalification in January and be out of compliance by June without anyone doing anything wrong.

Most of the pain general contractors feel sits in the second category, because it changes constantly and nobody owns the re-check.

Before mobilization: what to collect

• Signed subcontract with the insurance and indemnity clauses intact — not a purchase order with a logo.
• Certificate of insurance showing general liability, commercial auto, and workers' compensation at the limits your contract requires, with policy periods that run past the schedule.
• Additional insured endorsement naming your legal entity and the owner for this project.
• Waiver of subrogation in your favour, on the certificate and in the underlying policy.
• Umbrella or excess policy where the contract requires it, and confirmation it follows form over the primary policies.
• Current contractor's licence for the state or municipality, and the trade-specific credentials the job needs.
• Safety documentation: OSHA or equivalent certifications for the crew, a written safety program, and the experience modification rate if your contract uses one.
• Tax and administrative paperwork — W-9 or equivalent, and any lien waivers your contract requires.
• Bond evidence where required, and any project-specific insurance such as builder's risk endorsements.

During the job: what to re-check

1. 1Every expiry date. Policies end mid-project constantly, and the certificate in your file will not tell you.
2. 2Any change of scope. A sub brought in for demolition work is a different insurance question than the same sub hanging drywall.
3. 3Any change of entity. If the subcontractor's work moves to a different legal entity or a new agent, the endorsements usually need to be reissued.
4. 4Any new crew members or equipment on site, where your contract requires training records or operator certifications.
5. 5Any sub-subcontractor. Their insurance is your problem the moment they appear on the job, and the requirement should flow down the same way it flowed to you.

How to make the list stick

A checklist only works if it is attached to something that already happens. In practice that means the list becomes the request you send, the upload the subcontractor fills, and the approval you click.

Concretely: build the requirement list once as a template, send it to each subcontractor with an upload link, review what arrives against the same list, and let expiry dates drive the follow-up. The alternative — a PDF checklist in a shared folder that everyone reads once — is how requirements quietly stop being requirements.

Two rules do most of the enforcement: mobilization only after the checklist is approved, and pay applications held when a document lapses. A checklist with no consequence attached is advice.

Questions to ask before you accept a document

• Does the named insured match the company in the contract?
• Do the limits match the contract, or merely the industry habit?
• Is our entity named exactly as it appears on the contract?
• Does the policy period cover the whole schedule, including any extension?
• Is there an endorsement behind every line the certificate claims?
• Would this file satisfy an owner's risk manager if they asked for it tomorrow?

Frequently asked questions

Keep reading

• ComplianceSubcontractor onboarding: getting a new sub ready for siteThe days between award and mobilization are where missing paperwork gets waved through. A simple onboarding sequence that gets every document in before the first crew arrives.
• ComplianceSubcontractor prequalification: what to ask before you awardPrequalification decides which subs are allowed to bid. The questions worth asking, the documents to collect, and how to keep the process from becoming a paperwork wall.
• Document collectionHow to Ask Clients to Resubmit Incorrect DocumentsWhen a client sends the wrong file, a vague request to “try again” creates more work for everyone. Use a clear explanation, a precise replacement request, and one upload destination to get usable documents with less back-and-forth.