Vetting a Subcontractor Before You Put Them on a Job

Why this matters

When you put a sub on your job, your customer does not see a subcontractor, they see your company. The sub's workmanship, their behavior in the driveway, and their cleanup all land on your name and your reviews. A sub who cuts corners hands you the callback, the damage claim, and the liability. Vetting is cheap insurance: an hour of checking up front beats a season of cleaning up after a bad pick.

License, insurance, and legal standing

Verify, do not take their word.

• License: confirm the sub holds the license the work requires, current and in their name, through the issuing authority, not a photo they text you.
• Insurance: require a certificate of insurance and verify the coverage is real and current at the source (see the related certificate article). "I'm covered" is not coverage.
• Legal standing: a quick check for an active business registration and any pattern of complaints or judgments tells you whether you are dealing with a real, stable operation.

A sub who cannot produce a current license and certificate quickly is one who does not keep them current, and that is the sub who lapses mid-job.

Track record and references

Ratings sites are a start; the real signal is talking to people who paid them.

• Ask for references from other shops or general contractors they have subbed for, not just retail customers.
• Ask the reference the question that matters: would you put them on a job again, and what went wrong last time. Everyone has a "went wrong"; how the sub handled it is the tell.
• Look at work in the same trade and scale as yours. A sub who is great on small jobs may drown on a big one.

Financial stability and capacity

A sub stretched too thin is a schedule risk and a lien risk.

• Capacity: can they actually take your work without dropping it for a bigger client? An overbooked sub will make your job the one that slips.
• Financial health: a sub who cannot pay their own suppliers can leave a lien on your customer's property even after you have paid the sub. A lien is a legal claim against the property for unpaid work. Ask about their supplier standing, and collect lien waivers (the signed release of that claim) at every payment.

The work itself: start small

Do not hand a new sub your biggest, most visible job first.

• Run a trial job: a smaller, lower-stakes piece of work where a miss is recoverable. It tells you more than any reference.
• Inspect the finished work against the standard, not against "looks fine." Check the details the customer will not see now but will discover later.
• Watch the soft skills: did they show up when they said, communicate delays, clean up, and treat the customer's home with respect. Technical skill with poor jobsite manners still generates complaints.

Behavior signals and red flags

• No paperwork: a sub who resists a written scope, a certificate, or lien waivers is a sub who will resist accountability later.
• A price far below everyone else: a lowball often means they missed the scope, plan to cut corners, or intend to make it up in change orders. Cheap up front is not cheap after the callback.
• Poaching signals: a sub who works your customer directly, hands out their own card behind your back, or angles to take the relationship. A non-solicitation clause in your agreement gives you a remedy; watching for the behavior tells you who needs one.

Build a sub file and re-vet

Keep a file on each sub: license, certificate with expiration, references, agreement, and a note on how each job went. Set the certificate's expiration where you will see it, because coverage lapses quietly. Re-vet your regulars; do not assume the sub who was solid two years ago still carries what they did. Vetting is not a one-time gate, it is a standard you hold.

References

• U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), choosing and managing subcontractors
• Trade-standard practice for subcontractor prequalification and insurance verification
• See related: The Insurance and Indemnity a Sub Must Carry; What a Subcontractor Agreement Must Spell Out