Vendor onboarding checklist

Send this with your welcome email. Don’t offer a job until the first list is complete.

Collect before the first job

• A signed W-9, so you can file a 1099 at year end
• A certificate of insurance for general liability, naming your company as additional insured
• Proof of workers’ compensation, or a signed exemption where your state allows one
• Their trade license number and its expiry date, for work that needs a license
• The business name, the person who takes jobs and the number they answer texts on

Agree in writing

• Rates: hourly, trip charge and after-hours
• The most they can spend on a job without asking, also called the NTE
• How fast they reply to a job offer, and how fast they arrive for urgent and routine work
• A photo and a short note when the job is done
• How long their work is under warranty, and that a warranty callback is free
• Whether they take after-hours emergencies, and in which hours

Keep it current

• Put every insurance and license expiry date on a calendar, with a reminder 30 days before
• Ask for the new certificate when one expires, and pause new jobs until it arrives
• Review rates and response times once a year

Insurance, license and workers’ compensation rules vary by state. Check yours.

How to use it

1. Paste the checklist into your welcome email to each new vendor.
2. Collect the W-9 and the certificate of insurance before the first job, not after the first invoice.
3. Write each vendor’s trades, hours and service area in your vendor list.
4. Put a renewal date on every insurance certificate and check it a month before it runs out.

The guide behind it

Onboarding vendors