The contractor onboarding checklist

Before a general contractor, property manager, or facilities team will let you on a job, they need to onboard you as an approved vendor. Here's everything they'll ask for — gather it once and you'll never scramble again.

Why onboarding stalls jobs

Most onboarding delays aren't about price or availability — they're about paperwork. A client can't issue a purchase order until your insurance, licenses, and tax forms are on file. Every missing document pushes your start date back and gives a more-prepared competitor a chance to step in.

The contractors who win consistently treat onboarding as a sales advantage. They send a complete packet up front, look organized and legitimate, and get approved while everyone else is still hunting for their COI.

The complete checklist

Requirements vary by client and trade, but nearly every vendor onboarding request pulls from this list:

Keep it current — automatically

Onboarding isn't a one-time task. COIs expire, licenses renew, and certifications lapse — and an expired document can get you removed from an approved vendor list overnight. CredPacket tracks every expiration date and reminds you before anything lapses, so your packet is always ready to send.