Last reviewed: October 2026
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This free subcontractor prequalification checklist is for main contractors, principal contractors, general contractors and their commercial and health and safety teams. One run prequalifies one subcontractor for one trade package, either to join your approved list or before you invite them to tender. It starts by rating the package risk and sending the questionnaire, then checks the company and its insurance, health and safety, quality, environmental and financial standing, references, capacity, supply chain and labour. A scored assessment goes to an approver, and nothing after the decision can be completed until it is recorded. Approved firms go on the list with renewal dates and a re-qualification cycle. Choose UK (CDM 2015) or US (OSHA) rules and the matching steps appear. A high-risk work phase appears for scaffolding, demolition, asbestos and other high-risk packages, and approval with conditions adds the conditions and the monitoring.
A subcontractor is usually appointed under time pressure, from a price, by someone who has to start the job next week. Prequalification moves the hard questions earlier. Before a firm goes on your approved list or receives a tender, you check who they are, whether their insurance is real and in date, how they manage health and safety, whether they can do work of this risk and size, and what their last clients say. In the UK, CDM 2015 makes that a legal duty for whoever appoints a contractor. In the US, OSHA expects a controlling employer to take reasonable care, and what it knows about a subcontractor’s safety record shapes how closely it has to watch them.
Prequalification is a different job from its neighbours. Supplier onboarding sets up a firm that supplies goods. A vendor risk assessment looks at data and security risk in a service provider. Contractor onboarding brings in one self-employed individual. And a construction site induction briefs each worker at the gate, after the firm has been appointed.
When: before the firm joins the approved list or is invited to tender, then again on a cycle.
Checks: company, insurance, health and safety, competence for high-risk work, quality, money, references and capacity.
Ends with: a scored, signed decision and renewal dates.
When: for each package, among firms that have already passed prequalification.
Checks: price, programme, scope, exclusions and the contract terms.
Ends with: a signed subcontract or order for one package.
When: every time one of the firm’s operatives arrives at a site.
Checks: cards, site rules, hazards, emergency arrangements and sign-in.
Ends with: an inducted worker approved to start.
Eight phases take one subcontractor from the questionnaire to the approved list. Choose UK or US rules on the first task and the matching steps and notes appear. Phase 4 appears only when the package includes scaffolding or other work at height, demolition, asbestos or other high-risk work. Nothing after the approver’s decision can be completed until it is recorded, and approval with conditions adds the conditions and the monitoring they need.
One run prequalifies one subcontractor for one trade package. Set the questionnaire return deadline first, because every due date counts from it, and rate the risk so the later checks match the work.
Check what the questionnaire says against the documents and the public records, not just the answers.
In the UK, CDM 2015 requires whoever appoints a contractor to take reasonable steps to check they have the skills, knowledge, experience and organisational capability for the work. In the US, OSHA weighs how much a controlling employer knows about a subcontractor’s safety history when it judges reasonable care.
Shown only when the package includes scaffolding or other work at height, demolition, work with asbestos or other high-risk work. The checks for that activity appear with it.
A firm that works safely can still deliver poor work, pollute the site or fail halfway through the job.
Past performance on similar work is the best guide to the next job. HSE’s guidance suggests checking experience and track record after the questionnaire and before the appointment.
Nothing after the approver’s decision can be completed until it is recorded. Approved with conditions adds the conditions and the monitoring they need.
Approval is not permanent. Insurance lapses, people leave and firms change hands, so the list needs renewal dates and triggers.
Neither CDM 2015 nor OSHA sets a scoring method, so the weights below are an example to adapt, not a standard. Score the sections that show quality of management out of 5 and weight them; treat the sections that show legal or insurance minimums as pass or fail, so a high score elsewhere cannot carry a firm with no employers’ liability cover. Set the weights, the pass mark and the knock-out criteria before the questionnaires come back, and use the same ones for every firm you compare for a package.
| Section | Evidence to ask for | Example weight | Fail if |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company, legal and insurance | Register entry, ownership, employers’ liability or workers’ compensation, public or general liability and, where they design, professional indemnity certificates | Pass / fail | The company cannot be verified, or required cover is missing or expired |
| Health and safety | Policy and arrangements, sample risk assessments and method statements, training records, accident and enforcement history; in the US, OSHA 300A summaries and the EMR | 30% | Serious enforcement action with no evidence of change, or no usable RAMS |
| High-risk work competence (if applicable) | Method statement for the activity, scaffold design basis, demolition survey, asbestos licence or training, named supervisor | Pass / fail | The licence, training or competent person the work needs is missing |
| Quality management | Inspection and test plans, defect records, ISO 9001 certificate with scope | 15% | Your own minimum, if you set one |
| Environmental management | Waste, pollution, noise and dust arrangements, ISO 14001 certificate | 10% | Your own minimum, if you set one |
| Financial standing | Filed accounts or a credit report, turnover against the package value | 15% | Insolvency, or a package too large for their turnover |
| References and past performance | At least two references on similar work, a site visit for high-risk packages | 20% | References that would not use them again |
| Capacity and key people | Current workload, labour and plant for your dates, named manager and supervisor | 10% | No capacity for your programme |
| Supply chain and labour | How they sub-let and check their own subcontractors, how they employ and supervise labour; in the UK, a modern slavery statement where one is required | Pass / fail | No checks on their own subcontractors or labour |
Keep it proportionate. HSE’s guidance on CDM 2015, L153, says enquiries about a contractor’s organisational capability should be sensible and proportionate to the risks, and that excessive or duplicated paperwork should be avoided because it distracts from the practical management of risks. It suggests the standard health and safety questions in PAS 91 as a useful aid, and accepts a third-party assessment, such as one from an SSIP Forum member scheme, as one way, but not the only way, to show capability. A small decorating firm and a scaffolding contractor should not get the same questionnaire.
Then check the track record. L153 also says those making appointments should check that the contractor has enough experience and a good record in managing the risks involved, ideally after the prequalification checks and before the appointment. That is what Phase 6 does: references, a site visit and a look at how the firm manages its own supply chain.
The approver is named on the first task and the decision is assigned to them alone. Until they record Approved, Approved with conditions or Rejected, the checklist halts, so the firm cannot be added to the approved list. The record shows who approved the subcontractor, when, and on what score.
Choose UK or US rules and the matching steps appear: HMRC verification and the modern slavery check in the UK, OSHA 300A summaries and the inspection search in the US. Scaffolding, demolition and asbestos packages add their own competence checks. Change the questions to match your own questionnaire in the template designer.
The insurance register and renewal dates sit on the checklist beside the evidence. A recurring checklist can start each firm’s re-qualification on its cycle, and the Reports Grid shows every subcontractor still being assessed.
CheckFlow is not a prequalification scheme, an accredited assessor or a credit agency, and it does not score questionnaires for you. It runs your own questionnaire, checks and approval in the same order for every firm, with a record of who checked what.
Prequalification is the first step with a new firm. Once they are appointed, each of their operatives goes through the Construction Site Induction Checklist, permit-controlled work runs through the Permit to Work Checklist, and the Supplier Performance Evaluation Checklist gives a structure for reviewing how they performed. For a self-employed individual rather than a firm, use the Contractor Onboarding Checklist.
Describe the process in a sentence and the AI checklist generator drafts the phases and tasks for you.
Subcontractor prequalification is the check a main contractor makes on a firm before it joins the approved list or is invited to tender. It confirms the company is who it says it is, that its insurance is valid, and that it has the health and safety arrangements, competence, quality systems, financial standing and capacity for the work. It ends with a scored decision: approved, approved with conditions or rejected. Price and contract terms are dealt with later, in the tender, among firms that have already passed.
Ask for company details and ownership, insurance certificates, the health and safety policy and arrangements, sample risk assessments and method statements, training and competence records, accident and enforcement history, quality and environmental arrangements, accounts or a credit report, references on similar work, capacity and key people, and how they check their own subcontractors. HSE’s own guide to using contractors suggests similar questions. Ask only what the risk of the package needs: a high-risk trade needs more evidence than a low-risk one.
Regulation 8 says a contractor appointed to a project must have the skills, knowledge and experience and, if it is an organisation, the organisational capability to do the work in a way that secures health and safety. Whoever appoints them must take reasonable steps to satisfy themselves of that. HSE’s guidance, L153, says the steps depend on the complexity and risks of the project, that enquiries should be proportionate, and that PAS 91’s standard health and safety questions are a useful aid. CDM 2015 applies to construction projects in Great Britain.
No. HSE’s guidance on CDM 2015 says the law does not require any business to use a third party to help it bid for work. An assessment from a member scheme of the Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) Forum is one way to show organisational capability at the prequalification stage, but not the only way: a firm may assess itself and send its own documents. If a firm already holds one, check its expiry date and that it covers the trade you are appointing them for, rather than asking the same questions again.
In Great Britain most employers must hold employers’ liability insurance of at least £5 million, and the certificate shows the cover and the companies insured; a company that employs only its owner is exempt. Public liability is generally voluntary in law, so the limit comes from your contract. In the US, workers’ compensation is run by each state, and the general liability limit comes from your contract. Ask for professional indemnity where the firm designs. Check names, limits and expiry dates, and record them so renewals are chased.
Ask for the OSHA 300A annual summaries for recent years, which give the recordable cases, average employees and total hours worked, and the experience modification rate on their workers’ compensation policy. Employers keep the 300 log and its summaries for five years, but a company with 10 or fewer employees throughout the last calendar year is partly exempt and may have no log. OSHA’s public establishment search shows inspections and citations. Under OSHA’s multi-employer citation policy, what you know about a subcontractor’s safety history affects how closely you must watch them.
No regulation sets a cycle, so choose one, for example every year or every two years, and re-qualify sooner after a trigger: a serious incident, enforcement action, a change of ownership, poor performance or lapsed insurance. Some documents expire on their own timetable. An HSE asbestos licence, for example, lasts up to three years. Record the expiry date of every certificate when you approve the firm, so the next check is due before something lapses rather than after.
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