Residential Developer Prequalifies 100+ Trade Partners with Automated Scoring

A high-volume residential developer building 500+ units annually across the Southeast was onboarding subcontractors with minimal vetting. Their prequalification process consisted of collecting a single-page questionnaire and a COI — a process that took five minutes but left the firm exposed to significant risk.

Over an 18-month period, the developer experienced three subcontractor defaults, two safety violations resulting in OSHA citations, and a lawsuit from a sub's unpaid supplier. The total cost of these failures exceeded $1.2 million in direct costs and project delays.

With a trade partner roster of 100+ subcontractors across 15 trades, the operations team had no systematic way to evaluate financial health, safety records, or past performance before awarding work.

SubcontractorAudit's prequalification module replaced the developer's paper-based process with a comprehensive digital assessment. Subcontractors complete a detailed application covering financial capacity, safety metrics (EMR, TRIR), bonding history, references, and litigation history through a guided online portal.

The platform's scoring algorithm weighs factors based on the developer's risk priorities and generates a composite prequalification score for each applicant. Automated background checks pull EMR data, verify license status, and check for outstanding liens or judgments.

Annual re-qualification is triggered automatically, ensuring that the trade partner roster stays current without manual follow-up from the operations team.