What General Contractors Check Before Your Crew Steps on Site
By Ana Vasquez, M.Ed. ·
Missing paperwork stalls jobs, and every general contractor runs the same checklist before your people touch the work.
You can be the best crew in the county and still sit in the parking lot on day one. General contractors do not take chances on undocumented workers, because the liability lands on them. Before your crew steps on site, the GC's safety team runs a verification pass. Here is what they are looking at.
The pre mobilization packet
Most GCs require a submittal package before mobilization: company safety program, insurance certificates, and the training records for every worker assigned to the project. This is not a formality. It is the filter. Incomplete packets go to the bottom of the pile while complete ones get boots on the ground.
OSHA cards: current, not just present
Having an OSHA 10 or OSHA 30 card is the baseline on most commercial and public work. But GCs check the date, not just the card. An expired card is the same as no card. Some owners and public agencies also require the card to have been issued within a set number of years, regardless of the printed expiration. If your records do not show current status for every worker, expect delays.
Trade certifications and tickets
Beyond OSHA, the GC verifies trade specific credentials: fall protection, scaffolding, forklift and aerial lift operation, confined space, rigging, and whatever the scope of work demands. Each ticket needs to be current and matched to the worker holding it. A ticket in the company name means nothing. It must trace to the individual on site.
Training documentation that holds up
Paper cards in a glove box do not count as a system. What GCs want to see is a file: who was trained, in what, by whom, on which date, and when it expires. Toolbox talks documented. Orientation records signed. When an incident happens, and on big projects something eventually happens, this file is what everyone reaches for. The companies with clean files answer questions fast. The companies without them answer questions for weeks.
Why jobs stall
A single uncertified worker can hold up a whole crew. The GC will not let that person on site, and they will not let the crew start short staffed on critical path work. Every day of delay burns schedule, and schedule is money the GC will remember at the next bid.
Be the easy yes
The subcontractors who get called back are the ones whose paperwork arrives before it is asked for. Current cards. Complete files. Nothing to chase. That reputation is built in the back office long before anyone picks up a tool.
FoundHer Elite exists for exactly this: workforce certification that is scheduled, current, and documented. Online, in person, or hands on, in English and Spanish. Qualified providers deliver the training. We administer the program, the records, and the certification file, so your crew is never the reason a job stalls.
Learn more at foundherelite.com.
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