The cheapest framing bid is often the most expensive line on your job. Here's the 10-point vetting checklist we'd use if we were sitting on your side of the table:
The checklist
- Certificates of insurance — before mobilization. CGL ($1M/$2M minimum), auto, umbrella, and workers' comp, with your company and the owner as additional insureds on ISO CG 20 10 and CG 20 37 forms. No COI, no gate access.
- Who actually swings the hammers? Ask whether the sub self-performs or brokers labor. Brokered crews mean the low bid gets re-shopped after you sign — and quality follows the margin.
- Crew-size commitment in writing. "We'll staff it appropriately" is not a number. Get minimum crew size and a weekly production plan in the subcontract.
- References from repeat GCs. One glowing reference means one good job. What you want is a GC who has hired them three times — repeat hires are the entire signal.
- Comparable project scale. A framer whose biggest job is a duplex will drown on a 120-unit podium building. Ask for addresses, unit counts, and the GC on each.
- Payroll and workforce compliance. On prevailing-wage work: certified payroll capability and IC-134 affidavits (in Minnesota). Everywhere: workers' comp that matches the state, and W-2 crews or properly registered subs — GC wage liability laws now reach up the chain.
- Schedule history, not schedule promises. Ask the last three GCs one question: did they hit the framing milestones?
- Safety program you can audit. Written program, OSHA training cards, fall-protection plan, and an EMR they'll show you.
- Clean paperwork machine. Timely pay apps, partial lien waivers with every payment, and final waivers at closeout. Subs who fight about paperwork fight about everything.
- Financial capacity for your pay cycle. Framing is labor-heavy; a sub who can't float payroll to your first draw becomes your problem in week three.
The one-question shortcut
If you only ask one thing: "Which GCs hire you again and again — and can I call them?" Everything else shows up in that answer.
Edge Enterprise works as a framing subcontractor for repeat GC partners across MN, ND, WI, and MT — Comeland Builders, Gast Construction, and Miller Architects & Builders among them. Request our qualification package and put us through this exact checklist.