Posted 16th July 2025 by Rob Whalley

Why Effective Contractor Management is Critical for Facilities Success

Contractors play a vital role in keeping facilities running smoothly—whether it’s for planned maintenance, reactive repairs, compliance inspections, or specialist services. But managing a network of external providers can be complex without the right systems in place. That’s where effective contractor management—ideally embedded within a powerful CAFM or CMMS platform—comes into play.

What Is Contractor Management?

Contractor management is the process of selecting, onboarding, monitoring, and evaluating third-party service providers working on your premises. It includes ensuring contractors are qualified, compliant, available, and working within agreed SLAs and safety standards.

Why Contractor Management Matters

1. Compliance & Risk Reduction
   Ensuring every contractor has up-to-date documentation—such as insurance, certifications, DBS checks, and RAMS—is essential for legal compliance and risk mitigation.
2. Efficiency & Scheduling
   A clear scheduling process for assigning jobs to approved contractors reduces admin burden, avoids delays, and ensures the right person is doing the right job at the right time.
3. Cost Control & Performance Tracking
   Managing contractor performance and costs in real-time helps identify inefficiencies, improve service levels, and reduce unnecessary expenditure.
4. Health & Safety Assurance
   With built-in permit to work, induction tracking, and method statement approval, you ensure all site-based risks are understood and mitigated before work begins.

 

Contractor Arrival, Digital Sign-In & Site Inductions

Managing what happens when a contractor arrives on-site is just as important as scheduling the work. Manual sign-in books and paper-based inductions are prone to error, delay, and compliance gaps. A modern CAFM solution eliminates these risks.

Key Features of Digital Sign-In & Induction:

• Touchscreen or Mobile Sign-In
  Contractors can sign in via reception kiosks or mobile devices, instantly logging their arrival with time-stamped records.
• Induction on Arrival
  Customisable digital inductions—covering site safety, evacuation procedures, and local hazards—are delivered before access is granted.
• Permit Verification
  The system checks for active permits to work and associated documentation before the contractor begins the task.
• Real-Time Presence Tracking
  Know exactly who is on-site, where they are working, and when they leave—critical for emergency evacuations and audit trails.
• Access Control Integration
  Link digital sign-in with physical access control for automatic badge printing or turnstile activation upon induction completion.

By streamlining contractor arrivals, inductions, and on-site monitoring, facilities teams gain greater control, visibility, and peace of mind.

Blocking Contractors with Outdated Certifications

Assigning work to non-compliant contractors puts your organisation at legal and operational risk. A robust contractor management system should automatically prevent this.
CAFM systems can assist in:

• Auto-flagging expired certifications such as insurance, CSCS cards, DBS checks, and trade-specific qualifications.
• Blocking contractors from being assigned jobs until all required documentation is up to date.
• Send automated alerts to internal teams and contractors ahead of expiry dates to allow proactive updates.
• Define required credentials by job type so only appropriately qualified contractors are considered for the work.

This ensures that only compliant, safe, and fully verified contractors are dispatched, helping protect your business from unnecessary risk or liability.

Managing Contractor Performance

Beyond compliance, it’s crucial to monitor how well your contractors are actually performing. Poor response times, missed SLAs, or quality issues can damage your service delivery and reputation.

Performance tracking features include:

• SLA & KPI monitoring based on first-time fix, job completion time, and feedback scores
• Automated scoring and grading of contractors based on historical data
• Job-level feedback tools for internal staff to rate contractor quality
• Trend analysis and performance dashboards to support informed decision-making
• Blocking or down-ranking underperforming contractors in future job allocation

This data-driven approach helps you make smarter choices, reward high performers, and address underperformance early—ultimately improving service quality and customer satisfaction.

Managing Contractor Standards & RAMS

Contractors must work to agreed standards, especially when it comes to health and safety. A robust CAFM system helps ensure every contractor has provided relevant Risk Assessments and Method Statements (RAMS)—both generic and job-specific—before work begins.

Key Capabilities Include:

• RAMS Library: Maintain and review each contractor’s standard RAMS as part of their approval process.
• Job-Specific RAMS Uploads: Require task-specific RAMS before accepting high-risk work.
• Approval Workflows: Designated team members can review and approve RAMS digitally before issuing permits.
• Expiry Management: Automated alerts for outdated RAMS documents to ensure only valid procedures are followed.
• Site Access Control: Block entry until required RAMS are submitted and approved.

By embedding RAMS management into the contractor workflow, you reduce risk, improve accountability, and create safer working environments.

Issuing Permits to Work for Safe Contractor Access

Permits to work (PTW) are essential for high-risk tasks, such as working at height, hot works, or electrical isolation. Tabs FM’s digital PTW system streamlines this process, ensuring no one starts work without the correct authorisation.

Features of Permit-to-Work Management:

• Custom Permit Templates: Create standardised templates based on task type or risk level.
• Digital Approval Flows: Automatically route permits for internal sign-off based on job criteria.
• Conditional Access: Contractors can only begin work once permits and RAMS are approved and linked to the job.
• On-Site Verification: QR codes or mobile devices used to validate permit status at sign-in.
• Audit Trail: Full visibility of who approved what and when, with time-stamped records.

Issuing and managing permits within your CAFM platform ensures safe, compliant, and controlled working environments every time.

How CAFM Software Transforms Contractor Management

Modern CAFM and CMMS platforms, like Tabs FM, provide the tools to manage contractors more effectively:

• Centralised contractor records
• Automated job allocation
• Digital permits to work & inductions
• RAMS and document control
• Compliance-driven job assignment
• Self-service contractor portals
• Audit trails and reporting
• Contractor performance dashboards
• Digital Sign in/out

Conclusion

Facilities managers can no longer afford to rely on spreadsheets or disconnected processes to manage contractors. With the right CAFM platform in place, contractor management becomes seamless, safe, and strategic—allowing your team to focus on outcomes, not oversight.

Ready to transform how you manage contractors? Book a demo with Tabs FM to see our contractor management and sign-in solution in action.