The cheapest bid is the riskiest line item
Exterior building work happens at height, which means the wrong vendor is not just a quality problem, it is a liability exposure. The lowest bid often reflects a contractor cutting corners on insurance, training, or safety, and those corners become your problem the moment something goes wrong on your property. Here is how to separate a real partner from a risk.
Ask who actually does the work
Many companies bid the job and then subcontract it to crews you never meet and cannot vet. Ask directly: are your technicians W2 employees or subcontractors? W2 crews are trained, insured, and accountable to the company you hired. Subcontracted labor introduces uncertainty about training, coverage, and who is liable if there is an incident.
Verify insurance and ask for the certificate
A credible commercial vendor carries general liability and workers compensation and will provide a certificate of insurance naming your property without hesitation. If a vendor is slow to produce one, treat that as your answer.
Demand documented safety
For any work at height, ask whether each job gets a site-specific safety plan, whether technicians are certified before at-height work, and whether equipment and anchors are inspected on a schedule. A vendor that cannot describe its safety program in detail does not have one.
Check references and portfolio fit
Ask for references on buildings like yours. A vendor that handles 20-story towers may not be set up for a retail route, and vice versa. The right partner has done work at your scale and building type before and can speak to it specifically.
Favor partners who can grow with you
If you manage more than one property, a vendor who can coordinate a multi-site program under one contract and one point of contact saves you real overhead. Consistency of standards across locations is hard to get from a patchwork of local providers.
The short checklist
Before you sign, confirm: W2 crews not subcontractors, current general liability and workers comp with a certificate for your property, documented site-specific safety plans, references on comparable buildings, and the ability to scale across your portfolio. S&K is built to answer yes to all of them, and we are happy to prove it.