SUBCONTRACTOR VETTING CHECKLIST ================================ SoloStack | solostack.madethis.app Free download — no signup required Use this checklist before hiring any subcontractor. A 2-hour vetting process upfront prevents weeks of problems downstream. ================================ PART 1: PORTFOLIO REVIEW (5 CRITERIA) ================================ □ CRITERION 1 — CONSISTENT QUALITY ACROSS PROJECTS Look for: Does quality hold across different clients and project types, or is one standout piece masking inconsistent output? Red flag: One beautiful case study and nothing else substantial. What to do: Ask them to show you their 3 most recent projects, not their best. □ CRITERION 2 — REAL CLIENT WORK (NOT SPEC OR PERSONAL) Look for: Work done for paying clients, with identifiable outcomes. Red flag: All work is "concept projects," student work, or self-initiated. What to do: Ask "Was this for a paying client? Can you share any results?" □ CRITERION 3 — WORK IN YOUR NICHE OR ADJACENT NICHE Look for: Experience with your service type and/or your clients' industry. Red flag: Wildly unrelated portfolio (you need a copywriter; they showed you photography and logo design). Note: Adjacent-niche experience is fine; a complete mismatch isn't. □ CRITERION 4 — ABILITY TO EXPLAIN DECISIONS Look for: Can they articulate WHY they made specific choices? Test: Ask them to walk you through one piece — "Why did you structure it this way? What was the brief?" Red flag: "I just thought it looked good" with no strategic reasoning. Why it matters: Decision-making transparency = fewer surprise revisions. □ CRITERION 5 — IMPROVEMENT OVER TIME Look for: Does their work from 2 years ago look noticeably worse than their recent work? Growth is a strong signal. What to ask: "What's something you do differently now than 2 years ago?" Red flag: Work that looks identical across years — no evolution. PORTFOLIO SCORE: _____ / 5 criteria met ================================ PART 2: TEST PROJECT FRAMEWORK ================================ WHY DO A PAID TEST PROJECT? A portfolio shows past work. A test project shows how they work with YOU — brief interpretation, communication style, revision behavior, and deadline adherence. HOW TO STRUCTURE IT: Scope: A real (small) piece of actual work — not busywork. Example: One blog post section. One icon. One landing page component. Duration: Completable in 2–6 hours of work. Deadline: Give a real deadline with a day or two of buffer built in. Pay: Always pay for test projects. Market rate or slightly above. □ Copywriter test: $75–$150 □ Designer test: $100–$200 □ Developer test: $150–$300 □ VA/Editor test: $50–$100 WHAT TO EVALUATE: □ Brief interpretation — Did they deliver what you actually asked for, or did they go in a different direction without checking? □ Proactive communication — Did they ask clarifying questions upfront (good) or just dive in and hope for the best (risky)? □ On-time delivery — Did they hit the deadline? Did they warn you in advance if not? □ Revision response — How did they handle your first round of feedback? Professional and specific (good) or defensive/vague (flag)? □ File/format hygiene — Did they deliver in the format requested? Named correctly? Organized properly? □ Quality vs. your brief — Does the output match the quality of their portfolio, or was the test an anomaly in either direction? TEST PROJECT SCORE: _____ / 6 criteria met ================================ PART 3: REFERENCE CHECK QUESTIONS (8 QUESTIONS) ================================ Ask at least 2 references — one former client and one collaborator if possible. Call rather than email; you'll get more candid answers. QUESTION 1: "How would you describe [NAME]'s communication style when a project was going well? What about when something went wrong?" Listen for: Proactive vs. reactive. Honest when things get hard vs. avoidant. QUESTION 2: "Did they consistently hit deadlines? If not, how did they handle it?" Listen for: Pattern of lateness vs. one-off incident. Whether they flagged issues early or you found out after the fact. QUESTION 3: "How did they handle feedback and revision requests?" Listen for: Receptive and specific vs. defensive or needing hand-holding. QUESTION 4: "Did the final work match the brief? Did they ever go significantly off-scope without checking in?" Listen for: Initiative (good) vs. autonomous scope expansion (risky). QUESTION 5: "Would you hire them again? Why or why not?" Listen for: Any hesitation. Ask a follow-up if you hear "...but." QUESTION 6: "Was there anything that surprised you — good or bad — about working with them?" Listen for: Upside surprises (proactively added value) vs. downside surprises (disappeared for 3 days, sent wrong files, etc.) QUESTION 7: "How did they handle client-facing situations? If they ever communicated with your end client, how did that go?" Listen for: Professional, boundaried, client-appropriate vs. overly casual or overly sales-y. QUESTION 8: "Is there anything you'd want to know before working with them that you didn't know going in?" This is the most revealing question. Good references often share things here that they wouldn't share unprompted. REFERENCE CHECK NOTES: Reference 1 (Name/Company): _______________________________ Key takeaways: _____________________________________________ Reference 2 (Name/Company): _______________________________ Key takeaways: _____________________________________________ ================================ PART 4: RATE BENCHMARKING BY ROLE ================================ These are rough US market ranges for competent mid-level subcontractors. Rates vary significantly by niche, experience, and location. COPYWRITER / CONTENT WRITER Blog posts (1,000–1,500 words): $150–$450 Email copy (single email): $100–$350 Landing page copy: $300–$1,500 Social media captions (10-pack): $200–$600 Monthly retainer: $1,000–$4,000 GRAPHIC DESIGNER Social media graphics (per set of 5–8): $150–$400 Brand asset creation (logos, icons): $300–$2,000 Email template design: $200–$600 Infographic: $250–$800 WEB DEVELOPER Landing page build: $500–$2,500 WordPress/Webflow maintenance (monthly): $200–$800 Feature development (hourly): $50–$150/hr Bug fixes (hourly): $50–$120/hr VIRTUAL ASSISTANT Admin tasks (hourly): $15–$45/hr Specialized VA (project management, research): $25–$60/hr Monthly retainer (10–20 hrs/month): $300–$900 EDITOR / PROOFREADER Developmental editing (per 1,000 words): $20–$60 Copyediting/proofreading (per 1,000 words): $5–$20 Video editing (per minute of finished video): $15–$50 SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER Content creation + scheduling (monthly): $500–$2,000 Engagement only (monthly): $300–$800 RATE RED FLAGS: → Significantly below market: May mean inexperience, lower quality, or they'll burn out and disappear mid-project. → Significantly above market with no clear differentiation: Ask what justifies the premium. Strong justification = fine. Vague answer = flag. ================================ PART 5: RED FLAG CHECKLIST (10 SIGNS TO WALK AWAY) ================================ □ RED FLAG 1 — SLOW OR UNCLEAR COMMUNICATION IN EARLY STAGE If they're slow to respond when they're trying to impress you (before getting the project), they'll be slower after. Communication gets worse, not better. □ RED FLAG 2 — PORTFOLIO INCONSISTENCY THEY CAN'T EXPLAIN Wildly varying quality, or they can't speak to the decisions behind specific work. Good subs can explain why they made every major choice. □ RED FLAG 3 — RELUCTANCE TO DO A PAID TEST PROJECT "I don't usually do test projects" is a flag if they're asking for significant project commitment upfront. Confident, experienced subs are happy to earn your trust on a small paid assignment. □ RED FLAG 4 — VAGUE OR EVASIVE REFERENCES References who are hard to reach, give one-word answers, or who you can tell are being careful with their words. □ RED FLAG 5 — PUSHBACK ON YOUR CONTRACT TERMS (ESPECIALLY IP AND NON-SOLICIT) Some negotiation is normal. Refusing IP assignment or non-solicitation outright is a serious flag — especially the IP clause. □ RED FLAG 6 — THEY VOLUNTEER THE CLIENT'S NAME BEFORE YOU DO If they casually mention "oh, I did something similar for [Your Client Name]..." they either lack professional discretion or are actively dropping that name to impress you. Neither is good. □ RED FLAG 7 — DISAPPEARING ACT DURING THE NEGOTIATION PHASE Goes quiet for days without explanation during scheduling or contract review. □ RED FLAG 8 — ALL REVIEWS ARE SUSPICIOUSLY PERFECT Real freelancers have mixed reviews. All 5-star reviews with identical language can indicate fake reviews or review-gating. □ RED FLAG 9 — THEY UNDERQUOTE DRAMATICALLY TO GET THE PROJECT Low-balling creates resentment. They will either cut corners, rush the work, or come back with scope change requests to make up the difference. □ RED FLAG 10 — OVER-COMMITMENT ("I CAN DEFINITELY DO THAT BY THEN") Without asking any clarifying questions about scope, timeline, or their current workload. Confident "yes" without questions = not thinking it through. ================================ PART 6: COMMUNICATION STYLE ASSESSMENT (FIRST 48 HOURS) ================================ Send a reply-required message on Day 1 and observe the following: □ TEST 1 — RESPONSE TIME AND COMPLETENESS Did they reply within [your expected window — e.g., 24 business hours]? Did they answer all the questions you asked, or just some? Good: Complete, timely response. Flag: Partial response or silence. □ TEST 2 — CLARIFYING QUESTIONS Did they ask smart clarifying questions about the brief, or just say "great, sounds good"? Good: 1–3 specific, relevant clarifying questions. Flag: No questions at all (overconfidence or not reading carefully) OR 10+ questions about everything (insecurity or inability to make decisions). □ TEST 3 — TONE AND PROFESSIONALISM Is their communication tone aligned with your clients' expectations? (If you work with corporate clients, a very casual tone from your sub could be a mismatch in client-facing scenarios.) Note: This is about fit with YOUR context, not about judgment of their style. ================================ PART 7: TOOLS COMPATIBILITY CHECK ================================ Confirm they can work in your stack before you start. PROJECT MANAGEMENT: □ Notion □ Asana □ Trello □ Monday.com □ ClickUp □ Basecamp □ Linear □ Other: _________ COMMUNICATION: □ Slack □ Teams □ Email only □ Other: _________ FILE SHARING: □ Google Drive □ Dropbox □ Notion □ Other: _________ DESIGN: □ Figma □ Canva □ Adobe CC □ Other: _________ DEVELOPMENT: □ GitHub □ GitLab □ Specific framework: ______________ WRITING/CONTENT: □ Google Docs □ Notion □ CMS: _________________________ CLIENT-SPECIFIC TOOLS: □ _______________________________________________________________ TOOLS NOTES: ____________________________________________________ ================================ PART 8: ONBOARDING READINESS SCORE (1–5 SCORING GRID) ================================ Rate each item 1 (not ready) to 5 (fully ready) before your first project. [ ] Contract signed and returned on time _____ / 5 [ ] W-9 or equivalent tax form collected _____ / 5 [ ] Confirmed receipt and read of project brief _____ / 5 [ ] Tools access confirmed and active _____ / 5 [ ] Milestone and deadline confirmed in writing _____ / 5 [ ] Communication preferences clarified _____ / 5 [ ] First check-in scheduled _____ / 5 [ ] Questions asked and answered before start _____ / 5 TOTAL SCORE: _____ / 40 INTERPRETATION: 32–40: Ready to start 20–31: Address gaps before work begins Below 20: Onboarding conversation needed before first deliverable ================================ VETTING SUMMARY ================================ Subcontractor Name: _____________________________________ Date Vetted: ___________________________________________ Role: _________________________________________________ Portfolio Score: _____ / 5 Test Project Score: _____ / 6 Reference Check: □ Completed — Notes: ____________________ Red Flags Identified: □ None □ Yes — Details: ___________ Tools Compatibility: □ Full □ Partial — Gaps: ___________ Onboarding Readiness Score: _____ / 40 DECISION: □ Proceed □ Proceed with caveats □ Do not hire Notes: _________________________________________________ -- Template provided by SoloStack | solostack.madethis.app Full template library: $19/month — cancel anytime.