Vetting a contractor before you sign
What to check before committing to a contractor, and the red flags that show up early.
Vetting a contractor in Nigeria before signing typically covers track record on similar projects, funding and contract structure, verified title on the site, and execution risk such as team capacity and past delivery timelines. A structured risk check scores these areas rather than relying on a single reference or gut feeling, and flags exactly which factor is weak so it can be verified or renegotiated before money moves.
Most contractor problems in Nigerian construction are visible before a contract is signed, if they're actually checked for rather than assumed away by a personal recommendation.
What to check before signing
- Track record: completed projects of a similar size and standard, not just any past work.
- Funding structure: how the contractor is being paid, and whether payment milestones match actual construction stages.
- Contract terms: what's actually enforceable if the project runs late or over budget.
- Title verification: confirming the site itself is clean before construction capital is committed to it.
- Execution risk: team capacity, current workload, and whether past projects were delivered on the timeline promised.
Red flags that show up early
- Reluctance to share references from recently completed, comparable projects.
- Payment milestones that front-load cash before corresponding work is done.
- Vague or missing terms for what happens on delay or cost overrun.
- No clear answer on current workload or how many other active sites the team is running.
Why this works better as a score than a checklist
A yes/no checklist tends to hide how weak areas compound. Scoring funding, contract, title, and execution risk separately, then looking at where the lowest score sits, points directly at what to verify or renegotiate before signing, rather than a single pass/fail that doesn't say why.
See this against your own project's numbers
The Property Viability Engine runs this logic against your actual location, standard, and size, free without limitation.
Check Compliance For FreeQuestions people also ask
How do you verify a contractor in Nigeria before signing?
Check track record on similar projects, how payment is structured against construction milestones, whether contract terms are enforceable on delay or overrun, and the contractor's current workload and delivery history.
What's a red flag when vetting a contractor?
Payment milestones that require cash before matching work is complete, and reluctance to provide references from recently finished, comparable projects, are two of the most common early red flags.
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