Add a vendor

A vendor record holds everything you need to instruct a supplier, receive their bills and pay them. Set it up properly once and the rest of the workflow runs without friction.

Before you start

Have to hand:

• Company name, trading name and registered office.
• Companies House number and VAT registration number if applicable.
• Contact name, email and phone.
• Bank details for outgoing payments.
• Service categories the vendor covers.
• Insurance certificates (public liability, employers' liability, professional indemnity).
• Trade certifications relevant to the work (Gas Safe, NICEIC, NAPIT, BAFE).

Create the record

1. Open Vendors → Add vendor.
2. Enter the trading name and registered name.
3. Add Companies House number and VAT number if applicable.
4. Enter the registered office address.
5. Add the primary contact: name, email, phone.
6. Save.

The vendor exists. It needs more before it can take on work.

Add bank details

Under Banking:

1. Enter the sort code and account number.
2. Enter the IBAN and BIC if the vendor is international.
3. Pick the default currency.
4. Save.

PropLink uses these details when generating payment files for BACS runs.

Add service categories

A service category is a kind of work the vendor does (plumbing, electrical, fire safety, gardening). Categories drive vendor matching when you raise a work order.

1. Open the vendor and click Service categories → Add.
2. Pick one or more categories from the dropdown.
3. Optionally mark a category as preferred to surface this vendor first when raising work orders in that category.
4. Save.

See Service categories.

Add insurance and certifications

Each kind of work has compliance requirements. Add the documents:

1. Open Insurance → Add policy.
2. Enter the policy type (public liability, employers' liability, professional indemnity, working at height, motor).
3. Enter the insurer, policy number, sum insured and expiry date.
4. Upload the certificate.
5. Save.

Repeat for Certifications → Add certification for trade-specific bodies (Gas Safe, NICEIC, NAPIT, BAFE).

PropLink reminds you 30 days before each one expires and will not let you raise a work order to a vendor whose required cover has lapsed.

Set tax and payment defaults

Under Tax and payment:

1. Pick the default tax rate that applies to bills from this vendor (usually standard VAT).
2. Pick the default payment terms (net 14, net 30, on receipt).
3. Save.

These defaults pre-fill new bills from this vendor, but you can override on each bill.

Set a preferred status

For high-trust vendors, mark them as preferred:

1. Open the vendor.
2. Click Make preferred.
3. Optionally scope the preferred status to specific sites or categories.

Preferred vendors appear at the top of the list when raising work orders. See Preferred contractor lists.

Test the record

Before you start instructing the vendor:

1. Raise a small test work order against the vendor (a non-urgent task on a low-risk site).
2. Send the ContractorPort invitation.
3. Confirm the vendor receives the email and can open the link.
4. Receive their submission and process it through approval and payment.

If anything in the chain misbehaves, you have a clean test record to refer back to.