5 ways to automate contractor sign-ins

#1 - The basic check-in

Who it's for: Single-site businesses with the occasional contractor, where someone different turns up to fix or service something every few weeks.

What it is: A contractor sign-in is a short record taken the moment a visiting worker arrives, before they start on site. This version is four steps on a phone: type their name, type their company, type one line on what they are here to do, and pick roughly when they expect to finish. Each completion is one stamped record, and the log for the day is the list of everyone who signed in.

In practice: A single-site garden centre has a refrigeration engineer arrive to service the chillers. The supervisor opens the canvas, types "Dan Whitfield", types "CoolChain Refrigeration", types "servicing the chillers in the plant room", and picks an expected finish of 2pm. Submitted. Server timestamp captured. When the engineer is still around at 4pm, the supervisor knows to check in, because the canvas said 2pm. One stamped record, on a phone, no clipboard by the back door.

Why it works: The sign-in is the record. What changes is not the work the contractor does. What changes is that there is now a time-stamped log of who was on site, who they work for, what they were doing, and when they should have been gone. If anything is damaged, missing, or left unsafe after they leave, the business has a name, a company, and a job description to start from, not a vague memory.

Steps included:

• 1 text input (contractor name)
• 1 text input (company)
• 1 text input (work being done today)
• 1 date and time input (expected finish time)

#2 - With written guidance

Who it's for: Sites with frequent or rotating contractors, where whoever is on the desk needs to brief them consistently without remembering every point.

What it is: The basic check-in plus guidance woven into the canvas. A site-rules panel at the start walks the contractor through the fire exits, the assembly point, who to call in an emergency, and any areas to stay out of. An emergency-contact panel at the end makes sure they leave with a number to call if something goes wrong.

In practice: A 40-unit self-storage facility open seven days a week has contractors come and go constantly: a locksmith on Monday, a roofer on Wednesday, a pest-control visit on Friday. The team on the desk rotates, and not everyone knows the building cold. When the roofer signs in, the first panel prompts the desk staff to point out the fire exits and the one corridor that is off limits. The roofer types their details, picks a finish time, and the last panel reminds them to call the duty manager if they find anything unexpected. The briefing stops depending on who happens to be working that day.

What it adds to the basic check-in:

1. A site-rules panel at the start that lists the fire exits, the assembly point, the emergency contact, and any no-go areas
2. An emergency-contact panel at the end that tells the contractor to call the duty manager and makes sure they have a number before they start
3. A consistent briefing that no longer depends on which member of the team is on the desk

Why it works: Written guidance sits inline at the moment the sign-in happens. The desk staff read the site rules off the screen while the contractor is standing there, so nothing gets skipped because it was busy. The contractor reads the emergency panel the moment before they head off to work.

Steps included:

• 1 guidance note (site rules)
• 1 text input (contractor name)
• 1 text input (company)
• 1 text input (work being done today)
• 1 date and time input (expected finish time)
• 1 guidance note (emergency contact)

#3 - With a signature

Who it's for: Sites where the contractor must confirm they heard the briefing and understood it, or audited sites that need a signed record.

What it is: The basic check-in plus a contractor signature at the end. The contractor signs on the touchscreen to confirm they heard the site rules and understood them. The signature closes the loop: the record now holds the time, the name and company, and a signed confirmation that the briefing actually happened.

In practice: A food production plant runs a tight audit regime, with engineers and cleaning contractors in and out around production runs. Every contractor who arrives is briefed at the door and signs the canvas before they go through to the floor. The signature is captured on the touchscreen, time-stamped, and attached to the same record as their name and company. When the annual audit lands, the auditor asks for proof that contractors are briefed. The plant manager pulls a month of sign-ins and shows a name, a company, and a signature on every single one. The question is answered in minutes.

What it adds to the basic check-in:

1. A signature step at the end where the contractor signs to confirm they heard the briefing
2. A record that holds the time, the typed details, and a signed confirmation
3. A defensible trail that shows not just that a contractor was on site, but that they were briefed and confirmed it before starting

Why it works: The signature is what closes the loop. The typed details and the time say a named contractor was here. The signature adds: and this contractor confirms they were briefed. Captured on the same device, at the same moment, in the same record, they are what an auditor or an insurer expects to see when they ask whether contractors are briefed before they start.

Steps included:

• 1 text input (contractor name)
• 1 text input (company)
• 1 text input (work being done today)
• 1 date and time input (expected finish time)
• 1 signature (sign-off)

#4 - With photo evidence

Who it's for: Multi-site businesses that want visual proof of who was actually on each site, not just a typed name in a log.

What it is: The basic check-in plus a photo of the contractor's ID, captured at the time. The contractor's ID is photographed and lands in the same record as their typed details. A typed name can be anyone. A photo of a driving licence or an official ID is something you can hold up to check against the person standing in front of you. Each sign-in now carries a visual confirmation alongside the written record.

In practice: A three-site letting agency managing blocks of flats across a city has tradespeople attend all three buildings: a gas engineer at one, a fire-alarm tester at another, a window cleaner at the third. The building manager at each site runs the same canvas, types the contractor's details, and finishes by photographing the contractor's ID. Months later, when a tenant queries who entered the communal areas in March, the agency pulls the sign-in and sees the typed name next to a photo of an actual ID that was shown at the time. The record points at a real person, not just a name someone typed.

What it adds to the basic check-in:

1. A photo of the contractor's ID, captured at the time of the sign-in
2. A visual confirmation of who was on site, which a typed name on its own does not give
3. A record that works across multiple sites, because every site captures the same photo evidence the same way

Why it works: A typed name is a claim. A photo is something to check it against. The two together stand up to a query in a way that either alone does not. The name records who they said they were. The photo shows the ID that was actually there, captured at the moment of the sign-in, on the same device, so it cannot be added after the fact.

Steps included:

• 1 text input (contractor name)
• 1 text input (company)
• 1 text input (work being done today)
• 1 date and time input (expected finish time)
• 1 photo of the contractor's ID

#5 - With Poppi checking the photo

Who it's for: Multi-site groups where photos get taken but nobody reviews them. Head office cannot look at every site's contractor records every day.

What it is: A photo-checked sign-in is the basic check-in plus a photo of the contractor's ID that Poppi (AI) reviews the moment it's saved. Poppi answers one question about that photo, set by you: is the contractor's ID clearly visible and readable? A single named item is something an AI can actually judge, where a wide shot is not. If the answer is no, Poppi posts what it spotted to the team chat, so the contractor can retake it or the issue gets sorted before everyone moves on.

In practice: A three-site catering company clocks in contractors at arrival as always. The site manager photographs the contractor's ID. Poppi reads the photo: clear, readable, details visible. Verdict yes, and nothing changes. On a rushed Friday the photo is blurry and the ID details are cut off. Poppi answers no and posts the reason to the team chat ("The ID is not clearly visible in the photo"). The manager retakes the photo while the contractor is still there, and this time it passes.

What it adds to the basic check-in:

1. A photo of the contractor's ID that gets checked the moment it's saved, not just stored
2. A team chat message with Poppi's reason the moment a photo fails the check
3. Head office stops being the only person who ever looks at the photos

Why it works: The check happens in the seconds between the photo being taken and the contractor moving on to the work. That's the only moment it is still cheap to fix. A manager reviewing photos the next day can only record that the ID was unreadable. Poppi catching it at the moment of sign-in gets it fixed on the spot.

Steps included:

• 1 text input (contractor name)
• 1 text input (company)
• 1 text input (work being done today)
• 1 date and time input (expected finish time)
• 1 photo of the contractor's ID
• 1 Poppi decision (judges the photo against your question)
• 1 Poppi action (posts to the team chat if the photo fails the check)

How to pick the right version

You don't need to know our product to choose. Every version here is the basic check-in plus one addition, so pick the additions your site actually needs.

Do other people run this, or is it just you?

If it is just you signing contractors in, the basic check-in is enough. You know the site rules, you know what to brief them on, and you don't need the canvas to coach you. If anyone else runs it (a weekend duty manager, a rotating front desk, a new starter), go to #2 onwards. The guidance panels are what stops the briefing depending on who happens to be working that day.

Does the sign-in need a name against it on a formal record?

If knowing it was done is enough, skip this one. If you want who signed it off on the record, and an auditor might ask to see it, #3 adds a signature.

Do you need visual proof of who was actually there?

A typed name is a claim. If you run more than one site, or a tenant, an auditor, or an investigation could ask "can you prove who was actually here?", a typed name on its own is rarely enough. #4 adds a photo of the contractor's ID, so you have something to check the name against.

Does anyone actually look at the photos?

If a manager genuinely reviews every photo, #4's record is enough. If photos get taken and filed unseen, #5 has Poppi (AI) check each one as it's saved and tell the team chat when something is wrong.

Need more than one addition? Open the version with the addition that matters most in the playground and add the others as steps. That's how the product works anyway: every option here is one step added to the same list.

Related workflows

• 5 ways to automate visitor sign-ins
• 5 ways to automate lone worker check-ins
• 5 ways to automate hazard spotting
• 5 ways to automate near-miss reports
• 5 ways to automate tool and asset checkout

Conclusion

A contractor sign-in is a short, time-stamped record taken the moment a visiting worker arrives: who they are, who they work for, what they are doing, and when they expect to finish. Every version above is the same basic log plus one addition: guidance, a signature, a photo, or an AI check on the photo. Pick the ones your site needs and combine them in the playground.

More additions are coming in future refreshes, like Poppi posting the day's sign-ins straight to the site manager's channel before the shift starts. Those need more review time and will land separately.

→ Build your own contractor sign-in on Pilla.