Facilities Notes · Vendor Management

Vendor Onboarding in Kentucky: What to Verify First

Vendor onboarding usually gets run as a document-collection exercise: W-9, certificate of insurance, a copy of a licence, into the folder, done. That catches the obvious problems. What it misses is that in Kentucky “licensed” is not one thing, some trades are governed by a state statute that overrides your city’s rules entirely, and at least one of those statutes sets a standard you can verify by walking out to the job and looking. This is what a property or facilities manager in Central Kentucky should actually check, and where the published rules are.

Does a city licence requirement apply to a vendor’s electricians?

No. Kentucky’s electrical licensing statute expressly supersedes the ordinances of any city, county, urban-county, charter county or consolidated local government.

KRS 227A.020(6) states that KRS 227A.010 to 227A.140 supersede all ordinances or regulations regulating electricians, master electricians and electrical contractors of any city, county, urban-county, charter county or consolidated local government. It carves out two things that local government keeps: zoning requirements, and occupational payroll taxes pertaining to electricians, master electricians and electrical contractors.

For a manager running buildings in both Lexington and Richmond, that is a useful simplification and a useful warning in the same sentence. The electrical licence standard does not change when you cross the county line — but the occupational payroll tax does, because the statute leaves that alone. A vendor who is properly licensed for Fayette County is properly licensed for Madison County. Whether they are properly registered for the local occupational tax is a separate question that the licence does not answer.

The statute also contemplates local programs continuing as the department’s agents: subsection (5) allows an authorized local licensing program in existence on June 24, 2003 to contract with the department for issuance and renewal of licences, and allows the department to contract with local governments that want to become authorized licensing programs. So a local office may still be the one handing out the card — it is doing so as an agent of the state scheme, not under a separate local standard.

Can an unlicensed worker legally do electrical work?

Only under the direct supervision of a licensed electrician or master electrician who is present on the site where the work is being performed.

This is the single most checkable provision in the whole onboarding conversation, and it is the one almost nobody reads. KRS 227A.020(4) says a person not licensed as an electrical contractor, electrician or master electrician shall not engage in any activities or perform any of the duties usually performed by one, unless the unlicensed person is under the direct supervision of a licensed electrician or master electrician who is present on the site where the work is being performed.

Note what the statute does not say. It does not say “available by phone.” It does not say “supervising remotely.” It does not say “reachable.” It says present on the site where the work is being performed. That turns an abstract compliance question into a concrete one your building engineer can answer during a walk-through, and it gives you a precise, non-adversarial thing to put in a vendor agreement: when unlicensed personnel perform electrical work on our properties, a licensed electrician or master electrician will be on site.

Subsections (1) through (3) cover the related issue of representation — a person not licensed as an electrical contractor, master electrician or electrician may not represent themselves to the public as one, or use terms, titles or abbreviations expressing or implying that they are. If a vendor’s crew shirts, invoices or truck lettering say one thing and the licence register says another, that is the provision in play.

What should a vendor onboarding packet actually ask for?

Trade-specific licence numbers rather than a generic “licensed” claim, a current certificate of insurance naming you, and a written supervision commitment for the trades that require one.

The practical reason to ask by trade is that Kentucky regulates several building trades under separate statutory chapters with separate licence classes. Electrical contractors, electricians and master electricians sit in KRS Chapter 227A. Plumbing — including the master plumber licence and the State Plumbers Examining Committee — sits in KRS Chapter 318. Workers’ compensation sits in KRS Chapter 342. These are different schemes with different licence types, so “we’re licensed and insured” is not a verifiable statement. “Our master electrician’s licence number is X” is.

Ask for	Why it is the better question
The licence class and number, by trade	Classes differ within a single chapter — contractor, master electrician and electrician are three distinct licences in KRS 227A
Who will be on site, and their licence status	KRS 227A.020(4) ties legality of unlicensed work to on-site supervision, not to the company’s licence
Certificate of insurance naming the owner entity	A certificate addressed to the vendor’s own file tells you nothing about your coverage position
Local occupational tax registration, per jurisdiction	The electrical statute expressly leaves occupational payroll taxes to local government
Written scope limits	Defines when the vendor must stop and bring in a separately licensed trade

Where to read the rules yourself

All of the above is published and free to read, which is the point of citing it rather than summarising it. The Kentucky Legislative Research Commission publishes the statute text: KRS 227A.020, Prohibitions — Local licensing programs, which carries an effective date of July 15, 2010. The chapter indexes that list every section and licence class are KRS Chapter 227A on the Kentucky Legislature site for electrical and KRS Chapter 318 for plumbing. All three were verified as reachable on October 30, 2026.

A closing note on how to use this. Nothing here is a compliance opinion about any particular vendor or any particular job, and the statutes are amended from time to time — read the current text before you put a requirement in a contract, and route anything contested to your own counsel. What this is good for is writing better questions into an onboarding packet, so the answers you collect are ones you can actually check.

Our own vendor-side requirements are set out on the approved vendor page, and how we scope and price work is on how we price. If you want to talk through a building, get in touch.

Does this mean a city cannot require anything of an electrical contractor?

Not quite. KRS 227A.020(6) supersedes local ordinances regulating electricians, master electricians and electrical contractors, but it expressly preserves local zoning requirements and occupational payroll taxes pertaining to them. So local rules still reach the vendor — just not through a competing licence standard.

Is a certificate of insurance enough on its own?

A certificate is a snapshot of coverage on the date it was issued, which is why the date and the named certificate holder matter as much as the limits. It is a document to re-collect on a schedule, not once at onboarding. Coverage questions belong with your broker, who can read the policy rather than the summary.

How often should onboarding documents be refreshed?

Tie the refresh to the expiry dates on the documents themselves rather than to a calendar habit — insurance certificates and trade licences each carry their own dates, and a vendor whose licence status changes mid-year will not necessarily tell you. Build the diary entry when you file the document.

This page is general information about published Kentucky statutes for property and facilities managers. It is not legal advice and not a compliance determination about any vendor.

Last updated: October 30, 2026

By Marcos Gil, REALTOR® — Keller Williams Commonwealth · KY Real Estate License No. 296259.