If you want recurring property work in Canada and you don't want to spend every week cold-calling property managers, you can apply to a named network. There are four main routes. BGIS covers commercial and institutional facilities. FirstService Residential uses VIVE to check its vendors' compliance. FirstOnSite handles restoration and emergency response, and Contractor Connection handles insurance-claim repairs. Each one has its own intake. You prove your insurance, workers' compensation coverage and licensing, you accept their terms, and you wait for work orders that match your trade and service area. None of them promises you any volume of work, and some charge you just to stay registered. So before you join a network, check three things: whether its work fits how your crew already operates, whether its payment terms suit your cash flow, and whether the fee will pay for itself.
The four networks and the work each one sends
These four aren't interchangeable. They serve different clients, and a contractor who does well with one can struggle with another.
BGIS: facilities management for large portfolios
BGIS manages facilities for corporate, government and institutional portfolios. The work tends to be planned maintenance, reactive service calls and small capital projects across many sites. Supplier intake goes through its own registration and prequalification process. Expect detailed questions about your health and safety programme, insurance limits and the geography you can cover. This route suits you if you can promise a response time across a region, rather than just picking up jobs near your yard.
FirstService Residential and VIVE: condo and residential communities
FirstService Residential manages condominium corporations and residential communities across several provinces. It doesn't verify vendor compliance itself. It contracts that out to VIVE (Vendor Information Verification Experts). You pay VIVE directly, and VIVE checks your insurance, workers' compensation coverage and licensing against FirstService requirements. As of October 2026, FirstService Residential's Ontario vendor page lists the annual VIVE fee as CAD 375. Material for other provinces has quoted a different figure, so confirm the fee for your province before you budget. Registration also has a deadline once you start, so gather your documents before you open the application.
One point people often miss: getting through VIVE makes you eligible to be hired. It doesn't put you on a rota. Each property manager and condo board still chooses its own vendors. Most of the work still depends on relationships with individual managers. That's why we're covering bidding for condo-board work separately, in a guide we'll publish soon.
FirstOnSite: restoration and emergency response
FirstOnSite is a restoration company that handles water, fire and storm damage, along with the rebuild work that follows. Its trade partners usually do the reconstruction after mitigation: drywall, flooring, millwork, painting and finish carpentry. The work comes in surges after weather events, and you need to be able to mobilize quickly. If your crew can't drop planned work for a week when a storm hits, think hard before you join.
Contractor Connection: insurance-claim repairs
Contractor Connection is Crawford's managed repair network. Insurers and adjusters use it to send claim repairs to approved contractors. The model is built around claim workflows. That means pricing to the insurer's estimating standards, documenting the job with photos and reports at set points, and being measured against performance standards. Network fees and job terms are set in your agreement, so read them carefully and work out your margin on a typical job before you sign.
What every network will ask you to prove
The wording varies from one network to another, but the core document pack is similar across Canada. Get this ready once and keep the expiry dates in one place:
- Workers' compensation clearance from your provincial board: WSIB in Ontario, WorkSafeBC, WCB Alberta, CNESST in Quebec, or the equivalent where you work. Many networks ask for a fresh clearance letter at every renewal.
- Commercial general liability certificate, often with the network or its client named as an additional insured. Check the limits they require before you renew your policy.
- Trade licences and certifications that are valid in each province you'll work in. Examples include provincially licensed electrical and gas work, and any work regulated by bodies such as the TSSA in Ontario or Technical Safety BC.
- GST/HST registration (plus QST in Quebec), along with banking details for payment.
- Health and safety documentation, such as a written programme, WHMIS training records and, for some commercial work, a Certificate of Recognition (COR) or similar prequalification.
If a document expires and you miss it, you can be suspended quietly, and the work just stops arriving. A shared calendar with renewal reminders 60 days out takes care of that.
Working out whether a network fee is worth it
The annual fee is usually the smallest cost. The bigger costs are your time on admin, the paperwork each job requires, discounted rate cards and how long you wait to get paid.
Illustrative example (fictional): A two-van plumbing company in Mississauga is deciding whether to register through VIVE. The owner works it out like this. The annual fee is a fixed cost. The useful question is how many typical service calls, at their usual margin after travel and admin, it takes to cover that fee plus roughly a day of the office manager's time on registration and renewals. If the answer is a few calls a year, and the company already serves condos in the area, registering is a low-risk test. If it would take dozens of calls in a building type they've never served, they'd be paying to enter a market they haven't tested.
Run the same check for each network, using your own figures:
- Estimate your margin on a typical job after travel, admin and any network fee.
- Divide your annual costs (fees plus admin time) by that margin. The result is the number of jobs you need just to break even.
- Compare that number with what you can realistically handle without dropping existing clients.
- Check the payment terms. Slow payment cycles on a high volume of work can strain cash flow more than a fee does.
What still needs your decision
No network and no software should decide these for you:
- Your rate card and minimum call-out charge. Once you've accepted a network schedule, it's hard to renegotiate.
- Your real service radius and after-hours commitment. If you overpromise on response times, poor scores follow quickly.
- Which trades you subcontract out. If you send a sub to a FirstService building or a restoration rebuild, check whether your agreement allows subcontracting and whether that sub needs their own clearances.
- When to walk away. If a network's terms or payment timing stop working for you, being on its list isn't a reason to stay.
Running the work once it arrives
Winning a place on a network is the easy part. Recurring work punishes slow quoting, missing information and invoices that go unchased. Plan@Job is AI-powered project and operations management for construction and property businesses, built to run that operational side. In Plan@Job, an Operator is the contractor business that manages clients, delivery, subcontractors and in-house operatives.
For an Operator, the workflow looks like this:
- Job briefs get checked before you quote. Sophie Bennett, the AI Enquiries Coordinator, reviews existing job briefs for missing details, such as access, photos or a unit number, and asks for clarification. After two attempts she hands the job to a person.
- Larger jobs split into internal stages. A restoration rebuild can be divided into project stages, each with its own scope, dates, status and costs. Each stage can be delivered in-house or by a subcontractor. The client sees the agreed overall scope and price plus the evidence you share. Your stage costs and the names of your subcontractors stay internal.
- Follow-ups don't slip. Daniel Reed, the AI Operations Manager, follows up on quotes and proposed dates, can share eligible work with your existing vetted network, and prepares a morning brief. Maya Collins, the AI Finance Coordinator, prepares deposit requests and overdue-payment actions for your approval. Nothing is priced, awarded or paid without a person signing off. See how the AI staff work.
Subcontractors can price a stage before they're fully vetted in the supported workflows. You apply your checks when you accept and appoint them, which suits network work where you need prices quickly.
Where Plan@Job fits alongside the networks
Named networks are one way in, with an entry route and a fee you can check against a date. Plan@Job is a separate channel. It connects property managers with contractors directly, and contractors don't pay an annual vendor fee just to be reachable. Plan@Job is live in the UK first. Canadian contractors can reserve a place on the Plan@Job Canada contractors page, and we'll tell you when Canadian availability opens. Until then, use the networks above for structured work and keep building direct relationships with property managers.
FAQ
Does registering with VIVE guarantee work from FirstService Residential?
No. VIVE confirms that you meet FirstService's compliance requirements, which makes you eligible to be hired. Individual property managers and condo boards still choose their vendors, so you still need to build relationships at the local level.
Can I join more than one network at once?
Usually yes, but read each agreement for exclusivity, response-time and subcontracting clauses. The bigger risk is capacity. Restoration surges can collide with planned maintenance commitments, and missed response times hurt your standing on both.
Which provincial workers' compensation board do I need?
You need coverage with the board in each province where you employ workers or perform work, such as WSIB in Ontario, WorkSafeBC in British Columbia or CNESST in Quebec. If you work across provincial borders, check each board's current rules before you register.