Vertex Controling

Ok so im trying to make these squares on a box. So this is what I did,
I select the poly surface and then inset by 1, then use vertex to resize it and position, now what I want to do is do a simpler thing after and want to copy and paste it type deal but it still being connected to the box and now just copying the vertex and then pasting it and its not connected...

but after that im planning of extruding them with -.5 so that means it needs to also be able to be extruded... so could anyone help I dont want to just keep selecting the poly and inseting it and resize then make it parrelle with the other box, its just to me is a waste and added to many polys want to make this a clean project.

You could use the "cut" tool to draw the squares, then you can add exctude them, and end up with low amount of polys.
I hope it helps,

dean

also you can use slice modifier.