Your Subs Should Always Be First

Take care of them and they will take care of you… that’s how it goes in the subcontracting world. If you subcontract out work to independent contractors make sure to treat them the way you want to be treated by your clients.

One of the biggest gripes that subcontractors have is not being paid on time. So if you hire subs yourself make sure to pay them on time. Once you create a corral of dependable sub contractors you can focus on growing your business. In fact using sub contractors can dramatically grow your business while keeping your costs low and leveraging your profit. But if you don’t keep your sub contractors happy and have a revolving door of staff, you can eat up any profits with retraining and having to follow behind unqualified helpers.

The key is to find excellent contractors, train them, and keep them. The longer a contractor stays with you, the more valuable they can become to your business. I’ve found these tips to keep subcontractors happy.

  1. Pay on time.
  2. Value their efforts.
  3. Give feedback and provide training.
  4. Be generous with your time on questions.
  5. Make sure you are paying a fair rate based on experience and effort.

If you’re a sub contractor, what do you hate most. Here’s my short list.

  1. Not being paid on time
  2. No feedback given on my efforts
  3. No training provided.
  4. Ideas and suggestions for improvement in services never enacted.
  5. No contact with the decision makers in the main office on policy that impact my work.
  6. Not being paid a fair rate based on experience.

If you have others leave them in the comments below I welcome you input.