Nobody else builds your house without you knowing
Why — act while you have leverage
Unrestricted sub-contracting means the firm you chose, checked and trusted can hand the work to someone you have never met, with no change to the price you pay.
What to look at
- Consent or notice required before work is sub-let
- The main contractor remaining responsible for sub-contractors
- Specialist trades named, if they are already planned
How to check it yourself
Look for a sub-contracting clause. It should require your written consent, or at minimum written notice, and should make the main contractor fully responsible for anyone they bring on. Specialist trades - waterproofing, lifts, aluminium work - are normally sub-let and that is fine; the point is that you know.
Where this comes from: Kolo review of Kerala construction quotations and agreements (established trade practice)
More construction agreement checks before you sign
- Agreement check passed
- Contractor background verified
- Site handover checklist agreed
- Worker-welfare rules applicability checked
- GST treatment understood before signing
- The payment schedule keeps money back until the end
- The agreement does not contradict itself
- GST is stated, and you know who pays it
- You know who you are contracting with
- Price escalation has a limit you can calculate
- Foundation extras cannot be open-ended
- Curing is the contractor's job, in writing
- The arbitrator is not chosen by the contractor alone
- There is a warranty, and it has a length
- Worker safety stays with the contractor
- Signing for a stage does not sign away everything after it
- There is a way to settle a dispute short of court
- Cancellation terms are not written by one side
- No blank spaces, no missing dates
- Money goes to the company, not to a person
- You can ask where the money went
- Delay has a consequence for both sides
- The quotation is attached to the agreement
- Force majeure is not a blanket excuse
The whole stage: Construction agreement checks before you sign