Who Is Responsible for a Builder’s Subcontractors?
Normally the builder you hired. Your contract is with them, so work they hand to other trades is still theirs to answer for.
The short answer
The builder you hired. Your contract is with them, so the work is theirs to answer for.
If your builder brings in subcontractors, such as an electrician, a plasterer or a roofer, the builder is normally responsible to you for that work. Your contract is with the builder, not with the people they bring in. So if a subcontractor's work is faulty, late or damages something, you take it up with your builder, and it's for them to put it right and deal with their subcontractor.
That's the general position where one builder takes on the whole job as your main contractor. The detail can depend on what your contract says, so read it, and if a serious dispute arises, get advice on your own circumstances. This is general information, not legal advice.
Nothing unusual
Why builders use subcontractors
Very few building firms employ every trade a job needs. A builder doing an extension may have their own bricklayers but bring in a specialist for the roof, a registered electrician for the wiring and a plasterer for the finish. That's normal, and often it's how you get the right specialist on each part of the job.
What matters is that one business stays in charge and answerable. That's the point of having a main contractor, and it's explained in our answer on what a main contractor is.
Where responsibility sits
What the builder is normally responsible for
The standard of the work
All of it, including the parts done by trades they brought in. If it isn't right, the builder should put it right.
Paying the subcontractors
You pay the builder under your agreement. The builder pays their subcontractors under theirs.
Organising them on site
Booking each trade in the right order, making sure they turn up and dealing with any clash between them.
Safety during the work
Planning and coordinating health and safety falls to the contractor in charge. The Health and Safety Executive explains how this applies to domestic projects.
Certificates for regulated work
Where part of the job needs certifying, such as notifiable electrical work, the builder should make sure the right certificate is issued to you.
Who comes onto your property
You should know who to expect. It's reasonable to ask the builder to tell you when other trades will be attending.
Paying for the work
You pay the builder, and the builder pays their trades
Your payment obligations are to the business you contracted with. If a subcontractor tells you they haven't been paid, that is normally a matter between them and your builder, because your agreement is with the builder. Avoid paying subcontractors directly unless your contract with the builder provides for it, since it can blur who is responsible for what.
If anyone presses you for payment outside your agreement, don't pay on the spot. Tell your builder in writing and, if it isn't resolved, take advice. Citizens Advice is a sensible first stop.
The other way of doing it
If you hire the trades yourself
Some homeowners appoint each trade separately. The responsibility picture changes when they do.
One main contractor
- The builder answers for all the work
- The builder coordinates the trades
- One party to take problems to
- The builder pays the other trades
Trades hired separately
- Each trade answers for their own part
- You coordinate who does what, and when
- A problem between trades can land with you
- You pay each trade directly
Before work starts
Four questions to ask your builder
Will you use subcontractors, and for what?
A straight answer helps you know who to expect and which parts are specialist work. It's a good one to raise at the site visit; see questions to ask at a site visit.
How does insurance work for them?
Ask whether the trades they bring in carry their own public liability insurance and how the builder's cover applies. Our guide on checking a builder's insurance explains what to look at.
Who is in charge on site each day?
On a longer job, you want one named person to speak to about progress, access and anything that concerns you.
Who issues any certificates?
Some work must be done by someone on the right register, such as a Gas Safe registered engineer for gas work. Our answer on competent person schemes explains how certification works.
Where Mortaro fits
One named main contractor, and one point of contact
When we coordinate a job, the contractor we appoint from our network is your main contractor, named in your quotation, and your construction contract is with them. They carry out the work, hold the insurance and provide the workmanship warranty. If they bring anyone else in for part of the job, that work is still carried out under their contract with you.
Because we handle communication throughout, you raise any concern with us and we take it up with the contractor on your behalf, escalating if it isn't resolved. Putting things right explains how that works.
Straight answers
Questions about subcontractors
Can I refuse a particular subcontractor?
You can raise it with your builder, and a reasonable builder will listen. Whether you can insist depends on what your contract says, so if it matters to you, agree it before work starts.
Is a builder using subcontractors a bad sign?
No. It's normal practice. The thing to check is that one business remains responsible for the whole job and communicates clearly about who's coming.
What if a subcontractor damages something in my home?
Tell your builder in writing straight away, with photographs, and ask how they'll put it right. Damage to your property during the work is one of the things a builder's public liability insurance is there for; our answer on what insurance a builder should have explains the main types.
Start here
Tell us about the work you have in mind
We will confirm we cover your postcode, arrange a site visit with a contractor from our network and send you a written quotation. No charge, no obligation.