There is a community in Kenya, Maasai, where women are those who construct houses popularly known as Manyattas. Reason? That is for you to guess. The Manyatta are so basic that one or two women would build a family house in hours. In the contrary, most modern buildings are so complex with as much requirements that no single company can completely build a house meeting all the requirements. You will find one mother company taking care of the structural works with smaller companies under him taking up the other aspects of the building thus Contractors and sub-contrators
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| A Building Under Construction |
Who is a sub-contractor?
As mentioned, buildings are getting more and more complicated and thus most contractor do not have all the skills set to carry out some aspects of a building`s construction including Building services such as Electrical works, plumbing and drainage works, air Conditioning, ventilation, fire detection, fire fighting or even fire protection to mention but just a few. Simply put a sub-contractor is someone or a company hired by a main contractor or prime contractor to perform a specific task or aspect of a project and most of the time they are paid by the main contractor for the services rendered. Their scope and other contractual are captured in a sub-contract agreement signed by both the Main contractor and the sub-contract.
What is a sub-contract agreement?
This is a document signed by a contractor and the sub-contractor detailing the scope of work, contract timelines, payments and methods under which extra work may be authorised under the contract. In addition, important clauses include insurance, default, change orders, and indemnification. Please note that this agreement is designed to be used in a construction context only. This outlines the main contractors attendance to the sub-contractors as well.
Types Of Sub-Contractor
There are three main types of sub-contractors including:-
1. Domestic Sub-contractor
This sub-contract is chosen by the main contractor to carry out some specific aspects of a project. They enter into the a contract between themselves without involving the client or the consultants and none of them can influence such an appointment.
2. Nominated Sub-contractor
This is whereby the client or the consultants nominates, selects or appoints who will take care of a particular aspect of a project after which they enter into an agreement with the main contractor. This allows the client and the consultants some form of control on who is appointed but without getting into those detailed contractual matters.
3. Named Sub-contractor
This is a sub-contract picked from a list of acceptable sub-contractors provided for by the client or the consultants. They are more of domestic sub-contractors but with involvement of the client in their appointment.
Among other reasons to use sub-contractors include:-
- Allows main contractor to focus on more complex aspects of a project
- Mitigate project risks
Do you need a Electrical or Mechanical building services sub-contractor for your project? Talk to us and we will prepare all the neccessary documents required, vet the sub-contractor and help you with sub-contract supervision or management after their appointment.
