Difficulty attracting and retaining qualified subcontractors

Definition

Many small trade contractors rely on subcontractors for specialized work or overflow capacity. Finding and retaining quality subcontractors creates problems: (1) shortage of available subcontractors (same labor shortage affecting all trades), (2) quality inconsistency across subcontractors, (3) pricing power of subcontractors increases (they have alternative jobs), (4) contractual/liability issues managing multiple subs, (5) communication and coordination overhead, (6) payment timing issues (contractor must pay subs before customer pays them), (7) sub availability unpredictable (subs may be booked or unavailable when needed), (8) difficulty vetting/qualifying subs. For small contractors, this limits ability to scale—they can't grow beyond personal capacity without reliable subcontractor network, but building and maintaining that network is difficult and costly.

Why This Matters

Subcontractor marketplace/directory platforms; vetting and qualification services; subcontractor management software; contractor networks for sharing resources; sub payment/escrow management

Affected Stakeholders

Owner/Operator/Sole Proprietor

Related Business Risks