Most contractors have a trusted electrician, a trusted framer, one of each. It works until that company is busy, raises prices, loses their best foreman or simply says no to the project you needed them for.
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One good sub is not a strategy
Most contractors have a trusted electrician, a trusted framer, one of each. It works until that company is busy, raises prices, loses their best foreman or simply says no to the project you needed them for. A bench is the difference between a schedule and a hope.
How deep is deep enough
Three qualified companies per critical trade is the usual working answer: one you prefer, one you use regularly, one you can call. Fewer and you have no leverage or coverage. Many more and none of them gets enough volume to prioritize you, which defeats the purpose.
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Where new subs come from
Other general contractors you are friendly with, suppliers who see who pays and who does not, your own superintendents who have watched them work on other jobs, and the trades already on your site who know their counterparts. Supplier recommendations are particularly undervalued — credit behavior predicts a lot.
Vet before you need them
Licensing, insurance limits and endorsements, bonding capacity if relevant, financial stability, current backlog, and who specifically would run your job. That last one matters more than the company name — you are hiring a foreman as much as a firm.
Doing this under schedule pressure is how a bad sub gets onto a project.
Start them small
Give a new subcontractor a modest scope on a project with float before trusting them with a critical path. You learn how they schedule, how they communicate, how they handle a change and whether their paperwork arrives — for a fraction of the cost of finding out on a job that cannot absorb it.
Be worth working for
A bench only exists if good companies want your work. Pay on time, run clean sites, give realistic schedules, answer questions quickly, and do not use them purely as a price check against the incumbent. Subcontractors talk to each other, and a reputation for either behavior travels fast.
Keep a record you can actually use
After each project, note performance, schedule adherence, quality, change behavior and whether you would use them again. Two years later that record is worth more than your memory, especially when the person who worked with them has left.
Where to start
Target three qualified companies per critical trade, source them through suppliers and peers, vet them before you are under pressure, trial them on a scope with float, behave like a client good subs want, and keep a written performance record.
A bench only exists if good companies want your work.
We help builders source, prequalify and trial subcontractors before the schedule forces the decision, and keep the performance record that makes the next buyout faster.
Frequently asked questions
How many subcontractors should I have per trade?
Three qualified companies per critical trade is the usual working answer: one you prefer, one you use regularly, one you can call. Fewer and you have no leverage or coverage when the preferred company is busy, expensive or unavailable. Many more and none of them gets enough volume to prioritize you, which defeats the purpose of having a bench at all. Source new ones through suppliers, who see who pays and who does not and whose credit observations predict a great deal, through other general contractors you are friendly with, and through your own superintendents who have watched them work on other sites.
How do I evaluate a subcontractor I have never used?
Check licensing, insurance limits and endorsements, bonding capacity where relevant, financial stability, current backlog, and specifically who would run your job — you are hiring a foreman as much as a firm. Do that before you need them, because vetting under schedule pressure is exactly how a bad sub gets onto a project. Then trial them: give a modest scope on a project with float before trusting them with critical path work. You learn how they schedule, communicate, handle a change and whether their paperwork arrives, for a fraction of the cost of finding out on a job that cannot absorb it.