Subcontracting to offer a fuller service to your customers
I always suspected that trades were interlinked to some extent, but never quite realised how interlinked the trades all were until we began the Service Central business. Some jobs can be done by one trade only, but the overlap between different trades on the same job became more and more obvious the more jobs we had posted through Service Central.
Some customers want to project manage their work, and organise different trades according to what the job needs. So for example, if they're having a ceiling refitted and repainted, they'll organise one company to do the refitting and painting and then separately organise an electrician to come in and refit the light fittings. Or on bigger jobs, they may be organising more than 2 or 3 trades at once - and the co-ordination can become difficult especially when the project doesn't go exactly to the time frame it's supposed to.
For this reason (and sometimes simply because customers want one point of contact on a project) often bigger organisations will win more of the work. They may not be more competitive on price but can satisfy the customer's needs.
To remain (or become more) competitive, you'll find in the course of your business that you'll need to subcontract work to other trades in order to complete projects for your customers. I've spoken to many a business who simply won't do this - citing extra administration, organisation and general hassle as reasons not to. Often, these businesses admit that they often turn work away rather than take on this extra service for their customers.
Of course, the choice to subcontract out (and therefore win more work) or not is your business's decision. But, having spoken to many organisations in the past that have moved from a single trade operation into offering to project manage other trades (even in small, strategic ways), the evidence is clear that if your business has the capability to take care of a full project, your business will win a higher percentage of jobs that you quote for.
Read our story of The Brickie - a subcontracting success.
Sourcing your subcontractors
You may well have an existing network of colleagues that you can tap into, and usually subcontracting to people you've worked with before is a more comforting thought than picking out strangers from the phone book. Service Central can also help you source subcontractors - you know that when you post a job through us you'll only get licensed and insured people responding. Alternatively, speak to your Account Manager who could very well put you in touch with a likeminded business.
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Great advice re: the contracts - I can say that I've gotten caught in a few situations without one and that now I've got all the contracts sorted things are a lot less stressful. ALso with suppliers, not just subbies.
over a year ago by Dave
I didn't think that tradies had much against subcontracting though. Most people I know are willing to do it. -
We sub contract too and have recently promoted as part of our business that we "Project Manage." The response has been fantastic. Not only has it benefitted our clients, but we have built a strong relationship with several tradies. The consumer is rapt that they only have to deal with one person. It also helps us with our profit margins.
over a year ago by ianheath
