As a contractor, part of your job is to partner with subcontractors. You may manage the job overall, or you may do most of the work and just bring in specialists as needed. Either way, you could end up bringing on subcontractors who do electrical work, plumbing, drywall or some other task on the project.

One problem that this can create is if the subcontractor fails to show up and do the job on time. This can hold the whole project hostage. If the drywall team doesn't finish their work on time, for instance, then the painting team can't come in on schedule. But why would this happen?

Scheduling confusion

In some cases, there may just be confusion over when they were scheduled to do the job. Honest mistakes do happen, and the first step is to get in touch with the subcontractor.

They scheduled too many jobs

Another potential issue is that your subcontractor took on too many jobs, and they simply can't complete them all. They may end up delaying your project while they finish up a former one. You can understand how difficult this is, but you're not involved with the other project, and their lack of availability is still having a negative impact on you and your team. Subcontractors should only take on work that they can finish on schedule.

What can you do?

In a situation like this, it's very important for you to understand all of your legal options. A lot of money hangs in the balance, along with your reputation. These disputes can get difficult, but there are resolutions if you know what steps to take.