Stop Being the Easy Subcontractor [#ThrowbackThursday] | Ep. 438

Join the Subcontractors Boardroom - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠Need help with your contracts? - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠Get The Subcontractor's Edge Book - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠This episode is a re-run. It was originally published in June 2023.We've done over 2,800 contract reviews.Here's what we've learned: 82% of what we ask to change gets agreed.Read that again. Most of the risky clauses subcontractors sign up to? They'd have been removed. Just by asking.That's the game. They hand you their contract, stacked in their favour. You push back, clause by clause, with a reason each time. And more often than not, they go "yeah, fair enough."If you don't ask, you don't get.One tip though: keep the tone semi-submissive. Not "take this out." More "we can't get our insurer to sign up to this, can we suggest removing it?" You'll get far better results.  Timestamps:(6:34) - The returns are in the terms and the margin is in the post-award(7:20) - If you look at the termination clauses, a lot of times it will lay out all the ways that they can terminate you and it won't say anything about how you can terminate them(14:04) - Where most of the money comes down to is the contract(14:28) - Learn how to understand what the contract means(16:13) - If you sign up to loss of profit for your client, if your client's loss of profit is bigger than your company, that's gonzo. That's it, game over

Join the Subcontractors Boardroom - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠Need help with your contracts? - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠Get The Subcontractor's Edge Book - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠This episode is a re-run. It was originally published in June 2023.Nobody wants to be the "difficult" subcontractor.So here's my challenge: think of the biggest player in your sector. Are they commercial and contractual?100% they are.Most people stay easy. Agree to everything, submit nothing. Then a problem hits, they suddenly get contractual, and the relationship breaks.Do it from day one, and it lands differently. Submit your notices. Log your variations. Just like the big guys.They don't think you're difficult. They think you're professional.  Timestamps:(5:41) - The thing about disputes is it's a race to see who loses the least amount of money(8:33) - When you get into a dispute, even if you're fully in the right, you're still going to lose money(9:06) - Think of the biggest guy in your sector, is that person commercial or contractual?(10:45) - The cold, hard fact about it is at the moment relationships aren't as important as they used to be(12:05) - If you are on top of your contractual paperwork, more often than not, there won't be a dispute in the first place(13:32) - It is better to submit a bad document on time than wait for a perfect document and submit it late

Join the Subcontractors Boardroom - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠Need help with your contracts? - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠Get The Subcontractor's Edge Book - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠This episode is a re-run. It was originally published in June 2023.Picture this: you're stopped at a red light. Someone rear-ends you. They get out and say, "100% my fault, I'll pay for everything."Sounds like a win, right?You've still got to get quotes. Chase the repair. Sort a rental. Lose the hours. And your car's now worth less because it's been crashed.Even when you win, you lose.That's construction disputes. And more often than not, you won't even win.After thousands of these, here's my advice: negotiate. Give up a percentage. It'll save you money, time, and your attention. Timestamps:(6:33) - AI is here. It's like when the Internet arrives(9:43) - AI now has been created and it's very cheap and it's very quick and it's very powerful(13:26) - The returns are in the terms(13:28) - If you're a contractor, the margin is in the post-award phase(13:33) - Avoiding a dispute is far cheaper than getting into a dispute

Join the Subcontractors Boardroom - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠Need help with your contracts? - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠Get The Subcontractor's Edge Book - ⁠⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠⁠This episode is a re-run. It was originally published in June 2023.Good subbies go out of business every day.Not because they can't build. Because they didn't understand how much the contract mattered.They figure if they do great work, the contract stuff sorts itself out. It doesn't. Paid late. Paid less. Change orders rejected. Made to look late on jobs that were never their fault.The contractual game is being played whether you're playing it or not.Learn to play it. Timestamps:(5:44) - In the last 5 to 10 years, standard contracts are few and far between(6:09) - Cost plus is beneficial to the builder and it can be beneficial to the owner in a different circumstance(9:56) - The concern is not the lowest price. The concern is I need to get that thing done and that's my number one priority(10:54) - What costs a lot more money is the job not being done(15:47) - You need to be looking at risk as a real factor in your business because eventually something will go wrong

Join the Subcontractors Boardroom - ⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠Need help with your contracts? - ⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠Get The Subcontractor's Edge Book - ⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠This episode is a re-run. It was originally published in June 2023.If you've ever told yourself "I can't negotiate this contract, I just have to sign it," read this.That belief is the single most expensive thing in your business.The biggest subs in your trade negotiate every contract. Not because they're difficult. Because they know the margin lives in post-award and the contract is what protects it. Signing without pushing back doesn't make you easy to work with. It makes you look like you don't know the game.Timestamps:(3:25) - A lot of the smaller companies, they're often of the opinion that they can't negotiate a contract and they have to just sign the contract(3:58) - The bigger and more advanced construction companies know that the margin is in post-award(4:22) - If you start off submitting a notice within your variations quickly, EOTs quickly, and following a contract perfectly, they just look at you as very professional(5:15) - You want to be in the they know what they're doing camp, rather than they'll do whatever we say(5:27) - They also know that companies like yours, if you are contractual, are actually going to be able to deliver the work because ultimately you're getting paid

Join the Subcontractors Boardroom - ⁠⁠Here⁠⁠Need help with your contracts? - ⁠⁠Here⁠⁠Get The Subcontractor's Edge Book - ⁠⁠Here⁠⁠This episode is a re-run. It was originally published in June 2023.I'll be honest with you.Most of the subs we work with come to us already inside the vicious cycle. Margins getting thinner. Bidding harder. Hiring whoever they can get instead of who they want. Reputation quietly slipping.And the worst part is they don't see it. They think it's just the market. Or just construction. Or just bad luck.It's not. It's a system. And once you see it, you can get out.More of this in the episode - tune in!Timestamps:(13:01) - Every major builder will have their own contracts because they are pushing risk(13:14) - If you are lowering your risk as a builder, then you are without a doubt improving your long-term prospects(15:34) - You will definitely get a higher margin if you deliver the projects on time within budget(17:29) - People who are subcontractors that charge less tend to be at a higher risk in one way or another(29:04) - Understand what happens. If you’re not happy with them, try and get them changed

Join the Subcontractors Boardroom - ⁠Here⁠Need help with your contracts? - ⁠Here⁠Get The Subcontractor's Edge Book - ⁠Here⁠This episode is a re-run. It was originally published in June 2023.Leading a team is more like training cats than dogs.Cian Brennan sits down with Matt Wilk from Builderpedia for a two-parter on leadership, project management, and the game of contracts most subcontractors don't even know they're playing.Why projects always blow the budget, what your contract should say when they do, and the one question that changes every client meeting: "what are your objectives?"Give it a listen.Timestamps:(4:31) - In a leadership position, you're more of a servant to the organization(9:32) - Every project has a combination of things that go right or wrong(15:25) - Our success actually looks like silence, because if you sign a contract that has less risk or sets you up for success, there's no outcome(18:05) - There's a lot more to be gained from just saying how it is(23:02) - Being able to deliver your service to a high standard is just the price of admission

Join the Subcontractors Boardroom - HereNeed help with your contracts? - HereGet The Subcontractor's Edge Book - HereThis episode is a re-run. It was originally published in May 2023.A construction dispute is a race to see who loses the least amount of money...Even when you're 100% in the right..That's the part most subs work out too late.Tune in to learn more about effective strategies in navigating construction disputes.Timestamps:(2:48) - Once you understand how to interpret that contract honestly, most of the risk and understanding the risks that you're taking on goes away and you understand how to make more money in post-award(3:17) - We win projects at a loss knowing that we have the contractual experience in the post-award phase on change orders to get our margin back and to make money(8:52) - The key learning from the disputes is it's pretty simple. It's a race to see who loses the least amount of money(9:44) - The key to a construction dispute and I know this sounds a bit painfully obvious, is to not get into a construction dispute(12:28) - It's a lot easier when you're trying to work with everybody versus fight

Work With Me - ⁠Click Here⁠Get The Subcontractor's Edge Book - ⁠Click Here⁠(Book comes with the free audiobook and a full video masterclass)- 0:00 Why your construction profit margins are really this low- 1:05 Killer #1: The hole you start every job in- 2:06 Killer #2: The free loan you're handing your clients- 3:30 Killer #3: The work you keep doing for free- 4:32 Killer #4: The document you sign without reading- 5:52 Killer #5: The one behind all the othersThere are five things killing your construction profit margins. Your work isn't one of them. You're probably brilliant at the actual job - it's the money side where you're getting walked on.In this video, Cian Brennan breaks down all five. Get even two or three under control, and there's a 5 to 10% margin sitting there for the taking, every single year. Ignore them, and you're handing it straight to the main contractor.

Work With Me - ⁠Click Here⁠Get The Subcontractor's Edge Book - ⁠Click Here⁠(Book comes with the free audiobook and a full video masterclass)- 0:00 The biggest cost with no line item- 0:24 The patterns that quietly kill construction businesses- 1:05 Your number — and the six places it leaks from- 2:52 What you've already lost before lunch each day- 3:16 The system that stops the leakThe most expensive mistake in your construction business doesn't have a line item. Your accountant won't find it. Your P&L won't show it. But it's quietly costing you around $400,000 a year, and most subcontractors never even know it's there. In this video, Cian Brennan will show you exactly where that money leaks from, how to put a real number on your own business, and the simple system that plugs it.Most subs treat this as the cost of doing business.  The best ones treat it as a system problem and fix it.