No Honor Among Thieves, What About Contractors?

There is a common expression that "there is no honor among thieves". In the recent months I've begun to wonder if this applies to contractors. Here are a couple of scenarios that I have either been a part of or heard about in the past couple of months that have prompted me to write this article.

1. A contractor that I do work for called me the other day and told me that he is calling all of his subcontractors and asking them not to pass out their own business cards when working on a job for him. He said that recently some of his subs had been doing this and some of his customers were starting to bypass him and call the subcontractors directly.

2. The same contractor told me that he was recently subcontracting for another general contractor. While he was off site, his superintendent gave his business card to the customer that the work was being done for. When the general contractor that he was working for on the job found out about this he was livid. Because of this mistake on the part of the superintendent, the contractor may have lost hundred of thousands of dollars of business a year because the other contractor no longer trusts him and may not use him anymore.

3. One of the members of our Watch Dog Network recently contacted us and informed us that she had put in a bid to build a million dollar house for a customer. The customer told her that her bid was too high. The customer then proceeded to go on her company website and facebook page and find out which subcontractors she used. Then the customer contacted these subs and hired them directly to do the job cutting out the contractor completely. Fortunately for her, her subs were loyal enough to let her know what was going on. They even asked her if she minded if they took the job.

Here are a couple of thoughts about this:

1. Congratulations if you have subs, or are a sub, who is honorable enough to do what the above mentioned subs did. Most subs that I know would have taken the job and not said anything about it. However, as a sub it is always better to be loyal to the general contractors that use you on a regular basis. Yes you may be able to sneak in a couple of jobs here and there behind their back. And if you are loyal it may cause you to lose those jobs. But the jobs that you will lose if you ruin a good relationship with a general contractor far outweigh the couple of jobs that you could get away with stealing.

2. As a subcontractor when you go on a job for a general contractor you have to have the mindset that you are on that job working for and representing that general contractor. Some general contractors will ask for you to wear their uniform or t-shirts. Personally, when I am working on a job for a general contractor I avoid having direct contact with the customer. Even when the customer tries to have contact with me or ask me questions or make requests about the project, I direct them to the general contract. This might seem like an unnecessary extra step but it keeps the proper chain of communication and builds trust between myself and that general contractor.

3. As a general contractor it is a good idea to one, use loyal subs who are not just good at what they do but are also good people, two, don't make it public knowledge who you use as subs. Your subs are like a trade secret that gives you an edge over the competition so you should guard them like a trade secret.