Am I liable for the work carried out by my self employed construction subcontractors?

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Ashley Lewer explains about the liabilities between you and your self employed construction sub-contractors.

HardHats was created as an alternative to using a payroll/umbrella company in order to help keep yourself safe from scrutiny by HMRC with regard to potential employment status enquiries.

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Am I Liable For The Work Carried Out By My Self Employed Sub Contractors?

The short answer to that is yes..........generally speaking.

When you the contractor, engage with your customer you will normally get the work based on a quote.

The reason for that is to set out the expectation of them [the customer ] and you [ the contractor ]. In the same way, when you engage a sub contractor that engagement is based on an agreement between both of you that 'this work will be completed for this amount of money in this timescale”

Because your subcontractor is classed as self-employed, they are therefore responsible for any work they carry out on your behalf.

In effect, the relationship between you and the subcontractor is the same as the relationship between the customer and you. If a customer wasn't happy with the work that you've been carrying out, it would be you that they would want to address that problem.

They would consider you liable for it. You as a contractor are effectively the subcontractor's customer. This can be considered a grey area in certain situations however.

For example: if you have a verbal agreement only with your sub contractor, it would be very difficult to prove where liability lies in the event of anything going wrong. In the same way, the subcontractor may or may not have their own insurances.

If they do have public liability insurance, be mindful this doesn't always offer cover for defective works. Don't rely on this to cover you, in the event of something going wrong.

If the damage caused was so severe that it ended up being taken to court, you cannot rely on the fact that you have a verbal agreement between you and the subcontractor, because you may have to prove total guilt in a court of law.

The best way to think about this is to accept the fact that you are responsible for defective work done by your subcontractor, as far as your customer's concerned.

It's only right, therefore, that you would expect your subcontractor to correct any work that may cause you a problem. If you're in any doubt, it's best to have some form of contract in place between you and the subcontractor, in the same way as you would between you and the customer.

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