Subbies' Toolbox

Subbies' Toolbox We provide commercial contract management and debt recovery advice to Subcontractors in the Construction Industry.

We do contract reviews and provide advice and training on Security of Payment.

06/08/2026

This week on The Subbies Toolbox Podcast, I unpack something I hear from subcontractors all the time. "I'm going to fight this on principle."

Sometimes that's exactly the right decision. But sometimes the cost of proving you're right is far greater than the amount you're actually fighting over.

In this episode I explain how emotion, fairness and commercial reality don't always point in the same direction. I also share a real construction dispute that shows how builders and subcontractors often make decisions from completely different commercial positions.

If you've ever found yourself furious over a payment dispute, backcharge or contract issue, this episode will help you step back and ask a better question.

Not "Am I right?"

But "What's the smartest commercial outcome for my business?"

Have a listen to Ep #17 - The Cost of Fighting for Principles in Construction of The Subbies Toolbox Podcast.

https://www.subbiestoolbox.com.au/podcasts/the-subbies-toolbox-podcast/episodes/2149235433

If you are the Director of a subcontractor company, and you have an authorised staff member sign your builders' contract...
05/08/2026

If you are the Director of a subcontractor company, and you have an authorised staff member sign your builders' contracts on behalf of your company, you need to look out for this.⁠
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Not all contracts will require you to sign a Director's Guarantee when you initially sign the Subcontract itself. ⁠
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Many of them will have a clause or two that says that you agree to sign one upon request from the builder.
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The clause will almost always say the form and contents of the Director's Guarantee will be "at the absolute discretion of the builder/principal." That's the equivalent of signing a blank piece of paper and telling the builder to write whatever they want on it. 😱⁠
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Those clauses in the contract need to be crossed out, along with any template Deed in the back of the Contract.⁠
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If you wouldn't sign a blank cheque from your personal bank account and hand it to your builder, you should NEVER NEVER NEVER sign up to a clause like this in a builder's contract.⁠
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One way you can find these clauses fast in your builder's contract is to CTRL+F these words:⁠
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- "Guaran" [will find you Guarantee, Guarantor]⁠⁠
- Deed ⁠
- Capacity (usually finds you "in the Director's personal capacity" or words to that effect.⁠
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**This is not an exhaustive list. You also need to search the Formal Instrument of Agreement. Lawyers like to incorporate third party contracts in the paragraphs above where the parties sign, in the fine print.

Another day another dodgy builder's subcontract📜⁠ ⁠ This time it's in the "All Trade Inclusions" section at the end of t...
02/08/2026

Another day another dodgy builder's subcontract📜⁠
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This time it's in the "All Trade Inclusions" section at the end of the Scope of Work. This is the place every bush lawyer working for a builder sticks in the catch all band-aid dot points they can't be sure the contract itself already covers.⁠
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This one says:⁠
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"Unless expressly excluded in the Scope of Works, the scope includes the design, material and equipment supply, installation, certification, maintenance period and warranty of the Subcontract Works."⁠
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So, if you're a labour only concreter, and your scope of works is "Concrete Place and Finish", you're now supplying the concrete, paying for the tests and responsible for the results and supplying the pump. ⁠
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Who in good conscience decides that's a reasonable thing to write in an "All Trade Inclusions" section of a scope of work??!!?⁠
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I encourage subcontractors reading these types of clauses in their builders' contracts to point out these clauses to the CA/PM you're negotiating with, and ask them face to face "What do you mean by that?"⁠
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A staffer whose blood runs warm will usually be embarrassed and outraged to find 💩 inclusions like that in the scope of work they have drafted for you. Good chance they've never even read the "All Trade Inclusions" and they just enter in your trade specific scope in front of it.⁠
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The ones who aren't surprised to learn of it are the ones you need to keep an eye on. If they can look you in the eye and justify trickery like that, you might reconsider who you're getting in bed with.

Many Subbies rely on trust and relationships when it comes to buy pricing, tender margins, supplier rebates and even pro...
31/07/2026

Many Subbies rely on trust and relationships when it comes to buy pricing, tender margins, supplier rebates and even proprietary product information like test data and pre manufactured systems. August inside The Subbies Toolbox is about strengthening your internal processes and features of employment contracts that mitigate this risk in your business.

Not a member yet? You can join us anytime.

That old chestnut "Subcontractor Completion shall occur when the Main Contractor obtains practical completion under the ...
29/07/2026

That old chestnut "Subcontractor Completion shall occur when the Main Contractor obtains practical completion under the Head Contract."

With this issue decided by the High Court way back in 2018 as a "pay when paid" provision void under security of payment laws, it always amuses me builders still want it in their contracts.

But any subcontractor who starts talking about High Court cases with their builder isn't going to build relationships fast.

One way I like to frame this with a builder is to say:

"If we get PC when you get PC, then our date for practical completion in the subcontract would be your date for PC under the Head Contract. What is your date for PC so we can write it in?"

The builder will be more reluctant to let you have a PC date after they actually need you to complete than they will to concede you should just get PC when you finish your work.

Their likely response to your question above will be "we can't tell you when our PC date is because our contract with our client is confidential."

To which you might reply, "Oh but these clauses over here say I have to comply with the Head Contract, and that you're making it available for me to view at your Head Office. We wanted to talk to you about that. It's not going to be easy for us to administer the contract to the Head Contract clauses if we can't have a copy because it's confidential. "

This example highlights the benefits of taking a logic-based approach to contract negotiation vs legal argument.

In the face of common sense, the person you're negotiating with can only hold their ground if they are prepared to feel like an idiot doing so. Once they start to see the lack of logic in their position, bring it home with more logic-based assurances.

You might say, "look, we are a labour only tiler. There's a good chance we'll be doing the last of the tiles pretty close to your PC anyway. There's bu**er all chance you're going to need to hold us to some fine print in the Principal's Project Requirements. This should be relatively low risk for you with our trade, but for us it's a lot of unknowns."

29/07/2026

Trusting the builder's staff won't protect your business.

This week on The Subbies Toolbox Podcast I'm sharing a story that attracted plenty of attention online.

When I worked as a builder's Contract Administrator, I saw good subcontractors go broke, not because anyone wanted that outcome, but because too much trust was placed in builder relationships and not enough attention was given to the numbers.

Builder staff have their own priorities.

Your business needs its own systems.

If you're relying on someone inside the builder's office to save you from a bad commercial decision, this episode is worth a listen.

Listen Here
https://www.subbiestoolbox.com.au/podcasts/the-subbies-toolbox-podcast/episodes/2149234361

28/07/2026

🎧 Ep #11 - Contract Works Insurance Explained for Aussie Subbies

In this episode, I explain what Contract Works Insurance actually is, how it interacts with “care of the works” clauses in your subcontract, and why more builders are trying to shift this risk downstream onto subcontractors.

We talk through real examples across different trades including waterproofing, electrical, formwork, cranes, ceilings and partitions, joinery and fire services, so you can start making commercial sense of whether this insurance even applies to your trade in the first place.

Listen here https://www.subbiestoolbox.com.au/podcasts/the-subbies-toolbox-podcast/episodes/2149208980

I've been to so many dispute resolution meetings with subcontractors where the builder brings along an army - so now I p...
26/07/2026

I've been to so many dispute resolution meetings with subcontractors where the builder brings along an army - so now I plan for an army.

The builder's camp will always sit on the opposite side of the table to the subcontractor like a wall of force and speak down to the subbie's people.

One time the builder had a big screen setup showing the same three photos of minor defects over again on rotation. The builder's staff spoke in such a disgusting manner to the subcontractor, using blatant insults and laughing between each other right in the subcontractor's face.

This is the type of environment where good bloke negotiations fall over. Unfortunately, builders will never change this approach, so it's up to the subbies to be the bigger person.

Over the years I have learned some powerful ways the subbie can flip the tone of the meeting on its head before they even speak.

One way is to take control of where you sit in these meetings. Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to argue with someone you are sitting next to, rather than opposite?

In a conflict situation a human's bubble of comfort is bigger than normal situations. Think three movie seats apart.

So, if the subbie walks into the meeting with a warm greeting and sits in the seat next to the person of influence, a couple of cool things happen.

1. If that person is already committed to where they are sitting, they will be too proud to get up and move.

The only thing they can really do is shift their posture, and usually they will do this by quarter turning towards you and sitting back in their chair.

2. They're less likely to raise their voice when you are that close to them. You should keep your voice low and composed and keep giving them that cap in hand smile and kind eyes.

This will help you reach the human being behind the situation.

Last but not least - if the person of influence tempers their tone and body language as a result of what you do, the rest of their team will take their lead. Suddenly the playing field levels.

Unless they have been to Negotiation School, there's a good chance the builder won't even know this is happening.

Just because your builder takes a position, doesn’t mean they can actually do what they say they can do.On a daily basi...
25/07/2026

Just because your builder takes a position, doesn’t mean they can actually do what they say they can do.

On a daily basis subcontractors tell me their builder has done something the Subbie didn’t push back on, because they just assumed the builder had the right.

The most common example is Subbies recording builder imposed backcharges on their payment claim so their figures match the builder’s payment schedule.

I’ve always wondered why anyone would do that??? 🤯

But the thing is, most Subbies don’t know any better. They just think they’re playing by the rules the industry imposes on them.

The construction industry is the only industry where we allow the customer to tell the supplier how much they will be paid.

The presumption is, the upstream party doesn’t have to pay in full unless they’re happy.

In every other industry payment becomes due and if you have beef with the person you have to pursue them for money back after the fact.

I walk past this sign out the front fence of a local farm most days, and the first time I saw it I had a good laugh.

For a second I thought the lawyer who wrote it must be fairly dumb … then I checked myself.

This sign has probably achieved the result 99.9% of the time for the last 18 years.

Is it legally enforceable? I highly doubt it, and even if it was, good luck getting the trespasser to a) hand over their details and b) come up with $10k.

But the average person wouldn’t know any better.

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