Get the subcontract terms on paper before work starts

It commonly covers the work being performed, price and payment structure, programme expectations, variation steps, site rules, health and safety responsibilities, materials and equipment responsibility, defects and rectification, confidentiality if relevant, liability allocation, termination rights and how disputes are handled under the contract. Depending on the project, the agreement may also need to address who coordinates with other trades, who signs off completed work and whether the subcontractor is working under obligations that flow down from a head contract.

The drafting usually turns on the trade involved, the project structure and the way the work is actually being delivered. For example, the agreement may need different wording if the subcontractor supplies labour only, provides materials as well, works on a fixed price, or is being paid by milestone or progress claim. It also matters whether access is shared with other trades, whether the principal contractor has strict site rules, and whether key obligations from an upstream contract need to be passed through.

Yes. If you already use a form agreement, we can review it and adjust the wording to better match the jobs you are taking on. That is often useful where a business has grown from smaller projects into larger or more structured work and the old template no longer reflects how payments, variations or site responsibilities are handled. We can also work from a draft provided by the other side and identify legal or commercial points that may need negotiation or clarification before signing.

It can be. Generic templates often sound acceptable at first glance but leave important construction issues vague, such as how variations are approved, who bears delay risk, what happens if another contractor causes disruption, or whether the subcontractor must comply with obligations from a head contract they have not seen. Those gaps can become expensive once work has started. A more considered draft is usually about matching the document to the real project setup rather than adding legal jargon for its own sake.

A quote may describe the work and price, but it often leaves out the legal and practical detail that matters once the project is underway. A subcontractor agreement can deal with variations, delays, defective work, access issues, payment timing, responsibility for materials, insurance positions and what happens if the relationship breaks down. In construction, those issues often create the real pressure points. Recording them properly gives both sides a clearer framework than relying on emails, purchase orders or a short scope alone.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Subcontractor Agreement service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.