Set the ground rules with your trades subcontractors

Trades work often involves practical arrangements that generic forms gloss over, such as who supplies materials, who coordinates access, what happens if another trade causes delay, and how defects are identified and rectified. The practical working model can be just as important as the contract wording, so a document that ignores the real site setup may leave gaps. A tailored trades subcontractor agreement can better reflect how your business actually engages subcontractors, invoices work and allocates responsibility when things do not go to plan.

It commonly deals with the trade scope, price and payment timing, programme expectations, variations, materials and equipment responsibility, site access, health and safety duties, defects, warranties, insurance positions, liability allocation and termination rights. Depending on the job, it may also need clauses about attendance, coordination with other contractors, quality standards and records for completed work. These points matter because even small domestic or facilities jobs can become contentious if the contract is silent on practical site issues.

We look at the type of trade work involved, whether you are engaging subcontractors as a head contractor or service operator, and how jobs are quoted, approved and completed in practice. We also consider whether your team handles customer information, site records, photos or platform-based job management, because the right drafting and advice depend on For Trades Subcontractor Agreement, the wording should follow your real information flows. For Trades Subcontractor Agreement, collection points and disclosure practices shape the drafting. information. That practical context helps shape the agreement more effectively than relying on a one-size-fits-all subcontractor form.

Yes. If you already use a template, we can review it and identify where it may not reflect your current projects or business practices. Common issues include vague variation wording, weak payment triggers, unclear defect obligations and poor alignment with how instructions are actually given on site. In some cases a template can be improved. In others, it is more efficient to redraft the agreement so the legal wording matches the way you engage, supervise and pay subcontractors across your jobs.

Timing depends on how complex your subcontracting model is and whether you already have a draft or template to work from. A straightforward review is usually faster than preparing a fresh agreement where the commercial terms are still being settled. Once we have your instructions and supporting documents, we can assess the likely turnaround. If there are unusual issues, such as layered subcontracting, mixed supply and install obligations or special site access rules, that can affect the time needed to complete the drafting properly.

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 Trades 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.