Free Subcontractor Agreement Template
A subcontract is the agreement between you and a trade working under you. It is a different document from the one you sign with a homeowner, because the risks run the other way: their insurance, their lien rights, and their work becoming your liability.
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What belongs on a subcontractor agreement
- The project, the prime contract it sits under, and the exact scope subcontracted
- The subcontract price and the pricing basis
- Payment timing, written so it survives your state's prompt payment law
- Lien waivers exchanged at each payment, conditional then unconditional
- Insurance limits, additional insured status, and a certificate before site access
- Indemnity written within what your state's anti indemnity statute allows
- Independent contractor status, tools, taxes and licensing
- Backcharge rights for damage, clean up and defective work, after written notice
- Warranty period and the obligation to return and correct
A finished subcontract, filled in
The plumbing line of the basement conversion on this page, handed to the trade that will actually do it. Page one of three. It is the same job as the contractor agreement example, which is the point: the scope below is one line out of the prime contract scope, and every date in it sits inside the prime contract dates.
- Contractor and Subcontractor, not Contractor and ClientThe two name boxes are relabeled by the form itself. On the agreement further up this page the second box says Client and it is the homeowner. Here it says Subcontractor and the first box is you. Getting these the wrong way round reverses every obligation in the clauses below, and it is the single most common mistake on a subcontract that somebody typed over an old contract.
- Project, on the same line as the numberA subcontract is meaningless on its own, because it sits under a prime contract. Naming the project in the header is what lets anybody reading it six months later find the contract it hangs off. If your prime contract has a number, put that here instead.
- The scope is one line of a bigger scope, opened outIn the prime contract this whole job is a single line: plumbing rough in and finish for one full bathroom, tie in to the existing stack. Five lines here. The extra four are the ones that get argued about: who supplies the fixtures, who saw cuts the slab, and who stands there when the inspector comes.
- Fixtures supplied by the contractor, said twiceIt is in the scope and again in the exclusions. That is not sloppy drafting, it is deliberate. A supply split is the thing both sides remember differently, and a term that appears in the inclusion list and the exclusion list cannot be read two ways.
- Every payment is conditioned on somebody else paying firstClause 3 is pay when paid, so the schedule says so out loud: due within 10 days of the contractor receiving payment from the owner. A schedule that just says net 30 while clause 3 says pay when paid is a contract arguing with itself. Several states restrict this clause, which is why the disclaimer on page three tells you to have the timing checked where the project is.
- Waivers are exchanged with the application, not afterConditional waiver for what is being applied for now, unconditional waiver for what was paid last time. Written into the schedule as well as into clause 4, so the bookkeeper processing the application sees it without reading the clauses. Both of those waivers are free on this site.
- 60 and 40, and it adds up5,040 plus 3,360 is 8,400. Check this on your own before you send it. A schedule whose percentages do not reconcile to the price is the fastest way to have the whole document questioned, and it is the one error on a contract that anybody can spot in four seconds.
This is a template and a worked illustration, not legal advice. A subcontract is the document where state law bites hardest: pay if paid clauses are restricted or void in a number of states, anti indemnity statutes cap how far clause 6 can reach, and prompt payment acts set deadlines that override whatever the paper says. The structure here is sound. The timing numbers are the part to have checked in your own state, once.
Pay when paid is not pay if paid, and your state cares which
Pay when paid delays your obligation to pay the sub until you are paid, within a reasonable time. Pay if paid tries to make owner payment a condition that can remove the obligation entirely.
A number of states void or heavily limit pay if paid clauses, and others enforce them only if the wording is unmistakable. This template is written as pay when paid on purpose, because the aggressive version is the one that gets struck out.
No certificate, no site access
The certificate of insurance is the single cheapest risk control in subcontracting, and it is the one most often skipped because the sub is starting Monday and the certificate is coming.
Make it a rule with no exceptions. There is a certificate of insurance request letter on this site for exactly this, and an expired certificate is the same as no certificate.
Get waivers at every payment, not just at the end
A sub who is paid all the way through and only signs a waiver at the end leaves you exposed for the entire job. Conditional waiver with each application, unconditional once the check clears, is the discipline.
It also protects the owner, which is why owners increasingly require you to prove it.
Questions people ask
Do I need a written subcontract for a small job?
The exposure that makes a subcontract worth it is insurance, lien rights and defective work, none of which scale with job size. A one page scope plus this agreement takes ten minutes.
Is a pay if paid clause enforceable?
It depends entirely on the state. Some void them outright, some enforce them only with explicit risk shifting language, some allow them. That is why this template uses pay when paid and tells you to check your state.
Should the subcontractor be named as additional insured?
It is the other way round. You are named as additional insured on the subcontractor's policy, so their coverage responds to claims arising from their work.
What is the difference between this and an independent contractor agreement?
A subcontract is for a trade business performing part of a construction project under your prime contract. An independent contractor agreement is the broader form for engaging any non employee, and it is on this site too.