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Your subcontractors may not be held responsible for their own actions.
A woman called the other day with a problem that may be instructive to other contractors around the country. She and her husband run a plumbing company that specializes in residential construction work. They were lucky enough to employ a crew that did quality work with high productivity.
So productive were they, the men calculated they could do much better for themselves working as independent subcontractors on a piece work basis. The employer offered to implement a piece work pay system, but the plumbers were filled with entrepreneurial lust and insisted on breaking off on their own. The owners had the option of hiring other plumbers to replace them, of course, but you all know how hard it is to find good people these days. They chose to continue working with their erstwhile employees.
So far this scenario depicts the American dream in action in this land of freedom and opportunity. The owners concede that the people they employ have every right to go into business for themselves, just as they have the choice of whether to continue employing them as independent subs.
Except now the American dream threatens to turn into a nightmare for both the contractor...