True but the GC pays you before he is paid for the completion of the house?
Generally speaking, yes. But as with most things, it can usually come down to the signed contract that spells out the exact scope of work, the amount of pay and how often it is paid. With new home or commercial construction, the subcontractor is going to expect to be paid upon completion of the work. The house may or may not ever sell, but that's not for the subcontractor to worry about. For home renovation work, on the other hand, the subcontractor might get paid upon the completion of their work, but more often than not the subcontractor will get paid when the homeowner pays the general contractor, or within a reasonable amount of time after the project is completed (even if the homeowner refuses to pay the GC). Most client contracts include contract clauses that waive the right of the subcontractor to sue them, making sure that subcontractors can only go after the general contractor in the event they don't get paid (not unlike trucking
).
The general contractor can do the work himself, or if he so chooses he can contract it out. The subcontractor's obligations are with the general contractor, not the client (owner of the property).
For large jobs that can span weeks or months, the subcontractor will usually require a percentage up front to cover material costs, and then installment payments can be hitched to productivity benchmarks every week, two weeks or month, with the final installment payment typically being paid after the client signs off on the work.
For short jobs and piecework, like a door hanger, a hair stylist, a drywall hanger, they will get paid at the completion of each piece or job, like for each door satisfactorily hung, and they would tend to get paid very frequently, like daily or weekly.
Some contracts are a combination of all of the above, much like trucking, where the subcontractor (independent trucking contractor) doesn't get paid immediately upon completion, but rather within a reasonable time frame, like 2-3 weeks (just like us). In such a cooperative partnership, the hardship of waiting for a client to pay is spread out and mitigated.
