Dive Brief:

• How many business decisions do not have pluses and minuses? Not many, and subcontracting work is another with benefits and risks.
• Among the benefits:
  • Being able to get work done without having to hire skills you may not need all of the time
  • Potentially saving money because you are not directly paying taxes and benefits for the subcontractor's employees
  • Having the subcontractor own the risk if there is a problem with workmanship or materials
• The downsides include:
  • giving up some control over how the job is done
  • having to hire a sub whose work you may not know if your preferred partner is busy
  • spending more time making sure the sub understands what needs to be done and how it should be done

Dive Insight:

The pros and cons of subcontracting are not mysterious or hard to understand. Still, it's always a good idea to step back from time to time from something that has become routine and recalculate the relationship.