"Keen to Screw Down Subbies Again?" What a Builder Said in My Interview
September 2025, interviewing with a commercial builder in Newstead to come back to the builder side. The director's joke: "so you're excited to screw down the subcontractors again?" Then, in earnest, "we're not in the business of screwing subbies over." A month in I watched it happen around me anyway: subbies told not to send delay notices, a construction manager yelling down the phone. Two things save a subbie in a dispute, and only one of them is in your control. This story is the spine of my book.
Transcript
The last builder I worked for, I joined them as a Contracts Administrator. This was back in 2025 September. Builder here in Newstead, Brisbane, Australia, for those of you that know. And spoke with their director, I met with their director and their project manager, the one I'd be working under, the interview. And the director said this in the interview, you cannot make this up. Went in, I was coming from an electrical subcontractor, that's the company I had just left, so I was interviewing with this builder to come back to the builder side I told, they asked the back story as you do in the interview, I told them I'm looking forward to get back on the builder side he said to me in response to that you cannot make this shit up,
he said oh so you'll look, you're excited to screw down the subcontractor again, cannot make this up this is a real story this happened he said something along the lines of oh you're keen to screw screw over a subbie again missed doing that something like that yeah we had a joke I'm like yeah super keen something like that he's like and then he respectfully said yeah no we don't screw over subbies them well and yes there are times subbies doesn't work out and then we don't do work with them again we aren't in the business of screwing them over like yes that is a green flag I don't want to work with someone who screws them over and goes out there with the intention of screwing them over I don't think builders honestly do go out and operate in business with that as their sole
intention obviously that's crazy to operate on they do very much make it part of their system because they such high leverage they know can they have to will sadly so yeah anyway was working there I was probably a month in and I witnessed some of the subbies screw downs now didn't witness the bloodiest screw downs but I saw it happening around me at least on my projects because I was the CA I was able to stop it from happening and manage subbies accordingly and ensure that they aren't screwed down because it was my project my reputation was on the line too but I heard a lot of project managers around me at those their own projects and the cas on those respective projects with a lot of shit yes they had bigger projects but were fighting with subbies very regularly like notice like was one
scenario where a subbie kept on putting notice of delays in because they knew their rights and what they had to protect the builder kept they don't have to put it in but in reality it's best the subbie does it's how they protect themselves if a builder's ever telling you not to then they're simply asking you in disguise throw away your entitlement throw away your leverage so that can shit on you screw you over if we have to and make more buck on a project than the subbie that was another thing and then we had the construction manager was one day one morning and honestly it actually happened a few times I walked into the office and this man construction manager was yelling on the phone as subbie like proper UFC boxing match fight whatever you want to call it like he was proper yelling back
and forth on the phone with a subbie no crazy swear word but it was proper aggressive not very commercially professional I think if you're ever in a position where you're just straight up yelling disgusting like a builder doesn't need to lot of the time they have the leverage so if I had the leverage and I wanted to screw over a subbie I would just calmly do it when someone's aggressive and yelling and they're letting their emotions get into the fight that is a very concerning builder have as your client because that's when the aggression leaks into the project the margin and the negotiation and the dispute that they're having and they're letting their ego get in the way of construction management.
It is safe to say I witnessed some screw downs happening around me when I worked for that builder. Probably happens in a lot of building companies yeah best thing you can do there's two things that will save you in a of a dispute someone on the other side caring enough on the builder side to help you get what you need to cover your costs get you paid what you deserve having a strong enough paper trail to protect yourself only one of those two things you can control that person on the other side table very rarely exists.
Actually sums up my whole book what it's based on, controlling what you can and what you can't and how to simply and easily control what you can so that you are never putting yourself in an extreme position of risk you will lose thousands of dollars, not get paid or or at worst, have your business go under and everything thrown away. So that's one of my key stories, key, most valuable stories the book's built on.
The whole book isn't built on that, I should add, that is a core story from it that is very important for you to know. So if you want to purchase that, you can down below. Yeah, I hope that story helps and gives you some insight. Yeah, thank you for watching. Feel free to drop a subscribe if you haven't yet and I will see you in the next video
General information about Australian subcontracts, not legal advice. Get advice on your own contract and facts.