Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Subcontractor

One who takes a portion of a contract from the principal contractor or from another subcontractor.

When an individual or a company is involved in a large-scale project, a contractor is often hired to see that the work is done. The contractor, however, rarely does all the work. The work that remains is performed by subcontractors, who are under contract to the contractor, who is usually designated the general or prime contractor. Subcontractors may, in turn, hire their own subcontractors to do part of the work that they have contracted to perform.

Building construction is a common example of how the contractor-subcontractor relationship works. The general contractor takes prime responsibility for seeing that the building is constructed and signs a contract to do so. The cost of the contract is usually a fixed sum and may have been derived from a bid submitted by the contractor. Before offering the bid or before contract...