How to keep good trades when everyone is busy

When every builder in town is chasing the same sparky, the best trades decide who gets them first. The builders who get the first call aren’t always the ones paying the most.¹ Good trades stay with builders who are easy to work for, and that part is in your hands.

Builders who get this right hold on to trades for years. One New Zealand builder works with somewhere between 15 and 25 subbies, and he’s done at least 10 to 30 projects with each.²

Trades rank builders by how easy they are to work for: paid on time, site ready, work steady.

1. Pay on time, every time

Trades who are paid on time, in full and without a fight put those builders first. Trades talk, and a builder’s payment reputation is largely set within their local market.¹ Dwyer Quality Homes in Queensland pays its trades weekly and credits that with keeping their loyalty.³

Know your legal obligations too. Every state and territory has security of payment laws. If a subbie makes a valid claim and you don’t pay or respond properly within the time your state sets, they can go to adjudication, and you may have no defence.⁴ The time frames differ by state, so check yours.

You’re done when trade invoices are paid by a set day each week or fortnight, and claims are answered inside your state’s time limit as a matter of process.

2. Have the site ready when you said

Organisation matters as much as money. Trades value builders who have sites ready when promised, send clear schedules in advance, and don’t ring at 7am asking them to be there in an hour.¹ A trade who turns up to an unready site loses a day’s earnings, and you lose their goodwill.

Louis Nguyen tells his managers they have to be ready for the trades, the same way they expect trades to be ready for them.⁵

You’re done when your supervisors confirm each site is ready a day or two before the trade is due, and trades get their schedule at least a couple of weeks ahead.

3. Keep the work steady

Regular work from a builder who plans well is worth more to a trade than one-off, high paying jobs from a chaotic one.¹ If you can show a trade a steady pipeline, you’re offering them security, and many will choose that over a better rate somewhere else.

You’re done when your core trades can see your forward programme and know roughly how much work is coming their way.

4. Put the deal in writing

Nguyen runs every subbie on a purchase order built from their quote. His terms cover site cleanliness and response times, and he updates them each time a job teaches him something.⁵ He also found that an electrician he’d used for 11 years still needed managing. A long relationship doesn’t guarantee good work on its own.⁵

Make payment terms clear as well: when invoices go in, what they must include, how long you have to pay, and how disputes are raised.⁴

You’re done when every trade on a job has a written order with scope, price, standards and payment terms.

5. Score them and talk about it

Avid measures its trades and suppliers against 18 criteria. Peter Wood treats the score as a conversation starter rather than a trap. If a supplier is short on three or four criteria, the meeting is about fixing them.⁶ Wood spends between 20 and 30 per cent of his working week on supplier and trade relationships.⁶

You don’t need 18 criteria to start. Quality, timeliness, cleanliness, communication and safety will cover most of it. Review them with the trade, not behind their back.

You’re done when your core trades get a short review once or twice a year and know what you’d like them to improve.

6. Treat them as partners

Alan Brannick, a new home electrical specialist, argues that choosing trades on price alone leads to inconsistent work, poor communication and stress across the whole job.⁷ Bring your key trades in early, brief them properly, and listen when they flag a risk. A problem an experienced trade spots on paper costs far less to fix than one found after it’s built.

You’re done when your main trades see plans and scope before they price, and you have a way for them to raise problems that someone actually acts on.

Where to next

Late payment is the fastest way to lose a good trade. Read Security of payment explained, then A site supervisor’s weekly routine for keeping sites ready on time.

Footnotes

1. The Good Builder, “What It Actually Takes to Retain Good Trades in 2026”, The Good Builder (website), 2026. https://thegoodbuilder.com.au/what-it-actually-takes-to-retain-good-trades-in-2026/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. Ben Kevey-Maiden, “What Working Every Night Cost Me: Ben Kevey-Maiden #94”, Better Builder Podcast, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmNphMXcCEg ↩

3. Alex Dwyer, “Building a 40-Year Legacy: How Alex Dwyer Is Leading Dwyer Quality Homes Into the Next Generation”, The Good Builder Podcast, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV6sWohthgo ↩

4. The Good Builder, “Managing Subcontractors in Australia”, The Good Builder (website), 2026. https://thegoodbuilder.com.au/managing-subcontractors-in-australia/ ↩ ↩²

5. Louis Nguyen, “This Is What Happens When Your Custom Build Wins A GEORGIE Award”, The Professional Builder (podcast), 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx6in96ia60 ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. The Good Builder, “Peter Wood Returns: On Costs, Land Supply and the Question He Asks Himself Every Friday”, The Good Builder (website), 2026. https://thegoodbuilder.com.au/peter-wood-returns-on-costs-land-supply-and-the-question-he-asks-himself-every-friday/ ↩ ↩²

7. The Good Builder, “Partner or Problem? What Makes a Good Trade-Builder Relationship”, The Good Builder (website), 2025. https://thegoodbuilder.com.au/partner-or-problem-what-makes-a-good-trade-builder-relationship/ ↩