September 8, 2025 • 19 mins
Clark Turner explores the delicate process of separating from subcontractors, completing a three-part series on subcontractor management with practical advice on how to handle difficult termination scenarios.
• Creating exit strategies for subcontractors who aren't the right fit but produce decent work
• Using thorough documentation to build a case when quality issues force termination
• Taking specific legal steps when firing a subcontractor to protect your business
• Preparing detailed emails outlining quality issues and warranty expectations
• Handling property liens through bonding and negotiating settlements
• Offering reduced payments in exchange for lien release waivers to avoid court battles
• Maintaining professionalism throughout the termination process to protect your reputation
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Contractor Cuts, where we cover the good,
the bad and the ugly of growinga successful contracting company
.
Welcome back to Contractor Cuts.
My name is Clark Turner.
Thank you for joining us againthis week.
So today is another CoachingCuts, finishing out our
(00:21):
three-week series onsubcontractors.
So two weeks ago we talkedabout how to onboard subs the
meeting, the conversation, howthe relationship that we're
trying to build is sold to thesub, to where we're partners in
what we're doing, thesubcontractor agreement, how we
walk through it and all thedocumentation, paperwork that I
use to sit down when I'm firstonboarding a new potential sub
(00:45):
to come into our company and beworking for us.
Week two last week, james and Idove deep into start to finish,
how you run a sub from theirfirst job with you all the way
through being here for five to10 years.
Right, mainly we focus on thatfirst job.
How do I start them and makesure that they're good?
Red flags, green flags,coaching you know the difference
(01:05):
of coaching up a sub versusfiring a sub because they're not
.
It.
It's a really good episode.
If you didn't listen to it, goback and listen to last week's
after you're done with this one.
Today's episode is the final ofthose three firing a sub,
separating from a sub on a jobsite.
Maybe you don't like workingwith them, you don't like the
(01:31):
work that they do, they're justnot it for you.
There's a whole slew of reasonsthat you would want to part
ways with the sub, and so todaywe're going to cover really the
best way to do that.
All right, so let's say we'vegot let's kind of a couple of
scenarios.
On this first scenario, asubcontractor is working on your
job and it's just not it.
They're just not there, theyare late, they are decent work,
(01:52):
but it's just not 100%.
You're kind of having tobabysit, tell them what to do on
every stage, buy all theirmaterials because they can't
find a ride to Home Depot.
They are showing up.
Sometimes they miss days.
There's just an inconsistencyto where.
It's like these guys don't getit.
If their work is okay, though,if I can deal with getting them
off this job and I'm not goingto hire them again in that
(02:14):
scenario, I'm going to startwith sitting down and talking
through everything that I'm nothappy with on their job site a
heart to heart, right.
I'm going to sit them down,pull up a seat in the back of
the truck.
Let's, let's sit on thetailgate and have a conversation
you guys can do better Like Idon't like this, I don't like
that, this isn't working well,this isn't happening.
What's going on?
Tell me what's happening.
And sometimes they you knowit's like they're in confession
(02:36):
they're all of a sudden saying Isaid yes, right, so I'm trying
to solve their problem.
But if it gets to a spot whereit's like, hey, this isn't it
for right now, I'm going to tellthem this Listen, I need this
is my expectations to finishthis job.
If you want to finish this withme and get paid the money that
we agreed on, let's lay out howthat's going to happen.
(02:57):
If you don't, if we want tocall it today and I bring
another crew out here, let metell you how that goes and I
tell them you know I had Xamount of dollars on your work
order.
Whatever it costs to get thisfinished, I'm going to have to
pay another crew for, andwhatever's left over is going to
be your money.
So I let them make thatdecision.
Do they want to continueworking with me?
Do they want to just go theirown separate ways?
And we have that and try tocome to a good compromise
(03:19):
whether they're leaving or ifthey're staying, what that
should look like.
Also, if they are staying, I'mthere every single day.
I'm there to start them or I'mthere to finish it, depending on
where they're lacking.
If they're leaving the jobsites dirty every day and I'm
saying, hey, I need them cleanedup, I'm stopping at 4.30 to
check on their job sites, right?
Everything I'm doing ischecking and verifying and
(03:40):
making sure that what I thoughtwas slacking, they pick up the
slack and start really doing thejob that I expect out of them.
And sometimes, when we've donethat, that turns into the crew
working out long term.
But most of the time, when youget that spot where it's like
this isn't working, it's more ofan exit strategy to try to get
(04:01):
to the end without lawsuits,without having to pull them and
slow the job site down.
So that's if things are goingokay, but they're just not it,
they're not the crew for you.
Now the other side that happensa lot more often is we get
three days into the job, fourdays, five days a week into the
job and you say these guysaren't the quality, aren't the
(04:23):
people I thought I was hiringthey aren't.
They don't like.
I do not want them representingme on this job site.
Usually this is quality issuesmost of the time, and usually,
along with quality issues, we'vegot timing issues.
We've got not hitting deadlines, we have not showing up on time
.
So on these scenarios, whenit's like I've got to get these
guys off this job site, they'rehurting my reputation with this
(04:44):
client, the client's losingtrust in me.
I'm losing dollars on thisbecause I'm having to have other
guys pull, come behind them anddo other things, whatever it is
, and it's time to exit.
There are some very specificsteps that you need to follow
for to cover you legally, andI'm going to walk you through
those.
And now, how many times have Isued a sub Zero?
(05:05):
In 20 years I've never taken asub to court, but I do protect
myself and I build a whole caseof ammunition to where, if they
want to go the legal route, Iwill kill them in court.
And so if I can build that casebeforehand, present it to them.
We're going to settle, we'regoing to get out of it, and I'll
talk about that towards the endof this.
But what I need you to do istake notes on this.
(05:28):
Whatever.
Whatever you know, listen tothis again when you get home, if
you're driving, take some noteson.
These are the steps we need totake and we're going to put
these into our processes as towhen we exit a crew.
This is how we do it, all right.
So step one you don't like thework they're doing.
They're not showing up.
Whatever it is Usually it's aquality thing.
I'm going to walk the job siteand I'm going to take a hundred
(05:50):
photos.
I'm going to take a picture ofevery little thing that they've
done Good stuff, bad stuff,mediocre stuff, anything in the
middle.
I am going to take photos, butI document everything.
I'm going to upload thathundred photos that I took on
the job site.
I'm going to put it all in myjob, my progress photos inside
of the ProShort 360 software.
I'm going to upload them all.
(06:10):
I'm then going to go and emailthe crew.
When I go to email the crew,I'm going to attach all of those
photos.
Okay, with those photos, I'mgoing to have a very specific
email that I'm sending them.
First and foremost, the mostimportant thing to write in this
email, in the very firstsentence, is your work is subpar
(06:31):
.
This is not up to industrystandard.
And here are the issues I havewith this job, and I'm going to
list out every single thing thatthey've done wrong or that is
not up to industry standard.
Now, this might take a while.
It might be two pages long, doit?
We are building a case againstthem, so I'm going to list out
(06:55):
the paint they didn't cut inproperly.
They overpainted on the ceilingand trim that, whatever it is.
I'm listing everything out andI've probably got a photo that's
also showing all of this stuff.
I'm going to list all thisstuff out in an email, next
paragraph down.
The next thing I'm going to dois a full explanation of what I
expect them to fix and thetimetable they have to fix it
right.
We give in our subcontractoragreement a 72-hour warranty to
(07:18):
fix things.
This is to show that I'm doingmy part of our agreement.
This is what I expect.
This is the show that I'm doingmy part of our agreement.
This is what I expect.
This is what has to happen.
If you're not there tomorrowmorning at 830 to meet me to get
all of these things fixed 100%by the end of the day tomorrow,
then I'm going to have to removeyou from the job site and bring
another crew in to finish thisjob, which will, in turn, affect
(07:39):
the amount of money that you'rereceiving for this project.
A sentence where we'redescribing a plan of action of
how they're going to get theissue resolved and what needs to
happen for this to be asatisfactory ending for them to
get 100% of their money.
Next, the next paragraph down ismy plan of action if the
warranty work is not completed.
(07:59):
So then, after I say this iswhat I expect out of you, this
is what you need to do, the nextparagraph down I'm saying if
this isn't, if you don't show uptomorrow morning between 8.30
and 9 am, at 9.01, this is myplan of action.
I'm going to bring another crewover here.
You have a cease and desist toshow up and be on site of our
(08:21):
property.
You are not allowed to stepfoot at 901 or after.
If you have not arrived on time,I'm going to have another crew
come out there.
They're going to finish thework.
Whatever money you believe Istill owe you, I'm going to pay
that crew that finishes the workout of that money.
Whatever is left over afterthat crew finishes the work, I'm
going to give to you right?
If I had a $5,000 work orderand I've already paid you 2,500,
(08:44):
so there's 2,500 left andthere's a couple of days of
punch out and you're just notcoming back, I'm going to send
this email but tell them whatneeds to be punched out, how
much time they have to get back,and I say, listen, out of that
2,500 I have left for you, it'sgoing to take me 800 bucks to
get this finished.
So I'm going to pay anothercrew 800 bucks to get this done
if you don't show up, and you'regoing to get the remainder of
the money once that work iscomplete.
(09:06):
I lay out the next steps of whatwill happen when they don't
show up or make whatever theissue is right.
After I've laid that out, I doan expectation about the payment
.
Like, if this gets done on time, I will have a check waiting
for you at the end of the job.
If you do not if 9 tomorrow, Idon't see you on the job site,
(09:29):
then this is what happens withyour money.
Like I just explained it, it'sgoing to go to somebody else.
Now, at that point, you'vecommunicated that I'm texting
them saying hey, check youremail.
I just sent you a warrantyclaim on the email.
I need you to respond to itASAP.
I want it all in writing.
I don't want a phone call.
I don't want to walk the jobsite with them in person.
I want it in writing to wherewe can come to an agreement
together Once they've eitherresponded, not shown up, or
(09:54):
maybe they'll text me and say Iread it, I'll be there in the
morning.
Great, whatever it is, I'mdocumenting all of that.
At that point, if they don'tshow up, I'm going to give them
the.
I'm going to honor my agreementright, I'm going to let them
come out and warranty the workOutside of them cussing out my
client or doing somethingoffensive on the job site.
I'm going to give them theopportunity to warranty it
because that's in our agreement.
(10:14):
If they are that bad of a crewthat it's time to fire them,
most likely they're not going tocome out and warranty their
work.
I got to give them opportunityto show in court.
I did all of the things thatI'm supposed to do correctly.
I honored our agreement.
I gave them fair warning.
I explained to them what wasgoing to happen.
I documented to prove that I'mcorrect and they are wrong, that
(10:34):
their work was not up toindustry standard.
I followed all of those steps.
At that point, 901 hits.
They're not there.
I call them up and send them atext message and say hey guys,
don't worry about coming outhere.
It's 901.
You are not allowed to come tothis job site.
I'm letting you know that thisis a cease and desist to showing
(10:56):
up on this property.
You have no authority to behere.
If they have tools I've gotyour tools I'm putting them in
my truck and bring it to myoffice.
I'm not letting them come backon to get their tools.
I don't want them touching myjob site again.
So I'm making sure that theyknow that and know that their
tools aren't on the job site.
If you don't have an office,put them in your truck and meet
them at Starbucks, whatever itis.
(11:17):
I'm not letting them come backout there after the timetable
that I've laid out expires.
At that point you're going tostart getting angry texts hey,
what about my money?
I need to get paid.
I need to get paid.
You can't do this.
All that starts happening andthat's when you stick to your
guns.
You say listen, I'm going topay you after the crew is
finished with the work, I willpay you what's remaining, but
(11:38):
I've got to repair the issuesthat you caused with the money
that's remaining in this job andthen I will pay you whatever's
left over.
At the end of that.
They're not happy about it,they're angry about it, and this
is usually where the crew islike all right, fine, I'm going
to put a lien on the property.
Put this in your pocket and usethis whenever a crew says I'm
going to put a lien on yourproperty.
(11:59):
All right, it's called a lienOur.
What that means is you can go toa bonding company, a surety
company, an insurance company,and say listen, I have a
subcontractor who put a $5,000lien on our property.
We're paying weekly so we don'towe the sub $30,000.
(12:20):
It's $5,000, $4,000, $1,500,whatever it is.
They put a lien on the propertyfor that amount.
You go to the bonding company,the insurance company, and say I
need a bond for $5,000 againsta lien on this property.
With this crew, they will giveyou a bond.
You give the insurance company$5,000.
They give you a bond on thelien for $5,000.
(12:43):
And what that does?
You take that to the city andthat releases the lien from the
property.
Now the property could be soldand is not harming your client,
because you go to court againstthat sub.
Whoever wins takes it to theinsurance company, the judgment
and gets that $5,000 release.
So when I beat them in court,I'm going to get that $5,000
back.
If they could beat me, I've gotthat money bonded to make sure
(13:04):
that the lien is covered.
So that is my go ahead and put alien.
I'm going to bond out of it.
You know what that means.
So that is my go ahead and puta lien.
I'm going to bond out of it.
You know what that means.
I've said that probably 15 to20 times in my life to subs.
If they say, hey, I'm going toput a lien on the property, no
problem, that's fine, I'm goingto bond out of it.
You won't see a penny.
What do you mean bond out of it?
(13:26):
Well, I will do this andexplain do not see a penny of
this job because of you, of ofhow you're acting, what you're
trying to do.
You will have $0 moving forward.
Or and this is the big, this ishow I exit with them.
I say or, instead of doing allof that, I will.
You know I'll get a reasonablenumber If I think you them
(13:48):
$5,000 left and I think that Ishould pay them about two.
I'm gonna say, hey, I'll giveyou $1,500 today to sign a lien
release form and on that lienrelease form, you're releasing
this and that $1,500 will be mebuying you off to not put a lien
on the property and for us togo our own separate ways.
So that's your option.
(14:09):
Sub.
You can either take $1,500 incash and check today.
I will cut it to you today.
If you sign this lien releaseor put a lien on the property,
I'm going to fight you and I'mgoing to win and you're not
going to see a penny.
It's going to be six monthsdown the road.
I've got bigger lawyers thanyou do.
Feel free to do what you wantto do, but I will give you cash
today just to end this and notgive me the headache of dealing
(14:30):
with lawyers and going to courtover this Every single time this
works.
I have not a single time in 20years of doing this had a crew
say no, I'm not going to takethe money, I'm going to put a
lien on the house.
They might try to negotiate,they might try to push back.
I'm not in a negotiation atthat point.
I'll.
I'll pay you 1500 bucks becauseI think I owe you two, but it
(14:52):
might need an extra 500 bucks tocover any issues that I don't
know about.
I'll give you a thousand bucks.
I'll give you 500 bucks to goaway today.
Either way, cash in hand to mostsubs is going to Trump them
trying to sue you over the nextsix months.
And on top of that I've got nowthis documentation that I show
them.
I say, look, I took all thesephotos that, that, that, that,
(15:15):
that, that and that are allwrong.
You did this.
I'm going to have to actuallycharge you money to go back and
rip this sheet rock out andreplace it.
I start going down the list ofall the money I'm going to go
after them for and say I sentyou this.
All of those emails, all of mytexts, all of our communications
I've got in a binder that'sgoing to court with me.
So I win this case and I'm alsogoing after you for legal fees.
So this isn't just you're goingto, we're going to end up.
You know, I win, you lose and Iget to keep my money.
(15:37):
This is.
I'm going to counter sue youfor another five to $8,000.
So if I have all of that ammositting there ready with those
emails and everything I've sent.
At that point.
If a sub's trying to screw me,I'm like go for it, put a lien
on the house, I'll bond out.
You won't see a penny, I'llcome after you.
We'll do that dance.
And they know that I've done myresearch.
(15:57):
They know I know what I'mtalking about because I've got
all of my ammo of the emails andmy documentation and the
bonding out of the lien preparedand you do this.
And again, don't abuse substhis way.
This is not about hurting subs.
This is not about trying to ripthem off.
This is about not gettingscrewed by the subs that said
that they could do one thing andended up not being able to do
(16:19):
it.
That's what you're protectingyourself from.
But this bonding out of thelien and then making a
negotiation with that sub tosettle for an amount of money in
an exchange for signing a lienrelease waiver.
And on that lien release waiver,if you're in the ProStruck 360
coaching program, I give that toyou.
I gave it to a guy a coupleweeks ago because he had an
(16:42):
issue with the crew.
That lien release waiver alsoincludes verbiage that says it's
for this property with theaddress on it and all work
completed before today's date.
And you put the date on there.
That way, any sort of job theycan't try to put a lien on in
the past.
I show up to the court I say,look, they signed this, I got it
notarized, they agreed to this,they cashed this check.
(17:05):
I wrote on there check number1054 for this amount of money on
this date confirms that thisblah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And they sign it.
We release it.
I never hear from them again.
That is how we have to fight abad sub that we have to fire off
the job site.
We don't want it to explode.
We don't want the client to getinvolved.
(17:26):
We want to control thesituation and be ahead of it.
We don't want to hope and praythat maybe the crew will come
around.
I'll give them another week outthere.
At that point you're too farbehind.
They're going to mess the jobup.
It's going to cost money to fixit.
It is something that you haveto do the right way, with all of
your proper documentation, withall of your ammunition.
(17:47):
We'll save your reputation andsave your dollars.
If you have a question aboutthis, please call me, go to
ContractorCutscom and contact medirectly.
I'd love to set up a one-on-onecall.
Also, I don't know if you'vesigned up yet or if you've
looked into coming on theretreat yet, but we are about to
start signups on that.
If you want to come on theretreat, you get three free
(18:07):
coaching sessions.
What we do is an end of theyear coaching program.
It's three separate sessionsthat I'm going to do to finish
out 2025 strong with you, prepyou for the retreat.
When you come on the retreat,which is a two and a half day
intensive.
It's two days of intensive.
Then we kind of have a cocktailparty night, one for everyone
to get to know each other.
But it's a two day intensive inNashville, tennessee, that you
(18:27):
are invited to come to.
So if you want to take yourcompany seriously, if you're
ready to go to the next leveland really launch into 2026,
where we double triple yourrevenue sign up today so you can
get the free coaching sessionsnow to lead you into 2026 and
finish this year strong.
All right, thanks so much forlistening.
We'll talk to you guys nextweek.
(18:48):
Bye, all right.
Thanks so much for listening.
We'll talk to you guys nextweek.
Welcome to Contractor Cuts, where we cover the good,
the bad and the ugly of growinga successful contracting company
.
Welcome back to Contractor Cuts.
My name is Clark Turner.
Thank you for joining us againthis week.
So today is another CoachingCuts, finishing out our
(00:21):
three-week series onsubcontractors.
So two weeks ago we talkedabout how to onboard subs the
meeting, the conversation, howthe relationship that we're
trying to build is sold to thesub, to where we're partners in
what we're doing, thesubcontractor agreement, how we
walk through it and all thedocumentation, paperwork that I
use to sit down when I'm firstonboarding a new potential sub
(00:45):
to come into our company and beworking for us.
Week two last week, james and Idove deep into start to finish,
how you run a sub from theirfirst job with you all the way
through being here for five to10 years.
Right, mainly we focus on thatfirst job.
How do I start them and makesure that they're good?
Red flags, green flags,coaching you know the difference
(01:05):
of coaching up a sub versusfiring a sub because they're not
.
It.
It's a really good episode.
If you didn't listen to it, goback and listen to last week's
after you're done with this one.
Today's episode is the final ofthose three firing a sub,
separating from a sub on a jobsite.
Maybe you don't like workingwith them, you don't like the
(01:31):
work that they do, they're justnot it for you.
There's a whole slew of reasonsthat you would want to part
ways with the sub, and so todaywe're going to cover really the
best way to do that.
All right, so let's say we'vegot let's kind of a couple of
scenarios.
On this first scenario, asubcontractor is working on your
job and it's just not it.
They're just not there, theyare late, they are decent work,
(01:52):
but it's just not 100%.
You're kind of having tobabysit, tell them what to do on
every stage, buy all theirmaterials because they can't
find a ride to Home Depot.
They are showing up.
Sometimes they miss days.
There's just an inconsistencyto where.
It's like these guys don't getit.
If their work is okay, though,if I can deal with getting them
off this job and I'm not goingto hire them again in that
(02:14):
scenario, I'm going to startwith sitting down and talking
through everything that I'm nothappy with on their job site a
heart to heart, right.
I'm going to sit them down,pull up a seat in the back of
the truck.
Let's, let's sit on thetailgate and have a conversation
you guys can do better Like Idon't like this, I don't like
that, this isn't working well,this isn't happening.
What's going on?
Tell me what's happening.
And sometimes they you knowit's like they're in confession
(02:36):
they're all of a sudden saying Isaid yes, right, so I'm trying
to solve their problem.
But if it gets to a spot whereit's like, hey, this isn't it
for right now, I'm going to tellthem this Listen, I need this
is my expectations to finishthis job.
If you want to finish this withme and get paid the money that
we agreed on, let's lay out howthat's going to happen.
(02:57):
If you don't, if we want tocall it today and I bring
another crew out here, let metell you how that goes and I
tell them you know I had Xamount of dollars on your work
order.
Whatever it costs to get thisfinished, I'm going to have to
pay another crew for, andwhatever's left over is going to
be your money.
So I let them make thatdecision.
Do they want to continueworking with me?
Do they want to just go theirown separate ways?
And we have that and try tocome to a good compromise
(03:19):
whether they're leaving or ifthey're staying, what that
should look like.
Also, if they are staying, I'mthere every single day.
I'm there to start them or I'mthere to finish it, depending on
where they're lacking.
If they're leaving the jobsites dirty every day and I'm
saying, hey, I need them cleanedup, I'm stopping at 4.30 to
check on their job sites, right?
Everything I'm doing ischecking and verifying and
(03:40):
making sure that what I thoughtwas slacking, they pick up the
slack and start really doing thejob that I expect out of them.
And sometimes, when we've donethat, that turns into the crew
working out long term.
But most of the time, when youget that spot where it's like
this isn't working, it's more ofan exit strategy to try to get
(04:01):
to the end without lawsuits,without having to pull them and
slow the job site down.
So that's if things are goingokay, but they're just not it,
they're not the crew for you.
Now the other side that happensa lot more often is we get
three days into the job, fourdays, five days a week into the
job and you say these guysaren't the quality, aren't the
(04:23):
people I thought I was hiringthey aren't.
They don't like.
I do not want them representingme on this job site.
Usually this is quality issuesmost of the time, and usually,
along with quality issues, we'vegot timing issues.
We've got not hitting deadlines, we have not showing up on time
.
So on these scenarios, whenit's like I've got to get these
guys off this job site, they'rehurting my reputation with this
(04:44):
client, the client's losingtrust in me.
I'm losing dollars on thisbecause I'm having to have other
guys pull, come behind them anddo other things, whatever it is
, and it's time to exit.
There are some very specificsteps that you need to follow
for to cover you legally, andI'm going to walk you through
those.
And now, how many times have Isued a sub Zero?
(05:05):
In 20 years I've never taken asub to court, but I do protect
myself and I build a whole caseof ammunition to where, if they
want to go the legal route, Iwill kill them in court.
And so if I can build that casebeforehand, present it to them.
We're going to settle, we'regoing to get out of it, and I'll
talk about that towards the endof this.
But what I need you to do istake notes on this.
(05:28):
Whatever.
Whatever you know, listen tothis again when you get home, if
you're driving, take some noteson.
These are the steps we need totake and we're going to put
these into our processes as towhen we exit a crew.
This is how we do it, all right.
So step one you don't like thework they're doing.
They're not showing up.
Whatever it is Usually it's aquality thing.
I'm going to walk the job siteand I'm going to take a hundred
(05:50):
photos.
I'm going to take a picture ofevery little thing that they've
done Good stuff, bad stuff,mediocre stuff, anything in the
middle.
I am going to take photos, butI document everything.
I'm going to upload thathundred photos that I took on
the job site.
I'm going to put it all in myjob, my progress photos inside
of the ProShort 360 software.
I'm going to upload them all.
(06:10):
I'm then going to go and emailthe crew.
When I go to email the crew,I'm going to attach all of those
photos.
Okay, with those photos, I'mgoing to have a very specific
email that I'm sending them.
First and foremost, the mostimportant thing to write in this
email, in the very firstsentence, is your work is subpar
(06:31):
.
This is not up to industrystandard.
And here are the issues I havewith this job, and I'm going to
list out every single thing thatthey've done wrong or that is
not up to industry standard.
Now, this might take a while.
It might be two pages long, doit?
We are building a case againstthem, so I'm going to list out
(06:55):
the paint they didn't cut inproperly.
They overpainted on the ceilingand trim that, whatever it is.
I'm listing everything out andI've probably got a photo that's
also showing all of this stuff.
I'm going to list all thisstuff out in an email, next
paragraph down.
The next thing I'm going to dois a full explanation of what I
expect them to fix and thetimetable they have to fix it
right.
We give in our subcontractoragreement a 72-hour warranty to
(07:18):
fix things.
This is to show that I'm doingmy part of our agreement.
This is what I expect.
This is the show that I'm doingmy part of our agreement.
This is what I expect.
This is what has to happen.
If you're not there tomorrowmorning at 830 to meet me to get
all of these things fixed 100%by the end of the day tomorrow,
then I'm going to have to removeyou from the job site and bring
another crew in to finish thisjob, which will, in turn, affect
(07:39):
the amount of money that you'rereceiving for this project.
A sentence where we'redescribing a plan of action of
how they're going to get theissue resolved and what needs to
happen for this to be asatisfactory ending for them to
get 100% of their money.
Next, the next paragraph down ismy plan of action if the
warranty work is not completed.
(07:59):
So then, after I say this iswhat I expect out of you, this
is what you need to do, the nextparagraph down I'm saying if
this isn't, if you don't show uptomorrow morning between 8.30
and 9 am, at 9.01, this is myplan of action.
I'm going to bring another crewover here.
You have a cease and desist toshow up and be on site of our
(08:21):
property.
You are not allowed to stepfoot at 901 or after.
If you have not arrived on time,I'm going to have another crew
come out there.
They're going to finish thework.
Whatever money you believe Istill owe you, I'm going to pay
that crew that finishes the workout of that money.
Whatever is left over afterthat crew finishes the work, I'm
going to give to you right?
If I had a $5,000 work orderand I've already paid you 2,500,
(08:44):
so there's 2,500 left andthere's a couple of days of
punch out and you're just notcoming back, I'm going to send
this email but tell them whatneeds to be punched out, how
much time they have to get back,and I say, listen, out of that
2,500 I have left for you, it'sgoing to take me 800 bucks to
get this finished.
So I'm going to pay anothercrew 800 bucks to get this done
if you don't show up, and you'regoing to get the remainder of
the money once that work iscomplete.
(09:06):
I lay out the next steps of whatwill happen when they don't
show up or make whatever theissue is right.
After I've laid that out, I doan expectation about the payment
.
Like, if this gets done on time, I will have a check waiting
for you at the end of the job.
If you do not if 9 tomorrow, Idon't see you on the job site,
(09:29):
then this is what happens withyour money.
Like I just explained it, it'sgoing to go to somebody else.
Now, at that point, you'vecommunicated that I'm texting
them saying hey, check youremail.
I just sent you a warrantyclaim on the email.
I need you to respond to itASAP.
I want it all in writing.
I don't want a phone call.
I don't want to walk the jobsite with them in person.
I want it in writing to wherewe can come to an agreement
together Once they've eitherresponded, not shown up, or
(09:54):
maybe they'll text me and say Iread it, I'll be there in the
morning.
Great, whatever it is, I'mdocumenting all of that.
At that point, if they don'tshow up, I'm going to give them
the.
I'm going to honor my agreementright, I'm going to let them
come out and warranty the workOutside of them cussing out my
client or doing somethingoffensive on the job site.
I'm going to give them theopportunity to warranty it
because that's in our agreement.
(10:14):
If they are that bad of a crewthat it's time to fire them,
most likely they're not going tocome out and warranty their
work.
I got to give them opportunityto show in court.
I did all of the things thatI'm supposed to do correctly.
I honored our agreement.
I gave them fair warning.
I explained to them what wasgoing to happen.
I documented to prove that I'mcorrect and they are wrong, that
(10:34):
their work was not up toindustry standard.
I followed all of those steps.
At that point, 901 hits.
They're not there.
I call them up and send them atext message and say hey guys,
don't worry about coming outhere.
It's 901.
You are not allowed to come tothis job site.
I'm letting you know that thisis a cease and desist to showing
(10:56):
up on this property.
You have no authority to behere.
If they have tools I've gotyour tools I'm putting them in
my truck and bring it to myoffice.
I'm not letting them come backon to get their tools.
I don't want them touching myjob site again.
So I'm making sure that theyknow that and know that their
tools aren't on the job site.
If you don't have an office,put them in your truck and meet
them at Starbucks, whatever itis.
(11:17):
I'm not letting them come backout there after the timetable
that I've laid out expires.
At that point you're going tostart getting angry texts hey,
what about my money?
I need to get paid.
I need to get paid.
You can't do this.
All that starts happening andthat's when you stick to your
guns.
You say listen, I'm going topay you after the crew is
finished with the work, I willpay you what's remaining, but
(11:38):
I've got to repair the issuesthat you caused with the money
that's remaining in this job andthen I will pay you whatever's
left over.
At the end of that.
They're not happy about it,they're angry about it, and this
is usually where the crew islike all right, fine, I'm going
to put a lien on the property.
Put this in your pocket and usethis whenever a crew says I'm
going to put a lien on yourproperty.
(11:59):
All right, it's called a lienOur.
What that means is you can go toa bonding company, a surety
company, an insurance company,and say listen, I have a
subcontractor who put a $5,000lien on our property.
We're paying weekly so we don'towe the sub $30,000.
(12:20):
It's $5,000, $4,000, $1,500,whatever it is.
They put a lien on the propertyfor that amount.
You go to the bonding company,the insurance company, and say I
need a bond for $5,000 againsta lien on this property.
With this crew, they will giveyou a bond.
You give the insurance company$5,000.
They give you a bond on thelien for $5,000.
(12:43):
And what that does?
You take that to the city andthat releases the lien from the
property.
Now the property could be soldand is not harming your client,
because you go to court againstthat sub.
Whoever wins takes it to theinsurance company, the judgment
and gets that $5,000 release.
So when I beat them in court,I'm going to get that $5,000
back.
If they could beat me, I've gotthat money bonded to make sure
(13:04):
that the lien is covered.
So that is my go ahead and put alien.
I'm going to bond out of it.
You know what that means.
So that is my go ahead and puta lien.
I'm going to bond out of it.
You know what that means.
I've said that probably 15 to20 times in my life to subs.
If they say, hey, I'm going toput a lien on the property, no
problem, that's fine, I'm goingto bond out of it.
You won't see a penny.
What do you mean bond out of it?
(13:26):
Well, I will do this andexplain do not see a penny of
this job because of you, of ofhow you're acting, what you're
trying to do.
You will have $0 moving forward.
Or and this is the big, this ishow I exit with them.
I say or, instead of doing allof that, I will.
You know I'll get a reasonablenumber If I think you them
(13:48):
$5,000 left and I think that Ishould pay them about two.
I'm gonna say, hey, I'll giveyou $1,500 today to sign a lien
release form and on that lienrelease form, you're releasing
this and that $1,500 will be mebuying you off to not put a lien
on the property and for us togo our own separate ways.
So that's your option.
(14:09):
Sub.
You can either take $1,500 incash and check today.
I will cut it to you today.
If you sign this lien releaseor put a lien on the property,
I'm going to fight you and I'mgoing to win and you're not
going to see a penny.
It's going to be six monthsdown the road.
I've got bigger lawyers thanyou do.
Feel free to do what you wantto do, but I will give you cash
today just to end this and notgive me the headache of dealing
(14:30):
with lawyers and going to courtover this Every single time this
works.
I have not a single time in 20years of doing this had a crew
say no, I'm not going to takethe money, I'm going to put a
lien on the house.
They might try to negotiate,they might try to push back.
I'm not in a negotiation atthat point.
I'll.
I'll pay you 1500 bucks becauseI think I owe you two, but it
(14:52):
might need an extra 500 bucks tocover any issues that I don't
know about.
I'll give you a thousand bucks.
I'll give you 500 bucks to goaway today.
Either way, cash in hand to mostsubs is going to Trump them
trying to sue you over the nextsix months.
And on top of that I've got nowthis documentation that I show
them.
I say, look, I took all thesephotos that, that, that, that,
(15:15):
that, that and that are allwrong.
You did this.
I'm going to have to actuallycharge you money to go back and
rip this sheet rock out andreplace it.
I start going down the list ofall the money I'm going to go
after them for and say I sentyou this.
All of those emails, all of mytexts, all of our communications
I've got in a binder that'sgoing to court with me.
So I win this case and I'm alsogoing after you for legal fees.
So this isn't just you're goingto, we're going to end up.
You know, I win, you lose and Iget to keep my money.
(15:37):
This is.
I'm going to counter sue youfor another five to $8,000.
So if I have all of that ammositting there ready with those
emails and everything I've sent.
At that point.
If a sub's trying to screw me,I'm like go for it, put a lien
on the house, I'll bond out.
You won't see a penny, I'llcome after you.
We'll do that dance.
And they know that I've done myresearch.
(15:57):
They know I know what I'mtalking about because I've got
all of my ammo of the emails andmy documentation and the
bonding out of the lien preparedand you do this.
And again, don't abuse substhis way.
This is not about hurting subs.
This is not about trying to ripthem off.
This is about not gettingscrewed by the subs that said
that they could do one thing andended up not being able to do
(16:19):
it.
That's what you're protectingyourself from.
But this bonding out of thelien and then making a
negotiation with that sub tosettle for an amount of money in
an exchange for signing a lienrelease waiver.
And on that lien release waiver,if you're in the ProStruck 360
coaching program, I give that toyou.
I gave it to a guy a coupleweeks ago because he had an
(16:42):
issue with the crew.
That lien release waiver alsoincludes verbiage that says it's
for this property with theaddress on it and all work
completed before today's date.
And you put the date on there.
That way, any sort of job theycan't try to put a lien on in
the past.
I show up to the court I say,look, they signed this, I got it
notarized, they agreed to this,they cashed this check.
(17:05):
I wrote on there check number1054 for this amount of money on
this date confirms that thisblah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And they sign it.
We release it.
I never hear from them again.
That is how we have to fight abad sub that we have to fire off
the job site.
We don't want it to explode.
We don't want the client to getinvolved.
(17:26):
We want to control thesituation and be ahead of it.
We don't want to hope and praythat maybe the crew will come
around.
I'll give them another week outthere.
At that point you're too farbehind.
They're going to mess the jobup.
It's going to cost money to fixit.
It is something that you haveto do the right way, with all of
your proper documentation, withall of your ammunition.
(17:47):
We'll save your reputation andsave your dollars.
If you have a question aboutthis, please call me, go to
ContractorCutscom and contact medirectly.
I'd love to set up a one-on-onecall.
Also, I don't know if you'vesigned up yet or if you've
looked into coming on theretreat yet, but we are about to
start signups on that.
If you want to come on theretreat, you get three free
(18:07):
coaching sessions.
What we do is an end of theyear coaching program.
It's three separate sessionsthat I'm going to do to finish
out 2025 strong with you, prepyou for the retreat.
When you come on the retreat,which is a two and a half day
intensive.
It's two days of intensive.
Then we kind of have a cocktailparty night, one for everyone
to get to know each other.
But it's a two day intensive inNashville, tennessee, that you
(18:27):
are invited to come to.
So if you want to take yourcompany seriously, if you're
ready to go to the next leveland really launch into 2026,
where we double triple yourrevenue sign up today so you can
get the free coaching sessionsnow to lead you into 2026 and
finish this year strong.
All right, thanks so much forlistening.
We'll talk to you guys nextweek.
(18:48):
Bye, all right.
Thanks so much for listening.
We'll talk to you guys nextweek.
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