The electrician is here, the trench is not
The garden lighting electrician turns up on Tuesday as booked. The trench for the armoured cable is not dug, because the crew lost two days to rain and are still on the walls. He leaves, and the next day he can offer is in three weeks. Meanwhile the tree surgeon who was meant to crown lift the sycamore before the patio went in has not replied to the last two texts, and the fencer has come a week early and put the posts where the new steps are going.
Your own crew's schedule is hard enough. Adding three other businesses with their own diaries, all booked by text from the owner's phone, makes a garden build fragile.
Why the sequence falls apart
Most garden builds need at least one specialist: tree work before groundworks, electrics for lighting and outdoor sockets, fencing, sometimes a bricklayer or a pond specialist. Each is booked for a date that depends on your crew's progress, but when that progress changes, nobody tells them.
- Trades are booked by phone or text, so there is no shared record.
- Their dates are not linked to the stage of the job they depend on.
- When your schedule moves, subcontractors are told late or not at all.
- Insurance certificates, electrical certificates and similar paperwork are collected at the end, if at all.
- Subcontractor invoices are paid without being checked against the agreed price.
What the gaps cost
A wasted visit from a subcontractor can cost you a call-out charge and push a job back by weeks. Trades working out of sequence cause rework. Missing paperwork causes a problem at handover, when the customer wants the electrical certificate for their garden lighting and the electrician has moved on to other things. And unchecked invoices drift from what was agreed.
The subcontractor board we build
- Each job lists the trades it needs, with the stage each depends on, such as tree work before excavation, or cable duct before paving.
- Subcontractors are kept in a directory with their contact details, rates, and documents with expiry dates, like insurance, which prompts you to ask for renewals.
- Booking requests go out by text or email with the site, date, scope and access notes, and the trade confirms with a link.
- When your crew's progress moves the stage date, affected trades get a change message and asked to confirm the new date, and the owner sees who has not replied.
- Paperwork due at the end of their work, such as a certificate or a waste note, is requested automatically and attached to the job.
- Their invoice is checked against the agreed price and any approved extras before it goes for payment.
| Trade | Depends on | Paperwork to collect |
|---|---|---|
| Tree surgeon | Before excavation | Insurance, waste notes |
| Electrician | Duct laid, before paving | Certificate for the work |
| Fencer | Levels set | Insurance |
| Bricklayer | Footings ready | Insurance |
| Pond or water feature | Excavation done | As agreed |
Which documents you ask for is your decision and your adviser's. The board makes sure what you ask for arrives and is kept.
A build that runs in order
Trades arrive when the job is ready for them because they are told when it moves. The owner stops chasing replies by text. The paperwork is on the job before the customer asks. And you build up a record of which subcontractors confirm, arrive and finish reliably, which is useful when choosing who to book next spring.
Signs your subcontractors need a board
- A trade has turned up before the job was ready.
- Subcontractors are booked from one person's phone.
- Customers have waited for certificates after handover.
- You do not know whose insurance has expired.
- Subcontractor invoices are paid without checking.