Sub vs Self-Perform This Job: Decision Tree

Why this matters

A job lands that you could do yourself, or hand to a sub. Get this call right and you keep your margin, your crew busy, and your quality controlled. Get it wrong and you either turn down good work you could have subbed, or you self-perform something outside your wheelhouse and bleed time, money, and your name on a bad result. This is not a gut call. A few clear questions decide it. Work through them in order, because an early "no" on capability or licensing ends the conversation before the margin math even matters.

Start here: are you licensed and competent to self-perform?

This gates everything. Margin is irrelevant if you cannot legally or skillfully do the work.

• If the work requires a license, certification, or permit you do not hold, you are subbing it, full stop. Performing licensed work without the credential is a legal and liability problem that no profit margin covers.
• If it is within your trade but outside your real competence, lean toward subbing. A job you have never done well, learned on the customer's dime, is a callback and a reputation hit waiting to happen.
• If you are licensed and genuinely capable, continue down the tree.

If you can do it: do you have the capacity?

Capability is not the same as availability.

• If your crew is slammed and this job would push out paying work or burn overtime, subbing it can be the profitable move even though you could do it yourself. The question is whether self-performing displaces something more valuable.
• If you have open capacity and the crew would otherwise be underused, self-performing usually wins. Idle techs are a cost you are already paying, so keeping the work in-house captures full margin.

If you have capacity: does the margin favor keeping it?

Now the money. Self-performing keeps the full margin but consumes your resources. Subbing trades margin for capacity and risk transfer.

• If self-performing keeps strong margin and the work is squarely yours, keep it. This is the default for your bread-and-butter jobs.
• If the job is a one-off that needs specialty tools, equipment, or skills you would have to rent, buy, or learn, subbing to someone already tooled up often nets more than self-performing, once you count the setup cost.
• If you can mark up a sub's work and still deliver value, subbing can be profitable without consuming your crew at all. You manage, the sub produces.

If you are leaning toward subbing: is the sub trustworthy?

Subbing only works if the sub protects your name and your liability.

• If you do not have a sub you trust on quality, insurance, and reliability, that is a serious mark against subbing this job. Your customer holds you responsible for the sub's work, and a bad sub becomes your callback and your lawsuit.
• If you have a proven sub who is properly insured and licensed, subbing is much safer. Confirm their coverage is current before they set foot on your job.

Quick reference: when to pick which

The bottom line

Sub when you cannot legally or competently do it, when capacity makes self-performing displace better work, or when one-off tooling makes in-house uneconomical, and only when you have a trusted, insured sub. Self-perform your core work whenever you have the crew, because that is where your margin and your quality control live. Run every borderline job through capability, capacity, margin, and sub-trust, in that order.

References

• See related: Emergency Parts Run vs Reschedule: Decision Tree
• See related: Building Supplier Leverage as a Small Shop
• SBA guidance on subcontracting and capacity planning
• Trade-standard practice for licensing, insurance, and subcontractor management