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Difficult conversations

The conversation with a subcontractor who is falling behind

By Review.LivePublished 3 min readHow we write

On Wednesday's walk you count three drywall boarders on level 4, where the look-ahead needs eight to finish by Friday. It is the second week in a row, and the tapers are booked for Monday. The drywall foreman gives the same answer as last week: "We'll catch up."

Two workers in hard hats and high-visibility vests talk across a sloped excavation, an excavator arm above them.
Photo: John Kakuk on Unsplash

Trades often fall behind for a reason you cannot see from the floor: crews pulled to another job, a cash problem, missing material, or access and work your side handed over late. Pressure without facts produces promises without numbers, and the next miss arrives on schedule. Tracking commitments weekly shows a slip early. Once a trade is already behind, the conversation should end with a plan you can check: crew size, dates and what each side must do.

  1. Bring the numbers: planned against actual for two weeks by area, quantity and head count, and the dates the next trades depend on.
  2. Talk to someone who can add people — the subcontractor's project manager or owner — with the foreman in the room.
  3. Open with facts and impact, not blame: what was planned, what happened and what it now puts at risk.
  4. Ask for the cause, and listen for your share. Late access, missing information or a change you made are yours to fix.
  5. Ask for a recovery plan in numbers: crew size by day, areas in order, a finish date and what they need from you.
  6. Send the plan in writing the same day with a check-in date, and keep that date.

Opening the conversation

  1. You:Level 4 was planned for eight boarders. We've had three all week, and the tapers start Monday.
  2. Subcontractor:We've had two guys off, and another job is screaming at us.
  3. You:Understood. Is anything on our side holding you up?
  4. Subcontractor:We only get the hoist after lunch. The board sits downstairs all morning.
  5. You:That one's ours. You'll have the hoist from seven to nine, starting Monday. Now, how many boarders each day, and what finish date will you stand behind?

Common mistakes

  • Opening with a back-charge threat, which ends the listening.
  • Accepting "we'll catch up" without a crew size or a date.
  • Talking only to the foreman, who usually cannot add people.

Action list

For the next late trade

  1. Print planned against actual for two weeks
  2. Invite the person who controls their crews
  3. List what your side owes them
  4. Ask for crew by day and a finish date
  5. Send the agreed plan the same day
  6. Book the check-in before you leave

Check your understanding

The subcontractor's owner promises to "do everything possible" to finish by Friday. Is that a recovery commitment?

Show the answer
No. It has no crew size, no dates and nothing you can check on Tuesday, so you learn it failed on Friday. Ask what "everything possible" means in people and areas per day, write it down and agree when you will check.

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