For carpenters
Before you sign that carpentry subcontract, check these three things.
A carpentry subcontract fixes a scope and a price. What it can leave open is where your scope ends and the next trade's begins, how much is held back until the end of the project, and what you owe if the schedule slips.
This subcontract sets a daily delay charge whoever caused the delay and defines scope as all related work.
A daily charge for any delay, whoever caused it
“Any delay in completion of the project” can include delays by other trades, the owner or the weather.
Ask for
Check how delays are defined, and ask for the charge to apply only to delays you cause.
- Scope is “all related work”High · Scope
- Retainage waits for the whole projectHigh · Payment
The numbers
In May 2025, there were 670,090 wage and salary jobs for carpenters in the U.S., with a median annual wage of $60,580.
These figures count jobs, not people, and do not include self-employed work — so they say little about how many carpenters work freelance or run their own business.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, national estimates for SOC 47-2031. Public domain.
Scope lines, retainage and delay penalties
- Scope boundaries — Check that the scope lists what is included and what is not, so work outside it is priced as extra.
- Retainage — Look at how much is held back and whether it is released when your part is done or only at the end of the whole project.
- Delay penalties — A daily penalty for delays you did not cause can erase the margin. Check how delays are defined and who answers for them.
Check the subcontract before you frame
A subcontract decides where your work ends. Free: one analysis every 30 days, no card. Each analysis gives a risk read of the key clauses, quotes the contract's own words for its findings, and turns each flagged clause into a specific ask.
Analyze my contract — free- Encrypted in transit & at rest
- Files auto-deleted after 30 days
- Never used to train models
- Informational — not legal advice