Handbook / Hiring and growth

Subcontracting work as a freelancer: when and how to bring in help

At some point, many freelancers have more work than hours, or a project that needs skills they do not have. Subcontracting lets you take on that work without hiring employees. Done well, it grows your capacity and income. Done badly, it puts your reputation in someone else's hands. This guide covers how to do it well.

When subcontracting makes sense

• Overflow: you have more of your usual work than time.
• Complementary skills: a web designer brings in a developer, or a writer brings in an editor.
• Specialist tasks: translation, illustration, data work.
• Repetitive tasks you can define clearly and check easily.

It works less well for work that depends on your personal judgment or relationship, or where the client hired you specifically.

Check your client contracts

Before you subcontract, read your agreements. Look for:

• clauses that prohibit subcontracting or require consent
• confidentiality obligations that must extend to anyone you bring in
• data protection or security requirements
• ownership terms that require you to deliver full rights

You remain responsible to your client for the whole job, including the parts someone else does.

Find and vet subcontractors

Good sources include your professional network, people you have worked alongside, and referrals from peers. Then vet:

1. review relevant samples
2. check references or past clients
3. run a small paid test that mirrors the real work
4. assess communication and reliability as well as quality

Put it in writing

A subcontractor agreement should cover:

• scope and standards: exactly what is delivered and to what quality
• deadlines, including time for your review
• payment: amount, schedule, and whether it depends on your client paying you
• confidentiality: matching your client obligations
• ownership: transfer of rights in the work
• non-solicitation of your client, if appropriate and enforceable
• independent status

Ownership matters. Copyright law's definition of a work made for hire covers certain kinds of specially commissioned works only where the parties sign a written agreement saying so; other work by independent contractors generally belongs to its creator unless rights are assigned in writing. Your agreement should transfer whatever rights you have promised your client. The guide to an independent contractor agreement covers the structure from the other side.

Keep it a genuine contractor relationship

The IRS explains that someone is generally an independent contractor if the person paying has the right to control only the result of the work, not what will be done and how. Treat subcontractors as independent businesses:

• agree outcomes and deadlines, not hours and methods
• let them use their own tools and work for others
• pay by invoice

If you begin directing how and when someone works, the relationship may look like employment. The working-alone guide on contractor or employee explains the factors.

Pricing and margins

Your price to the client should cover:

• the subcontractor's fee
• your time briefing, managing and reviewing
• a margin for risk, such as rework or missed deadlines

Agree a fixed fee with the subcontractor where possible so overruns do not eat your margin.

Quality control

Review everything before it reaches the client. Give clear feedback early in the relationship. Build review time into your deadlines.

Paperwork and tax forms

• Collect a Form W-9 before the first payment, so you have the subcontractor's name and taxpayer identification number.
• Track payments through the year.
• If total payments for services reach the IRS reporting threshold, file Form 1099-NEC and send a copy to the subcontractor. The guide to Form 1099-NEC explains the threshold and deadlines.
• Record subcontractor fees as contract labor in your books.

When subcontracting goes wrong

Even good subcontractors sometimes miss a deadline or deliver below standard. Plan for it:

• Build buffer time into client deadlines so a delay does not become your client's problem.
• Raise issues early and specifically, pointing to the agreed brief.
• Have a fallback, such as doing the work yourself or a second subcontractor you have tested.
• Do not pass problems to the client as someone else's fault; you are responsible for the delivery.

If a subcontractor repeatedly falls short, end the arrangement as your agreement allows and pay for work properly delivered. Keep notes of what went wrong. Each experience improves your briefs, your vetting and your choice of people for the next project.

Subcontract clearly defined work, check your client contracts, vet with a paid test, sign an agreement covering rights and confidentiality, price in a margin, and keep the paperwork for 1099 reporting.