Choosing a steel subcontractor: what to check before you engage

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Prequalification paperwork tells you a subcontractor is legitimate. It does not tell you whether your job will run. These are the checks worth making beyond the compliance file.

The paperwork, quickly

In Queensland a steel subcontractor doing structural work needs the right QBCC licence class and a value limit above your package. Public liability of $20 million is the usual threshold for commercial work. Workers' compensation must be current, and the class should match the work — structural steel erection is a different class to workshop fabrication.

Ask for certificates of currency, not a statement. Check the expiry dates. Check that the licensed entity is the entity you are contracting with, which is not always the case.

Who actually turns up

This is the question that matters most and gets asked least. Are the people on your site employees of the company you engaged, or subcontractors of subcontractors? Who supervises them? If the answer involves a labour hire arrangement, the provider needs a Queensland labour hire licence — and engaging an unlicensed provider is an offence for you as well as for them.

Capacity, honestly assessed

A workshop running at capacity will still quote your job. Ask what else is on the floor for your period, and how many are on the crew. A shop with seven people and three jobs is a different proposition to a shop with seven people and one.

Weld quality and who checks it

AS/NZS 1554.1 is the standard for structural steel welding. Ask who inspects, what gets tested, and whether you receive weld certificates at handover. If nobody can answer that, the QA file becomes your problem at practical completion.

The reference that counts

Not a list of logos. Ring one builder who used them on a job like yours and ask a single question: did they hit the date, and if not, did they tell you early? That answer predicts more than the rest of the file combined.