Deficiencies in bespoke labour subcontract agreements: The case of large-scale contractors in the Sri Lankan construction industry

Abstract

Labour subcontracting has become popular and has been extensively utilized in the building construction industry due to the potential for a reduction in initial cost for site mobilization. However, there are high risks involved in labour subcontracting due to inadequate and ambiguous subcontract agreements, which lead to disputes between parties. Thus, this paper aims to identify the deficiencies in large-scale contractors’ bespoke labour subcontract agreements in the Sri Lankan construction industry. Eight semi-structured interviews were carried out with main contractors (CS1 and CS2 as per the CIDA registrations) to identify the current practice of labour subcontracting and the terms/clauses included in their company-based labour subcontract agreement. The collected data was then subjected to a content analysis, and accordingly, deficiencies in the agreements were identified that fall into areas such as defects in the works, materials, tools and equipment, contract termination, discipline at the site, services provided by the main contractor, penalties, dispute management, health and safety, retention clause, quality of the works, rate of progress, laws and regulations, variations, insurance, and skill of the labour subcontractors