Categories: Kitchen and Bathroom Remodeling

W-2 Employees vs. Subcontractors: What Does This Mean for the Homeowner?

W-2 Employees vs. Subcontractors: What’s the Difference, and Why Does it Matter?

If you’re planning a kitchen or bathroom remodel, you may not realize that the way a remodeling company staffs its projects can have a big impact on timelines, quality, and long term reliability.

At Adonis Kitchen & Bath, we use a combination of W-2 employees and licensed subcontractors.

Many companies choose one or the other, and there’s no wrong direction, but we prefer a mix of both, and today, we’ll elaborate on why.

Below, we’ll break down the benefits of each option and explain why using both ultimately benefits our clients.

The Case for Subcontractors

Subcontractors play a critical role in residential construction, especially in specialized trades like plumbing, electrical, and HVAC.

– Convenient Permitting

In Ohio, permits for plumbing, electrical, and HVAC work are typically tied to the license holder performing that work.

By working with licensed subcontractors, we don’t have the additional risk associated with a single company pulling 5 different permits on 1 project.

Instead, we can pull a general contractor’s permit, and our subcontractors pull the remaining permits under ours efficiently, without us risking our ability to operate if a single licensed employee were to leave our team.

This protects both our business and our clients by ensuring permits are handled correctly and legally.

– Flexibility for Seasonal Work

Unfortunately, even with interior residential work, construction is seasonal by nature.

Some weeks require large crews, while others require far fewer to get projects accomplished.

There are times when a project schedule may require 25 people, and other times when 10 is plenty.

By maintaining a strong network of trusted subcontractors, we can scale up or down as needed without laying people off during slower seasons.

This flexibility helps us avoid rushed hiring during busy periods

– Maintain steady work for our core team
The primary way to reduce risk in the construction industry is to preserve long-term relationships with skilled people.

Utilizing subcontractors helps significantly with long term retention.

Our W-2 employees don’t have to scramble for work during the winter or slow periods, which creates stability for them and consistency for our clients.

The Case for W-2 Employees

While subcontractors bring flexibility, having in-house employees provides a different, equally important, set of advantages.

– Rapid Response When the Unexpected Happens

In remodeling, surprises happen.

A hidden issue behind a wall or an urgent adjustment can threaten a project timeline if it isn’t addressed quickly.

Because we have W-2 employees on staff, we can often move people with an hour’s notice to resolve issues and keep projects on schedule.

That’s not always possible when waiting for a subcontractor’s calendar to open up.

– Direct Oversight and Alignment

Our in-house team is trained by us, familiar with our processes, and fully aligned with our expectations for communication, cleanliness, and craftsmanship.

This allows for tighter coordination and faster decision-making when projects demand it.

Why Adonis Kitchen & Bath Uses Both

The reality is that no single staffing model works perfectly in today’s construction environment.

There is a well documented labor shortage in the skilled trades.

In our experience, only about 1 out of every 10 applicants we speak with has the skills, experience, and mindset required to work at the level our clients expect.

When we find those people, we don’t let them slip away.

Whether someone prefers to work with us as a W-2 employee or as a subcontractor, we make every effort to build a relationship that works for both sides.

This approach allows us to build the strongest possible team for every project, without compromising quality or reliability.

What This Means for Our Clients

By combining W-2 employees and subcontractors, we’re able to maintain consistent quality standards, stay flexible without sacrificing accountability, keep projects moving when schedules tighten, navigate permitting and licensing responsibly, retain skilled professionals long-term, and, most importantly, it allows us to deliver the kind of results we’d expect in our own homes.

If you’re considering a kitchen or bathroom remodel in Northeast Ohio and want to work with a company that reduces your risk, and also values craftsmanship, transparency, and smart planning, we at Adonis Kitchen & Bath would be happy to talk.