Glossary

Trade subcontractor

Also: sub, trade partner, specialty contractor

A company hired by the builder for one scope of work: clearing, grading, piling, electrical, survey, fencing and the like.

Few builders self-perform everything. On a solar farm, the EPC typically hires out clearing and grading, the access roads and stormwater controls, pile driving, the collection system and substation, fencing, and survey and layout. On a data center, the general contractor hires sitework, concrete, electrical and mechanical trades.

The subcontractors are picked in order of the work: civil first, then piling and mechanical, then electrical. Knowing who the builder is, and when each phase starts, is what tells a trade or a supplier when to call.