Quick answer
We employ our trades rather than subcontracting the work out, because on an occupied or aged-care site who walks through the door matters as much as the work they do. Directly employed people are vetted once to a known standard, trained in our methods, and accountable to us, so the quality holds job to job and the client deals with one party, not a chain. The only work we sub out is the genuinely licensed trades, plumbing and electrical, and we coordinate and stand behind those. It costs more to run than a subbie model, and it is worth it.
Why we keep the trades in-house.
Key points
- We directly employ our trades; only licensed plumbing and electrical are subcontracted, and we coordinate and stand behind those.
- Employed people are vetted once to a known standard and trained in our methods, so quality and conduct hold job to job.
- On occupied and aged-care sites, having the same trusted, vetted people in the home is a base requirement, not a bonus.
- One employer means one line of accountability: no blame passed down a chain of subcontractors when something goes wrong.
- It costs more to run than a subbie model; the payoff is consistency, trust and a standard that does not drift.
There is a cheaper way to run a trades business than the way we run ours. Keep a small core, subcontract the actual work out to whoever is available, and scale up and down by hiring and dropping crews. It works, after a fashion, for jobs where nobody cares who turns up. It falls apart on the work we do, occupied homes, social housing, aged care, where the person in the house is watching, often vulnerable, and entitled to expect the same trusted faces. So we employ our trades, and here is why that is not just sentiment.
Vetted once, to a standard that matters
When you employ people, you vet them properly once and you know exactly who is on your jobs. Our people are vetted to the standard we have had to meet on Kāinga Ora work for years: criminal-history clearance, drug and alcohol testing, the right skills certifications, and clear expectations around residents' privacy and property. In an aged-care or social-housing setting that vetting is the price of entry, not an optional extra, and it is far harder to guarantee across a rotating pool of subcontractors than across people you employ.
Trained in our methods, so quality holds
Employed people can be trained in how we do things and held to it. The same install method, the same quality checklist, the same way of protecting an occupied home, applied by everyone, every time. That consistency is what lets us promise the same standard across a whole village or portfolio, and it is why our quality checks actually mean something: they are checking work done to a method our people were trained in, not hoping a stranger did it our way. A subcontracted model can produce good work, but it cannot promise the same work twice as easily.
One line of accountability
The quiet benefit is accountability. When the crew is employed, a problem is ours to fix, with nobody to pass it to. In a subcontracted chain, a defect can become an argument about which subbie did what, and the client is left in the middle. This is the same single-accountability logic behind running one maintenance contractor across a building: the value is having one party who owns the result. Employing the trades is that principle applied inside the business, not just at the contract level.
| Factor | Subcontracted | Directly employed |
|---|---|---|
| Who turns up | Varies week to week | The same known people |
| Vetting | Depends on the subbie | Once, to one standard |
| Method | Each crew's own way | Trained in ours |
| Accountability | Passed down the chain | Ours to own |
| Wellbeing | Not our call | Our people, our duty |
It is also how you look after people
Employing people means you carry a duty to them, and we take it seriously: never sending someone to a job alone, proper PPE, ongoing training, health monitoring where the work needs it, and fair conditions. A crew that is looked after stays, and a crew that stays is how you keep two decades of experience in the building rather than losing it every downturn. The stability that a client feels as consistent quality starts as stability for the people doing the work.
Frequently asked questions
Do you subcontract your work?
Only the genuinely licensed trades, plumbing and electrical, which we coordinate into our programme and stand behind on one contract. The core crew doing the joinery, installation and maintenance in a home is directly employed by us, vetted and trained in our methods, rather than a rotating pool of subcontractors.
Why does it matter whether trades are employed or subcontracted?
Because on occupied and aged-care sites who enters the home matters as much as the work. Employed people are vetted once to a known standard, trained in one method, and accountable to us, so quality and conduct stay consistent. A subcontracted chain makes vetting, consistency and accountability much harder to guarantee.
How are your staff vetted?
To the standard required on Kāinga Ora work: criminal-history clearance, drug and alcohol testing, appropriate skills certification, and clear expectations around residents' privacy and property. Because our people are employed rather than subcontracted, we can hold that vetting standard consistently and know exactly who is on every job.
Is an employed workforce more expensive?
It costs more to run than a subcontractor model, yes. The payoff is consistency, trust and accountability: the same vetted, trained people, a standard that does not drift job to job, and one party who owns the result. On occupied and aged-care work, where trust is the whole game, that is worth the extra cost to run.
Who does the plumbing and electrical work?
Licensed plumbers and electricians, as the law requires. We do not pretend to hold those tickets. What we do is coordinate them into our programme, sequence their work with ours, and stand behind the whole job on one contract, so the client still deals with one accountable party rather than chasing separate trades.
How does employing trades help quality?
Employed people are trained in our method and held to one quality checklist, so the same standard is applied everywhere by everyone. That is what lets us promise consistent work across a whole village or portfolio, and it makes our quality checks meaningful, because they verify work done to a method our own people were trained in.
If you are placing contractors in occupied homes or an aged-care setting, the crew you want is one that is employed, vetted and trained rather than assembled from whoever was free that week. That is how we are built. Ask us about our vetting and how we run our people, and we will tell you exactly who would be in your residents' homes.