“I’m working the same site as everyone else, yet what actually lands in my pocket is less than I expected.” Any interior craftsman has felt this at least once.
The main cause isn’t your skill or your workload — it’s the route the work takes to reach you. The more tiers of subcontracting between the main contractor and you, the more fees (middleman margins) are shaved off at each step, and the thinner the end craftsman’s take-home becomes.
This article unpicks why your take-home shrinks, explains how direct jobs cut out the middleman margin so you keep more, and covers the practicalities of fair rates and payment terms — all from a craftsman’s point of view.
Why your take-home shrinks (the multi-tier subcontracting structure)
A middleman margin is the fee shaved off at each step of the main-contractor-to-subcontractor chain — the single biggest factor squeezing the end craftsman’s take-home.
On restaurant fit-outs, work often trickles down as “owner → main contractor (interior firm) → first-tier subcontractor → second-tier subcontractor (craftsman).” Because each step adds its own profit and management cost (or shaves it off), a large gap opens up between what the owner paid and what the craftsman doing the actual work receives.
What’s more, the more tiers there are, the more these problems arise:
- Information gets diluted: the site’s requests and the intent behind how the work should meet don’t reach the craftsman accurately — it becomes a game of telephone.
- Responsibility blurs: whose instruction, and where your scope begins and ends, easily becomes unclear.
- Payment turns slow and opaque: payment terms stretch out at each tier, and the conditions become hard to see.
What changes with direct jobs
A direct job means taking on the work with the client (the owner, or a matching service) and the craftsman connected directly, without a main contractor or multiple subcontractors in between. The fewer the intermediate steps, the more the fees once shaved off there are compressed — so for the same construction cost, the craftsman’s take-home grows.
Beyond take-home, direct jobs bring practical advantages.
- Requests come through directly: you can confirm the owner’s and the site’s intent first-hand, cutting down on rework.
- You confirm your own scope: you can align on “where to where” directly, before you start.
- Trust leads to the next job: good work is judged directly, and readily turns into ongoing jobs.
Tenpos Kawaguchi’s “craftsman registration” is built on this direct model, connecting restaurant fit-out sites with craftsmen through direct contracts, with no main contractor in between.
How to set a fair rate (man-day, labour-and-materials, output)
Even once the middleman margin is gone, a vague approach to rates leaves your take-home unstable. Build an interior quote around these three ideas (amounts vary by trade, region and difficulty, so here we show the thinking):
- Man-day: quoting on a day’s worth of work per person. Suits trades where the time is easy to read.
- Labour-and-materials: quoting with materials and labour combined. Always state clearly whether it is “labour and materials included” or “materials separate.”
- Output: quoting per result, such as “X yen per square metre.” Suits trades with a clear quantity.
When you quote, protect your take-home by drawing out the easily-missed items on top of the core labour — travel, parking, industrial-waste disposal, and extra hands (man-days).
Payment terms and avoiding trouble
Take-home comes down to “rate × getting paid reliably.” Even with a direct job, leaving payment terms vague leaves a collection risk. Agree the following in writing (email is fine) before you start.
- Payment terms: nail down the cut-off and pay date (e.g. month-end cut-off, paid end of the following month).
- Breakdown of the amount: confirm the split of man-day vs. labour-and-materials, and the rate should extra work arise.
- Handling additional work: don’t let it slide verbally — present and agree a figure each time as “additional work.”
- Scope: spell out how your work interfaces with the steps before and after, and how owner-supplied items are handled.
Simply avoiding “he-said, she-said” prevents the majority of collection troubles.
[Comparison] Multi-tier subcontracting vs. direct jobs
Even for the same job, change the route the work takes and both your take-home and your relationships change.
| Item | Multi-tier subcontracting (via a main contractor) | Direct jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Middleman margin | Shaved off at each tier | Fewer tiers, so it is compressed |
| Take-home | Tends to be thin | Tends to be thicker |
| Requests / information | Diluted as it is passed down | Confirmed directly, cutting rework |
| Payment | Terms stretch out; opaque | Terms agreed directly |
| Continuing relationship | At the mercy of the main contractor | Your work leads directly to the next job |
| What’s asked of the craftsman | Follow instructions | Quote rates, confirm scope — your own coordination |
Becoming a craftsman who keeps getting picked
Direct jobs aren’t just about “more take-home” — they’re a way of working where good work translates straight into recognition. To keep getting picked, keep these in mind.
- Clean joints and a clean site: careful finishing and handing the site back clean are the strongest trust-builders of all.
- Reporting and communication: share progress and flag anything extra early, and ask for a decision.
- A clear scope: telling people honestly what you can and can’t do ultimately becomes trust.
Tenpos Kawaguchi’s “craftsman registration” is free to register, with a free online interview (a fee applies only when a job is confirmed). Join for just your specialty, one job at a time, and connect to direct jobs with no main contractor in between. Start from the registration form and tell us your trades and coverage area.
Go to the craftsman registration form →