RunCabin Blog · Trust signals
Should I say on my website that I use subcontractors?
October 3, 2026 · 8 min read
Short answer: yes, say something honest, even if the law in your state doesn't require it yet - and check whether it already does, because the rules just changed. As of January 1, 2026, California requires every home improvement contract to include a plain yes-or-no checkbox on whether subcontractors will be used, and to name them on request. New York and Texas already had their own versions of the same idea. None of these laws tells you to put a disclosure on your website specifically - the requirement lives in the written contract - but once your paperwork says it in black and white, a homeowner who read your site first and got a different impression is exactly the kind of mismatch that turns into a bad review, or worse, a legal headache you didn't need.
And even in the states where nothing requires it, the question is already sitting in a homeowner's head before they call you. Here's what the new rules actually say, why the honest answer is almost always worth more than the vague one, and exactly how to word it depending on how your jobs really get staffed.
Why this question is suddenly current
Contractor licensing law doesn't move fast, so when three states land on the same idea inside a few years, it's worth paying attention to why. California's governor signed SB 517 in October 2025, amending Business and Professions Code section 7159 to take effect January 1, 2026. The change requires every home improvement contract to carry a dedicated section - yes/no checkboxes - stating whether subcontractors will be used on the project, and on request the contractor has to hand over the subcontractor's name, contact information, license number, and classification.
That isn't happening in a vacuum. It follows years of complaints about homeowners signing with one company and having unlicensed, uninsured crews show up to actually do the work, plus a wave of news coverage about storm-chasing roofing outfits and newly-franchised "local" names that are really a national rollup - the same pattern we cover in storm chasers just hit your town and competing with a franchise that opened in your town. Lawmakers are responding to a real, specific homeowner fear: who is actually going to be in my house, and does the company I signed with have any real control over that. California just made the answer mandatory paperwork. Your website is where a homeowner forms their first impression of that answer, days before any contract gets signed.
What the laws actually require, state by state
Read your own state's wording before you change anything - these three are the clearest examples, not a complete list, and most states have no subcontractor-specific disclosure rule at all yet.
| State | What's required | Where it lives |
|---|---|---|
| California | Yes/no checkbox on subcontractor use in every home improvement contract; subcontractor name, license number, classification and contact info on request (SB 517, amending Bus. & Prof. Code §7159, effective Jan. 1, 2026) | The written contract |
| New York | Written notice naming any subcontractor before work, demolition, or construction begins; homeowner can cancel without penalty if the notice wasn't given | Written notice before work starts |
| Texas | A list of subcontractors and suppliers the contractor intends to use, with name, address and phone number, before work begins (Property Code §53.256) | Pre-work disclosure |
Notice what all three have in common: the obligation is to put it in writing before or at the point of signing, not to publish it on a public website. If you work in one of these states, get the contract and notice requirements right first - that's the part with real legal teeth. But once the paperwork says "yes, we use subcontractors for X," a website that implies you personally do every job starts to look like it was written before the contract existed, and a homeowner who notices the gap loses trust in both documents at once.
The trust argument, for everywhere else
Most trades, in most states, have no law telling them to say anything about subcontractors at all. Say something anyway, for the same reason you'd volunteer your license and insurance status without being asked: a homeowner doing their due diligence is already wondering, and an unanswered question reads as something being hidden, even when nothing is.
The specific worry a homeowner has isn't abstract. It's usually one of these:
- Insurance. If a subcontractor gets hurt on their property or damages something, is anyone actually covered? Who do they call if it goes wrong?
- Quality control. Did they just hire the person on the truck, or a crew they've never worked with before, hired for the day off an app?
- Accountability. If the job is bad, is there one business they can hold responsible, or does "we subcontracted that part" become the excuse?
None of those worries require a scary answer. "We bring in a licensed, insured specialist for electrical work, and we stand behind it the same as our own crew's work" answers all three in one sentence. The silence is what reads badly, not the honest disclosure.
How to word it, depending on how you actually staff jobs
Match the sentence to the truth. Overclaiming either direction - pretending you're a one-person operation when you run three crews, or implying a bigger operation than you are - both backfire the first time a customer notices.
- Solo operator, no subs, ever: "It's just me, start to finish - the person who gives you the quote is the person who does the work." This is a genuine selling point against bigger companies, not something to downplay.
- Small crew, occasional specialist sub: "Our own licensed crew handles [your trade]. For [specialty - electrical, structural, etc.], we bring in a licensed, insured partner we've worked with for years." Name the specialty, not necessarily the company, on the public page.
- General contractor who subs most of the work: "We manage every project and bring in licensed, insured trade partners for [list the trades] - vetted, insured, and accountable to us for the work." This is normal and expected for a GC; the reassurance homeowners want is that someone is actually managing the subs, not that none exist.
- Franchise or multi-location operator: Say plainly whether the crew showing up is a direct employee or an independently-owned franchisee operating under the brand name. This is exactly the gap the franchise-competition and storm-chaser complaints are about, and getting ahead of it on your own site is cheaper than a bad review explaining it for you.
What to keep off the public page
Disclosure doesn't mean publishing a directory. The laws above all route the detailed information - name, license number, contact info - through the contract or "on request," not a public web page, and that's the right instinct even where no law applies:
- Don't publish a subcontractor's personal contact information on a page anyone can scrape. Keep that in the contract, where California's and Texas's rules put it, or hand it over when a customer asks, which New York's rule is built around.
- Don't name a subcontractor by company name without their OK. They may not want to be the first search result for a dispute that was never theirs.
- Do keep your own license number visible and checkable, as covered in do I have to put my license number on my website - that's the piece that's actually supposed to be public.
Where RunCabin fits
We build done-for-you websites for exactly these trades, and a subcontractor line is a small but real piece of the trust section every site needs, right next to your licensed-and-insured statement. You tell us the honest version in our questionnaire - solo, small crew with a specialist, or GC managing trade partners - and we write it in plain language instead of leaving the question unanswered. It's $499 to build, then $39.99 a month for hosting, with no long contract, and your own domain is included.
Because the site is AI-editable, this line doesn't fossilize. The month you stop subbing out a specialty and hire for it instead, or bring on a new trade partner, you change the sentence yourself just by asking - no ticket, no waiting on a developer to fit it in. And if your state's contract law changes again, which California's clearly can, your website can keep pace with it the same afternoon.
Tell us how your jobs get staffed. We write the honest version.
Answer our questionnaire and we build your site by hand - your name, your work, your city. $499 to build, then $39.99 a month.
Start our questionnaire →Related reading: how do I prove I'm licensed and insured on my website? · storm chasers just hit your town - how do homeowners tell you apart? · how do I compete with a franchise that just opened in my town?