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Supply-and-install

Supply-and-install is when a trade both supplies a product and fixes it on site, unlike supply-only or labour-only; the model drives licensing exposure and scope.

By Dan Waring. Last updated 30 May 2026. Verified 10 May 2026.

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Supply-and-install is an engagement model where a trade both supplies the product and fixes it on site, as opposed to supply-only (delivery, with someone else installing) or labour-only (installing materials supplied by others). It is the most common way residential trades such as cabinetmakers are engaged, and the model you pick changes two things: who carries the licensing exposure, and where the scope boundary sits in the quote.

The three common models:

  • Supply-only: the trade manufactures and delivers; the builder or owner installs. The supplier’s licensing obligations are generally limited or nil, and the installer (usually the builder) takes on installation quality and compliance.
  • Supply-and-install: the trade fixes the product to the structure. Because that is on-site building work, it can trigger state licensing obligations (for cabinetmaking, for example, in NSW and QLD), and the trade owns the installation quality.
  • Labour-only: the trade installs materials supplied by someone else, which raises its own questions around control and sham contracting if the arrangement is really employment.

Because supply-and-install puts both the product and the on-site work in one set of hands, it usually gives the cleanest accountability: when something is wrong, there is no argument about whether it was the product or the installation that failed.

Whichever model applies, write it into the scope of works in the quote: state what is supplied, what is installed, and where the boundary sits with adjacent trades (the classic example is the cabinetmaker and stone-benchtop supply-and-install boundary). For builders, supply-and-install is often preferable because the trade owns install quality and scope-boundary variations are cleaner. See cabinetmaker and engaging a subbie.

Also known as: Supply and fix, S&I, supply-and-fix.

Category: Trades / Engagement and contracts.

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References

Last updated: 2026-05-30. Verified: 2026-05-10. Quarterly review for currency.

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