Liability of the main contractor for the subcontractor's failure to perform

Due to the rapid development of technology, the emergence of new areas of expertise and the need for many works to be done in the same time within a short period of time, the (main) contractors, who undertake to create a work within the scope of the contract of work, frequently apply to the subcontractor. In the increasing number of large construction jobs in particular, it is almost impossible for a single contractor to be an expert on the whole job. Therefore, the importance of subcontractors within the scope of contracts of work has been substantially increasing. Contracts of work, which are among the contracts of performance, and subcontracting contracts, are two separate contracts completely independent from each other in accordance with the principle of the proportionality of contracts. The common party of both contracts is the main contractor, and the other parties to these contracts are the employer and the subcontractor. In principle, the employer and the subcontractor cannot make any demands from each other based on the contract. Therefore, all responsibility based on the subcontracting contract against the employer belongs to the main contractor. However, the Turkish Code of Obligations also shows a fair approach to all three parties and brings various exceptions to this situation. In our study, the responsibility of the main contractor based on the contract of work in general, the responsibility of the main contractor due to the actions of the subcontractor and the direct application of the subcontractor and the employer to each other were examined.