> I want to be a contractor. With all the rights & responsibilities that entails. Cool, and one of those responsibilities is ensuring that the contract arrange

> I want to be a contractor. With all the rights & responsibilities that entails. Cool, and one of those responsibilities is ensuring that the contract arrangement is that of independent contractor and not employee. (Well, actually, it's more that your right as an employee is that your employer has the responsibility to ensure the arrangement isn't being misrepresented. So, really, you're free to make whatever arrangement you like but if your "client" is actually your employer they open themselves up to legal risk.) And, if your arrangement meets the legal criteria, then great, you can be a contractor. And, if it doesn't, then you can "lobby" the government to change the law so that you get what you want and other people get to be more easily exploited by their employers. Or, you know, you can ensure that you have multiple clients, work at times & locations & on equipment controlled by you, on specific pre-agreed tasks and/or whatever other legal requirements need to be met to be considered a contractor. With regard to the carpenters, company structure is unrelated to whether or not you're considered an employer by law. If the arrangement you have with the carpenters meets the criteria of being an employer/employee relationship, then, that's what it is. But most likely they're independent contractors free to accept & refuse work as they wish, have & use their own tools etc etc or they're employees of a building firm you've actually contracted with.