Subcontrating

I've been in the construction industry for more than 6 months now. As I mentioned before, I am not from engineering background. So there are a lot to learn for me. One of the simplest thing for me to understand is the act of subcontracting. Over the years, the word subcontracting has always been negative. Actually, it is not at all. Let me give you an example of subcontracting in construction. Let say there is a big project coming. A hospital to be build. In the whole hospital project, there are 2 divisions of contractor. Civil & structure, Mechanical & electrical (M&E). Under each of these contractor, there are a few divisions. For instance, under M&E, there are lift & elevator contractor, aircond contractor, fire safe contractor and in case of hospital, a medical gas contractor (where I comes in). Knowing all these, I feel that subcontracting is not a bad practice at all. Because not all company has the expertise needed to completely build a building. They need to engage other companies which have the expertise in their field. This will ensure that only those with necessary experience and expertise will do the specific job of the whole project.