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Choosing a General Contractor

Bob and Joe cover the best ways to choose a general contractor. Joe feels the number one way is by referrals. Start with your architect, if you don�t have one try your local building inspectors and find out who is building up to code and those that pass inspection on the first try, that people are happy with. You can try your local building supply store, while many of the Big Box stores have boards with builder�s business cards, smaller suppliers may have personal contacts in the trades to share with you. Next and probably the best for small to medium size projects is to talk with neighbors and friends. If you�re outgoing stop by a project you see going on in your neighborhood. Talk to the homeowner and the contractor if you can. Complement the work and if you feel it is done well get the contractor�s name for your future project. Three important things to ask the homeowner you contact; Was the job done schedule, was it done on budget and was it performed safely, cleanly and managed well? Back at the office, Joe shows off his massive flow chart for the complex Malibu project that includes over forty tradesmen and five months of construction timetables.

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Choosing a General Contractor

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Choosing a General Contractor

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" You know Joe, one of the questions that I've been asked for years and years very often is how do you pick a really good general contractor? What's your response to that?"

" -Oh I think that's a very good question. It's a very tough question. The name of the game in construction is referral."

" -Sure."

" -And the way to get referrals, I would think that there are 3 or 4 basic place to do it."

" -Uh huh."

" -A project of this size, there's always an architect and he's gonna have referrals. He's gonna have contractors that he's worked with in the past."

" -That he wants to really bring on to that job."

" -Well, he feels confident with them and they have a track record of performance."

" -But what about home owners who are just doing an addition or a home improvement? "

" -Well, I think that the way that they can approach that, they could go to their local building officials, their building inspectors. They know the contractors that can perform. They know the contractors that are doing the things to codes and have problems or don't have problems."

" -And who have been established in that [unk]."

" -That is correct."

" -Yeah."

" -The other area would be to go to your local lumbar yard."

" -Right."

" -Or your building supplier. They would probably recommended somebody that pays the bills, but that's an important thing too."

" -Sure, yeah."

" -And I think probably the most important way to go, yeah, did you talk to your neighbors? Or if you're driving down the road and you see a project that's under construction that's similar to yours"

" -Uh huh."

" -stop by, introduce yourself, compliment them on their product and ask them who did the job."

" -Yeah, I really rely on that also. I mean, that's a way of making a new brand in the community. You compliment somebody on their improvement. They're gonna feel good about it. They're gonna invite you in to take a closer look, and you're gonna get a real close look at the work that's been there."

" -Well, plus they're gonna back, and they're gonna say to you whether this project was managed properly. There are 3 or 4 important things. Did the guy get the job done on time? Did he get the job done on budget?"

" -Right."

" -And was it safely and well-managed job."

" -And was it a clean job."

" -And was it a clean job, that's correct."

" -Getting it on time and on budget really depends on what you've got in the [unk] right. Well, Bob, I try to use a flow chart when I put together a job, and then for this job here, I budgeted about 5 to 6 months, and would start it in September and we're going into [unk] of 1993."

" -Right."

" -After we, after I established what's gonna happen as far as length of job, I tried to break the job down into classifications what needs to be done first and what needs in the order that they need to be done."

" -Right."

" -The most important thing is job setup, and we've already got that handled. We've got asbestos removal, which something we'll be seeing later on this afternoon."

" -Right."

" -We've already started demolition as you can see. We've already started the case on and so we're gonna, and then I got all the other items listed here to build the job out to completion."

" -Yeah, and they of course follow from right to left and spread it along the calendar depending on where they fall."

" -That's correct."

" -Is this the kind of information you usually share with your client?"

" -I would most generally share it with the"

" -Uh huh."

" -client because I think it's important for him to be able to judge whether I'm on schedule. It's good for me to know whether I'm on schedule."

" -Uh huh."

" -A lot of times, I tried to flow chart to the payment schedule."

" -Right."

" -And when I come in and I asked for a draw on such a day, they can tell whether I've got the demolition completed or probably 75% done. I've got the case on to the serving place, if I dropped lumbar to start the framing, so it's a very important tool that I use."

" -Not only that, but when there's, they see all the cast of characters there, and when there is a followup in the job, they can understand that it's not just your fault, maybe it's one of the subs that couldn't perform."

" -That's correct, and the job of this size here we've got about 40 different trades and then or items that are gonna be into this job."

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