All construction jobs are overseen by someone, and that someone is the general contractor. A general contractor, who may go by other names, is always needed to make sure a construction site runs smoothly throughout the duration of a project. It’s an important role to make sure you get things right during your construction work. The breakdown of the work generally goes something like this: the general contractor is hired by the client to do the work assigned while that general contractor hires out subcontractors to help assist on a job site.
The role is a leader on a job site, a point of contact for the client during a project, and the person who will oversee the hurdles that come up and need to be crossed. It’s incredibly important to make sure you don’t settle for just anyone as your general contractor. You want someone experienced, someone vetted, and someone who can work to get the job done safely, under budget, and on time.
Traditionally, you’ll hire a designer of some sort, usually an architect, who will put together a project proposal and other documents. From there, the architect will allow contractors to bid on the project. It seems nice to take away the work and put it off on someone else. But there are some snags. This creates a communication problem as the architect is relaying your wants, secondhand, to the people who will be doing the handson work for your job.
This can also drive up the cost, as you’re paying the architect who is going to draw in fees as they work through the proposal process. There may also be added fees as they work through negotiations with contractors. This also slows the process as you go through proposal review and the architect handles the bid process which can be long, competitive, and arduous. Something else to be mindful of is that the bidding process can cause the bidder with the lowest cost to win a job, which results in quality problems for your project.
It’s possible for you to go out and find a general contractor on your own. Many general contractors pick up work from referrals and many of them can be perfectly good contractors. You may not need a full team of architects and engineers to help you with planning and can simply rely on a single general contractor to take care of the nitty gritty. The benefits of hiring your own contractor include:
- Expedited project’s start and completion dates
- It can be a much less expensive option
- You have a single point of responsibility and communication during a project
- You get a bit more leverage throughout a project than with a team of people
Sometimes you want someone that can facilitate and help set you up with contractors as opposed to hiring one yourself. This is especially true for bigger or more complex projects. While hiring a single guy may be tempting, it’s not always advisable if the project is large enough. You may not want to hire your own contractor if:
- You won’t have an arbiter if problems come up during a project
- You’ll be at a disadvantage during disagreements since your contractor knows more about construction, leaving you financially vulnerable
- You may not have a full scope of the budget for the project or may get overcharged
- There may not be oversight on the project leading your contractor to cut cornerse
- During delays or other problems you have limited leverage to negotiate
Getting a contractor is incredibly important and can be the success or failing of your project. That’s why we want to help make sure you have the best possible contractor leading the charge on your construction process. We’re proud of our reputation and work with past customers and hope to add you to our list of happy and satisfied customers for your next construction project. Contact us at Milo Construction, a building contractor in Denver.