Do you have any idea of what questions to ask a general contractor when hiring him to build a house, addition, or new building? Below are some suggestions by me, a Miami residential architect.
1. How is your company structured? Do you carry workmen’s compensation insurance as well as liability? It’s important to know with whom you are dealing. Are they licensed themselves or do they have someone else who certifies the company for them? Or is this a fly-by-night operation where they are going to get someone else to pull the permit. (This is illegal in Florida.) It is important that they carry both liability and workmen’s compensation insurance, even if the latter is not required by law. Do not let any general contractor on your jobsite without workmen's compensation insurance. Make sure you get a copy of his insurance certificate. If a workman hurts himself on the job, you may end up paying for his injuries, if the general contractor does not have this kind of insurance. Liability is not enough.
2. Who from your company will be at my house each day? How will you provide continual support to my project? It is important to know that someone will be there supporting the subcontractors and not just letting them do whatever they want. It is important to know who will be enforcing the agreed to schedule.
3. How do you handle scheduling? It is important to have an agreed to schedule at the beginning of the project. If there is no schedule, it likely that the project will run much longer than it needs to. Will you provide a schedule on how you see the project progressing and update it once a month?
4. Who will communicate with me once the project starts? And how will they communicate? Sometimes the owner of the company makes the sales calls, but someone else will handle the day-to-day on your project. Find out who will be the person responsible for communicating with you. And will they communicate by text message, email, or phone calls?
5. Is my project the kind you like to and do often? If this is not the kind of project they like to do or the type of project they normally do, they might have a hard time adjusting to the project and executing the project successfully. They may have a hard time finding the right subcontractors for the project.
6. Will you let me do part of the work? Most of the times, the contractor wants to do the entire job and will not want you to do a part. If you are doing part of the work, this has to be agreed ahead of time. It will be very confusing if this not clear at the outset.
7. What do you subcontract? It is important to have a list of subcontractors who are on the job. You want to know who is actively participating and getting partial releases of liens from them as you pay your general contractor. Find out if these subcontractors are licensed and insured. Do they have workmen’s compensation insurance? They don't need to have it as long as the GC has it, but it's better if they do.
8. How many projects do you have going at one time and will the person you assign to me be running multiple projects? Here you can gauge whether the timeline they gave you is realistic. One person running 20 projects will ultimately drop the ball on several projects.
9. How will we handle final certificate of occupancy or certificate of completion? How will we be sure that the permit is closed out? This is very important. The contractor has to be getting the inspections as he goes along. You must make sure that this is happening as you make progress payments. Then, in the end, it is just a matter of getting the final inspection and paying for the C.O. or the C.C. But if the inspections are not done as the project progresses, getting the final inspection and the final certificate will be a nightmare.
10. Do you see any potential change orders? Are there any parts of the plans that are unclear? Do you have any concerns about the project or do you think there might be a problem later? Here you will be able to ascertain how familiar the contractor is with the plans. Undoubtedly, if he has reviewed the plans carefully, he will have comments, good or bad, about the project and areas of particular concern to him.
Document the questions and answers to these questions and send him a copy of what he said.
Do not make your decision in selecting a contractor based on price only. Make a decision based on price and the answers to the questions above. If the answers to these questions are satisfactory to you, they will go a long way to ensure a successful relationship with the contractor and a successful project.
If you have any questions on this, or how an architect can help design and build a building, and help you through the construction process, call me, Maria Luisa Castellanos, R.A. at 305-439-7898 or email me at MLC@UnitedArchs.com
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