blue dog
Banned
After hearing multiple nightmare stories regarding general contractors I thought I could give some advise for the future for those that plan to have something built. It does not matter if it is a small shop, home or a commercial building. For those in the building industry, if there is anything that I miss, please feel free to add to this post.
First, decide if you want to act as the owner builder and pull your own permits or hire a general contractor to run your job start to finish. If you are acting as owner builder, it is your responsibility to pull the permits, schedule all labor, materials and inspections. Make sure all materials are ordered and delivered before they are needed. This is a problem that I see all the time. Remember time is money on the interest on your construction loan. So, the last thing you want to do is wait for rough plumbing valves or a electric panel etc etc. It is more then just hiring the electrician and plumber, remember, job site toilet, construction fencing, temporary power, trash hauling and job site clean up. Make sure your job site has fire extinguishers and first aid kits. I can not express to you the importance of securing your job site. Not just for theft, the last thing you need is someone going in at night and falling in a hole or tripping over something and getting hurt. It does not matter if they should be there or not, you are responsible.
I strongly urge you to set up your construction loan as a voucher system. Subs will submit a draw to you, you will send it to the bank if all work is complete, the bank will send a rep out to walk the job and verify, he then goes back to the bank and they authorize the draw, it is then sent directly to the sub or to the general to distribute. I try to work all my jobs this way. This is the safest way for all. Theft will not happen in this way of doing business.
You must get lien releases from people as you distribute checks owed. No lien release, no check, it is as simple as that. Verify every subs license and insurance. Additionally I require all subs to supply me with a additionally insured certificate to come on my jobs. And the bank that gives you a loan may require this as well. These are important things that can save your *** in a time of uglyness.
Now, if you decide to hire a contractor to oversee your job, do your due diligence and check him out with the state contractors board, dose he have any marks against him ? how much is his bond worth ? get references, go look at his jobs, talk to previous clients.
When you sign a contract with General, make sure he is very detailed as to what he is going to do and what he is not going to do according to the contract. If it is a substantial contract, take it to a Lawyer and have him look it over. It is worth it, if it costs $350 an hour for an hour to verify what is in the contract it is money well spent.
Weather you are acting as general or hire one, make a detailed schedule as to what happens everyday from start to finish of the job. At this point notify everyone at what date they will be performing work. Then 1 week prior, send an other notice, then the day before as well. Do this by email so you have proof it was sent and request all respond that it was received immediately. Keep printed copies of all correspondents and responses in a file and make sure they are all dated. Have a copy of all trades contracts at the ready so you can refer to them as needed.
Here is where I will really trip you guys up. I have a 24 hour notice in my contracts for all subs. After all the notifications you have on the morning that you are required to show up and start performing work, you are a no show. You will receive a 24 hour notice from me, this gives you 24 hours to commence work or I will hire the sub of my choice to perform your job at your expense. This means what ever the new sub wants to charge me, it is coming out of what I owe you. It is ugly but you sign a contract and agree to it when you take on one of my jobs.
I do not allow subs to have undocumented labor on my projects either, everyone will have a SS# and will be paid by 10-99 0r W2 All labor will sign lien releases to there bosses and be supplied to me for them to receive a check from me or the bank.
Now , lets say you have a complicated framing project that involves tricky footings, bring the concrete guy, framer and contractor all together at the same time, review the plans well ahead of time with them, make sure there is nothing the engineer missed and all are on the same page. This is important, a engineering mishap can cost you down time with guys standing around wearing tool bags, this is costing everyone money.
Make sure your door and window package has been ordered with enough lead time that they arrive right when they are needed, when framing is done, you should have all rough plumbing fixtures at the ready as well as electrical supplies, light cans, wire, boxes etc.
I normally have the plumber move in after framing first, then the HVAC guy then the electrician last.
Prior to insulating, anywhere I have a water fixture, I have my painter come and spray a nice coat of kills primer on the rough framing, this includes the wall sheeting, studs and floor. This is just added protection against water rot in the future. As well on the exterior we will paint poly up 15” from the bottom of the framing or slab, all corners get rolled 12” and around all windows and doors as well as the rough openings. Again this is added protection and does not cost that much but can go a long way in the future against water damage,
Remember, the building code is the bare minimum and we here at the garagejournal are not the kind of guys that do the bare minimum.
Moving into finish, again make sure all materials are ordered and delivered to the job before being needed, keep you correspondence with your suppliers just as you did with the subs. And never pay in full for material until it hits the job.
You get the picture here, I do not feel the need to ramble on threw the entire construction process.
Now at the end of the job, verify the quality control of everything prior to signing a pay voucher or writing a check. If there is anything you are not happy with ,this is the time to bring it up, all subs will bend over backwards to do what you want when you are holding a big check over them.
10 percent retainer will be held on all subs until the job is 100 percent complete and to your satisfaction. This is standard practice and if you can not accept it, you will not be working on my jobs, it is that simple and it is in your contract.
In a previous thread I touched on having a 3rd party company that documents your projects digitally as well as all copies of every piece of paper generated on a job. This has proven to be a invaluable service that I will never build without. I personally have never been sued regarding construction projects but have had to sue others, this service is worth its weight in gold and will save your bacon in a frivolous lawsuit. It ***** we have to do this these days but that is the way it is.
This is the company I use, just so you can see what they do.
http://www.buildersprotect.com/
And for a developer, they will field all customer service calls and call the subs to perform there work. Again, worth its weight in gold.
I have been a general contractor in the Los Angeles area for 20 years and did have my license in Arizona and Nevada for a while but have let them go a long time ago, I was starting to get to big for my own britches and I preferred to work in southern California.
I hope this sheds some light on things that plan to do some building in the future, it should be a fun experience and not a ball of stress.
Here are a few buildings that I have built in the last few years before the economy took a dive.
First, decide if you want to act as the owner builder and pull your own permits or hire a general contractor to run your job start to finish. If you are acting as owner builder, it is your responsibility to pull the permits, schedule all labor, materials and inspections. Make sure all materials are ordered and delivered before they are needed. This is a problem that I see all the time. Remember time is money on the interest on your construction loan. So, the last thing you want to do is wait for rough plumbing valves or a electric panel etc etc. It is more then just hiring the electrician and plumber, remember, job site toilet, construction fencing, temporary power, trash hauling and job site clean up. Make sure your job site has fire extinguishers and first aid kits. I can not express to you the importance of securing your job site. Not just for theft, the last thing you need is someone going in at night and falling in a hole or tripping over something and getting hurt. It does not matter if they should be there or not, you are responsible.
I strongly urge you to set up your construction loan as a voucher system. Subs will submit a draw to you, you will send it to the bank if all work is complete, the bank will send a rep out to walk the job and verify, he then goes back to the bank and they authorize the draw, it is then sent directly to the sub or to the general to distribute. I try to work all my jobs this way. This is the safest way for all. Theft will not happen in this way of doing business.
You must get lien releases from people as you distribute checks owed. No lien release, no check, it is as simple as that. Verify every subs license and insurance. Additionally I require all subs to supply me with a additionally insured certificate to come on my jobs. And the bank that gives you a loan may require this as well. These are important things that can save your *** in a time of uglyness.
Now, if you decide to hire a contractor to oversee your job, do your due diligence and check him out with the state contractors board, dose he have any marks against him ? how much is his bond worth ? get references, go look at his jobs, talk to previous clients.
When you sign a contract with General, make sure he is very detailed as to what he is going to do and what he is not going to do according to the contract. If it is a substantial contract, take it to a Lawyer and have him look it over. It is worth it, if it costs $350 an hour for an hour to verify what is in the contract it is money well spent.
Weather you are acting as general or hire one, make a detailed schedule as to what happens everyday from start to finish of the job. At this point notify everyone at what date they will be performing work. Then 1 week prior, send an other notice, then the day before as well. Do this by email so you have proof it was sent and request all respond that it was received immediately. Keep printed copies of all correspondents and responses in a file and make sure they are all dated. Have a copy of all trades contracts at the ready so you can refer to them as needed.
Here is where I will really trip you guys up. I have a 24 hour notice in my contracts for all subs. After all the notifications you have on the morning that you are required to show up and start performing work, you are a no show. You will receive a 24 hour notice from me, this gives you 24 hours to commence work or I will hire the sub of my choice to perform your job at your expense. This means what ever the new sub wants to charge me, it is coming out of what I owe you. It is ugly but you sign a contract and agree to it when you take on one of my jobs.
I do not allow subs to have undocumented labor on my projects either, everyone will have a SS# and will be paid by 10-99 0r W2 All labor will sign lien releases to there bosses and be supplied to me for them to receive a check from me or the bank.
Now , lets say you have a complicated framing project that involves tricky footings, bring the concrete guy, framer and contractor all together at the same time, review the plans well ahead of time with them, make sure there is nothing the engineer missed and all are on the same page. This is important, a engineering mishap can cost you down time with guys standing around wearing tool bags, this is costing everyone money.
Make sure your door and window package has been ordered with enough lead time that they arrive right when they are needed, when framing is done, you should have all rough plumbing fixtures at the ready as well as electrical supplies, light cans, wire, boxes etc.
I normally have the plumber move in after framing first, then the HVAC guy then the electrician last.
Prior to insulating, anywhere I have a water fixture, I have my painter come and spray a nice coat of kills primer on the rough framing, this includes the wall sheeting, studs and floor. This is just added protection against water rot in the future. As well on the exterior we will paint poly up 15” from the bottom of the framing or slab, all corners get rolled 12” and around all windows and doors as well as the rough openings. Again this is added protection and does not cost that much but can go a long way in the future against water damage,
Remember, the building code is the bare minimum and we here at the garagejournal are not the kind of guys that do the bare minimum.
Moving into finish, again make sure all materials are ordered and delivered to the job before being needed, keep you correspondence with your suppliers just as you did with the subs. And never pay in full for material until it hits the job.
You get the picture here, I do not feel the need to ramble on threw the entire construction process.
Now at the end of the job, verify the quality control of everything prior to signing a pay voucher or writing a check. If there is anything you are not happy with ,this is the time to bring it up, all subs will bend over backwards to do what you want when you are holding a big check over them.
10 percent retainer will be held on all subs until the job is 100 percent complete and to your satisfaction. This is standard practice and if you can not accept it, you will not be working on my jobs, it is that simple and it is in your contract.
In a previous thread I touched on having a 3rd party company that documents your projects digitally as well as all copies of every piece of paper generated on a job. This has proven to be a invaluable service that I will never build without. I personally have never been sued regarding construction projects but have had to sue others, this service is worth its weight in gold and will save your bacon in a frivolous lawsuit. It ***** we have to do this these days but that is the way it is.
This is the company I use, just so you can see what they do.
http://www.buildersprotect.com/
And for a developer, they will field all customer service calls and call the subs to perform there work. Again, worth its weight in gold.
I have been a general contractor in the Los Angeles area for 20 years and did have my license in Arizona and Nevada for a while but have let them go a long time ago, I was starting to get to big for my own britches and I preferred to work in southern California.
I hope this sheds some light on things that plan to do some building in the future, it should be a fun experience and not a ball of stress.
Here are a few buildings that I have built in the last few years before the economy took a dive.
idiot.