Is It Worth It To Be Your Own General Contractor?
We had hired four general contractors before, and they were nothing, but big disappointment. They tried to charge more that what promised, they took way longer than what they promised, and so on.
Do you think it is worth it to be our own general contractor and hire subs?
you can save a good chunk of cash but it can be a real headache.......km
I know a guy who did that and he said it worked great. he would start with foundation and put an ad in the paper asking if anybody would be interested in pouring a foundation. he had several people call and took bids and references and choose one. he picked his plans out of a book and they poured it for him no problem. he did this with every aspect of the job, framing, roofing, sheetrock etc etc. he said it saved him a ton of money and was not that difficult. he also said to have it all done during winter time. the weather is not as good but there are lots of people with no or slow work that were willing to lower there bids just to make money. again, this was HIS experience and yours and others may vary. I would probably try doing it, but I found a spec home builder here that is just to good of a deal. good luck to you. oh and one more thing if you do go that route. never pay the subs until the work is COMPLETED and INSPECTED. I have heard to many bad stories of bad subs.[ Edited by dlitedan on Date 10/21/2004 ]
Hi Smileyface... Welcome to rehabbing in the Atlanta area!
I've found that the contractors that do a good job are so probitively expensive, it's hard to make any money, and the others just do crappy work, and STILL try to overcharge you. I too, just went thru 3 contractors recently before I decided to just do it myself.
Don't know what the answer to your question is, but I do know that if you don't get VERY involved, you're going to get ripped off. I managed to find a few people that I would keep their telephone numbers for other jobs, and you're going to find that people HOARD those numbers and don't share much, because the contractors will be so busy if you share, you'll never get'em back. Also, even the ones that ARE good, stay so busy they don't have time to do a good job. Like I said, no answer to your question, and if you figure it out, let me know.
Smiley, your complaints are not that abnormal or unheard of, unfortunately. Let me ask you this; what kind of contracts did you have with them, and how'd you enforce them?
For my money, it's not worth it playing contractor if you don't know exactly what you're doing and don't have experience at it. I think the best bet for a rehabber is to form a relationship with either a good GC or key subs, and keep that relationship alive and growing. Finding the right person the first time....well, that's a different post.
My experience is yes. you save a big chunk of change, but you usually sacrifice time. Unless you are completely equipped to handle all aspects of the job, (tools, time, and materials, and labor.) If you do sub out to contractors, they will want payment upon completion, but don't give the final until it has passed inspection. write specific contracts. You are paying them, be a "hard a$$" Don't let a contractor act as if they are doing you a favor, they're just doing business.
Hey,
For me, it would depend on the size of the rehab job. You can do a big project and only use 3 subs...then I would not hire a GC.
I am a contractor who is getting into rehabbing and basically here are some things to keep in mind.
You can tell contractors you want the best job (costly) or the cheapest.
Do not just hire a contractor - get bids and see the contracts they have. Most reputable contractors will warranty the work.
If you take a bid and make no changes, then they have to stick to the bid at least the reputable ones.
Depending on the degree of rehabbing maybe a handyman man is more what you need than a contractor.
As a handyman our fees were low. As contractors they doubled because now we have to have workman's com (which adds 37 to 74 cents to every dollar we make depending on type of work - like roofing or whatever), we also had to increase our liability insurance. All these operating expenses have to be passed on.