You probably dont need a GC.. in some cases it pays to hire a local GC to look over your situation and advise only however... these have experience that you dont and a good one can be worth his weight in gold for a few hundred dollars his advice will cost you.
Better yet, ask for references for work which the contractor hasn't completed yet or work which hasn't even started yet. Talk to those customers after the work has been completed. That way, the contractor can't cherrypick by just give you the names of extremely satisfied customers. For exterior work and additions, you should be able to stop by once or twice and observe the work in progress.
I like that advise. Obviously there are bad customers out there, but if you talk to enough customers with liens, you should be able to detect patterns to help you determine if the contractor is consistently at fault.
To find a good contractor you should talk to past customers and I mean a few years after the job was completed. Also don't go to a contractor who builds new houses if you just want a small addition 'cause they may tend to push your job to the background while they go after the big ones.
Ask around the neighborhood. Word of mouth is the best referral you can get. One caveat though. Look at the work the GC did. Your standards may be different than your neighbors'.
------------------------------------------=o&>o---- Steve Manes, Brooklyn, USA
References of course are a good thing..however Ive seen in this area a very high percentage of utterly ill informed and often nasty customers what whine to me about what a loser his last contractor was....and since I know most of these guys I can say in many cases the complaints are bogus. No job is perfect.
Many good contractors are trashed to the max on almost totally irrelevant or unavoidable minor issues.
So when getting refferences Id also ask if the person could detail any problems..... if they start off with '''ya ... and their men parked RIGHT IN MY DRIVWAY to unload the material... etc."
You have your first clue... that customer was nutz. I tell Id be glad to do thier work but am booked up until 2008,
there is no shortage of those in some areas. and they do it to chizzle the bills also.
Many customers in this area seem to think they have hired you
8 am to 5 pm daily until the job is finished.. they have no clue that the work is simple contracted to meet a completion schedule even after you point that out ,,,
Some will say... 'ya and he showed up at 10 am some days and was gone by 2 ... some days he didnt show up at all...'... so it pays to ask for the details.
also ask about the price too... many customers will shop a $30,000 job until they find someone that will do it for 15,000 dollars on a part time as available schedule... or beat the price down to 10,000 then complain when they didnt get the materials specified in the higher priced contracts.
A very good percentage of the general public has no clue... and many are abusive or terminally impatient and unrealistic a about construction logistics and mess etc.
Ive had some demand a thousand dollars worth of dust prevention, fans, sealed doors, floors and walls etc... be placed in order to shield a 20 second saw cut in dry wall on a job quoted at $200.
Myself I interview the customer before the job starts we chat about thier experience with other tradesman, and if they whine a lot I decline to quote them. Others fool me... I quote them.. then if they can find a fingerprint on the wall somewhere they want to deduct 600 dollars from a 1200 bill to cover repainting the entire room.or they will 'sue'...or call the mafia..
Im sure there are bad contractors around, Ive ruin into more than a few. Most are fair to OK though and the abuse they get from customers is not warranted.
I asked one pissing and moaning home owner why they called me if their last contractor was so good...
The customer said.... ' he way too high, he rip us off'...'you recommended by my friend, he say you the best one in whole area'.
Then after the work starts he complains about me...
the complaint with me exact quote "You soww up 9 okwok!!! You NOT sow up at 8 okwok..I pay I pay I pay... you not sow up.. den you LEEEBE at 2 okwok.. .. I no pay .... I no pay... you charge me $1.98 for calking...I buy $1.92...1.92 .
1.92.... YOU *CHEAT ME.. 6 cent... 6 cent....you not finish... you not finish...I call police, I call police.."
So much for being the best in the whole area I guess.
My last commercial restaurant customer was whining about 15 minutes travel time even though I gave him the drive back in traffic (45 minutes free)... I handed him a 50 dollar bill .. he was still whining ...it was an integrity thing he said..
He didnt want to pay for all of my work time since I had to park so far away from his store in downtown San Francisco... (no parking during rush hour).., alley parking they tow first, then ticket,,, cost 300 dollars or more.... he felt that ran up the bill... he wanted me to deduct some of the time to get the bill down to what thinks is fair. and was a well meaning guy too... he was sincere in his remarks
he sells 8 dollar sandwiches... two slices of bread, some sprouts and a turkey slice. Not bad. A good sandwich.
No reference from those guys though....damn.
I do industrial controls mostly now :) I tell the other customers that I do the best I can, and thats usually very good but seldom perfect in every detail as that costs more than a job warrants in many cases.. and that they are to watch me closely, and the first instant that they see the work is not going according to their expectations they are to fire me and I will leave and collect my hourly rate and materials to date.
Ive been tempted.. but I find most people dont read or listen to your rationale anyway... they buy on schmooze, hot air and bullshit..and what can be made to look at least like a low price....or some kind of world class one of a kind job complete with invented slang terms so they cannot price shop....'we are the ONLY ones selling this new 'turbonated' heat pump.. its very advanced, the ordinary contractors have no clue about it.... thats common too.,, and of course the 'turbinated' heat pump doesnt exist...its a pure conn job.
course.
plagiarize away...I dont need any credit either..Ive seen better ways of handling the public from others... the best ones always boil down to being totally and bluntly frank about how it is in river city with no guilding on it at all... then quoting high enough to make the pain in the ass worth the trouble.
Optionally its a total schmooze job..but thats not my style. One has to do what comes natural good techs dont schmooze well... good schmoozers are usually short on tech skills.
I also tell em " I have 3 prices... absolute perfection... perfect work and no mess ...and fast... thats about $5,000 for this job.
Slap dash, if thats what you can afford.. quick and dirty but what some people can live with is $1,500 dollars..but I don't work like that..
.. my quote for the work to the standard of the rest of your property, done in a reasonable time, with the normal mess and noise......quality work but not perfect work ....$2,500.
that blows off the chizzlers as it defeats their later claim that the work you did was sub standard.. it educates the decent people to the actual scene. Those will generally pick the mid range option...some will ask who to call for a hash job...and thats fair... I tell them who to call. Sometimes a hash job is all the person wants.
On industrial work I give em a long menu of features to select from.... with prices... thats undefeatable..if they check it off.. it costs them... if the total is too high compared to the competition I tell em to compare lists and decide what features they don't want...when they change thier mind later, its all on the menu with prices attached. I can bill for the design and engineering separately, driving the line item numbers down.
sometimes I list out the material costs on some items.. lacking that many folks seem to think all the money from a line item goes to buy me fun times at the moonlight ranch. that keeps em from demanding a 20,000 dollar kick back on
30,000 dollar job... :)
I tell some that that they can go down to skid row early enough, before the guys get drunk again for the day and hire carpenters, electricians, controls engineers, CEO's and brain surgeons for 6 dollars... Ive had a few actually ask for a map and some names.
You probably will need an engineer's stamp on the plans - ask your engineer who he/she thinks is a good contractor for the type of work you need. He may not be able to tell you who is the least expensive, or who completes the job in the least time, but he's been on lots of site inspections and knows who follows the plans, whose workmanship is good.
If its NOT a public building, but just your home, or even in many cases, calif for example, a factory you will not need an engineers stamp for most of that or any of it some cases...depends on the impact issues and local codes, if its a public use building or not....thats if you are an owner builder.
the rules can change if you are a contractor..but not always.. its a regional issue.
In your case you can most likely draw up your own plans, take it to the city and they will probably approve them..especially if they are obviously competent...if they look flakey, then the city will insist on a competent set of plans.
I would start by studying up on all the work to be done, including soil/drainage/settling issues. Heat/AC limits or needs. Construction materials and methods. You can't negotiate a project like yours without knowing your options and areas for concern. Look at some new houses for ideas. Check around the neighborhood for a house that has had an addition and knock on the door :o) Then, go to your state, city or county website and find three contractors who have held licenses for at least 10 years. Check for complaints or discipline against their licenses, and start getting bids. Bid should include license and insurance info, material type and brand, completion time, payment intervals, lien release info, etc.
Our city has construction standards, with detailed drawings, for all kinds of projects. This is their standard for city work, done by city engineers and available on the internet. Good resource, IMO.
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