He may master his profession quickly, but the truth is it’s actually a new line of work, one that requires fewer building skills and more business sense. If the candidate you’re thinking of hiring is a carpenter who’s just branching out and trying his hand at being a carpenter-contractor, think carefully before making the hiring decision. When hiring a smaller general contractor, determine how much experience the head man has. If you’re in doubt, get both companies and carpenter-builders to bid on your job. He is accustomed to dealing with individual owners, may have more time and patience for your special concerns, and he may well price the job a little cheaper, too. In general, though, the odds are that as a small, one-time buyer of construction services, you’ll do better with a carpenter-builder for your remodeling. Logic might suggest that the smaller contractor will be able to give you the best price, but despite the extra overhead costs at the larger concern, there are also some economies of scale. If your project is large, you may benefit from the larger crews of a construction company. On the other hand, the construction company probably has a much greater capacity and can do a broader range of work. You may be able to shape a more flexible working relationship with the carpenter-builder than with a larger company. The large and small general contractors each have certain advantages. The construction company will have an office with an accountant, payroll clerk, and other staff trucks and miscellaneous vehicles a warehouse or other building that functions as the base of operations with equipment, materials storage, and workshop equipment, and a variety of other accouterments of a good-size business. The carpenter-builder may have a desk at home that functions as an office and a workshop in a converted garage or basement. The carpenter-builder GC probably has only one or two jobs going at a time, while a construction company will need more and larger jobs to pay its overhead. Increasingly, the tools of the GC’s trade consist of a notebook computer and a cell phone rather than a hammer and a circular saw. The project manager may or may not have hands-on building experience but does have business training. In a large construction firm, the GC is actually a company rather than an individual, and an individual project manager will assume day-to-day responsibility for a given job. Many GCs began their careers in the building business as carpenters but at some point decided they wanted to run their own companies and assumed overall management responsibility. The typical range is 10 to 30 percent.Ĭarpenter-Builder vs. The GC makes a profit by marking up the labor and materials costs by a percentage. In return, the GC assumes responsibility for the entire building process. It is the GC’s responsibility to make sure the subs do their jobs on time and in strict accordance with the plans.Īs with an architect, you sign a contract with the general contractor that obligates you to make certain payments at specified points during construction. The GC will also arrange for the subcontractors-the excavation contractors, plumbers, electricians, dry-wallers, tilers, roofers, and foundation crew, whatever and whoever is needed. He’ll orchestrate the comings and goings of the workers, order materials, inspect the work done, coordinate an ever-changing schedule, and handle a lot of the paperwork, which will include material bills, payroll, and issuing invoices to you, the homeowner. A general contractor or GC is hired to take a set of plans and turn them into a building.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |