What’s a common contractor? 

Common contractors, identified extra merely as contractors or “GCs”, are the lead professionals on main building initiatives. They oversee groups of subcontractors akin to carpenters, plumbers, electricians, and painters, who perform the varied specialised elements of every building job. They’re answerable for procuring supplies, acquiring permits, and guaranteeing {that a} challenge is accomplished in line with plan. Relying on the particular necessities of a given challenge, they might even be answerable for coordinating with architects or designers, coop or apartment boards, engineers, expediters, or inspectors. 

The time period “common contractor” can be utilized interchangeably to confer with a person individual or a common contracting firm. These firms are available all styles and sizes, from one- and two-person operations, to mid-sized firms of 10-20 staff, and even massive corporations of fifty staff or extra. 

Relying in your space or area, common contractors may additionally be referred to as house enchancment contractors, builders, renovation contractors, or reworking contractors. 

What makes a nice common contractor? 

At Sweeten, we’ve been vetting and dealing carefully with common contractors for over a decade. Along with our 7-step contractor vetting course of, right here’s what we expect offers some contractors that additional edge and a status of happy purchasers:

• Communication: There are numerous variables within the building course of. An incredible common contractor understands the dynamic atmosphere by which they work, anticipates potential points, and is proactive in speaking all of this with their purchasers. They’ll present clear directions to subcontractors and are open to suggestions. 
• Realism: The most effective common contractors are sincere with purchasers about what their finances can realistically obtain, and can work with them to create a possible scope of labor, in order that they will adhere to budgets and timelines. 
• Agility: When the unexpected inevitably occurs on a serious challenge, nice contractors can assume critically on their toes and method their purchasers with proposed options. They’ll deal with quite a lot of duties and adapt to adjustments.
• Eye for element: An incredible contractor doesn’t make excuses for shoddy work. They scan their jobs with a advantageous tooth comb, recurrently searching for imperfections in craftsmanship and addressing them head on — not avoiding them and hoping their shopper doesn’t discover!
• Tidiness: An incredible GC will clearly spell out the methods by which they intend to guard your house and private belongings of their estimates & contracts. In case your GC doesn’t have a recreation plan for shielding the one that you love possessions, look the opposite method! 

Typical reworking initiatives

You’ll in all probability want to rent a common contractor for those who’re planning a challenge like renovating a kitchen, reworking a toilet, ending a basement or attic, including a deck or patio, reworking a complete house, or changing a storage into an adjunct dwelling unit. They deal with transformative initiatives that contain a number of trades, which is why you’ll usually solely rent a common contractor for initiatives that price $15,000 and up. 

Conventional common contractors vs design-build contractors

A conventional common contractor oversees the entire build-related elements of a given job. They’re answerable for procuring supplies, hiring subcontractors, and managing the development course of. Whereas common contractors should not answerable for design work, some are joyful to supply artistic options to smaller-scale design challenges, and even produce fundamental renderings the place superior design companies should not vital. The extent of artistic enter you’ll be able to anticipate from a conventional contractor varies drastically from agency to agency. 

A design-build firm, alternatively, is an organization that takes accountability for each the design and building of a challenge. They usually have in-house architects and designers, in addition to building specialists, that work collectively to create the plans after which perform the development. The place architectural design service is required, design-build firms are sometimes essentially the most environment friendly choice, as they will take accountability for your entire challenge from begin to end.

At Sweeten, we work with each conventional and design-build contractors, and with so many corporations that we cowl a broad vary of service choices to satisfy your wants. Submit your challenge to start out connecting with our vetted, trusted contractors right this moment!