What A General Contractor Does

[Music] [Applause] [Music] anybody that's ever built anything knows that it is it's a hard thing to forecast exactly how a jobs gonna go there are so many variables and the only thing that is certain is that there's gonna be surprises and when you get to the end you're gonna look back and say wow that was something other than what I expected I think that probably that's true whether it's just pertaining to changing a toilet or building a house or building a football stadium there's gonna be a lot of new things that you're gonna learn as you work your way through the project I would like to talk about the role of a general contractor in a construction project large or small what their day-to-day routine is like and what it is that they bring to the table or don't bring to the table for somebody who's wanting to get some work done what a general contractor does is take responsibility for the outcome of a construction project whether its large or small he takes the risk he is confident in his ability to handle all the variables in construction and in a legally binding document will obligate himself to get the work done now you think okay great interesting but think about it just a little longer because the number of things that he is exposed to is large and some of them are squarely under his control and within his ability to influence and some of them are not and yet he somehow has convinced himself that he can manage the project well enough to be able to deal with the risk and the exposure both for the things that he can't control and for the things that he can't control now having said that part of what a general contractor does is write or authorize or read and agree to contracts and so he will have identified which exposures are so far beyond his control that he can't take responsibility for them but usually almost anything that goes bad on a construction site is going to finally when it gets right down to it be attributed to a failure or an oversight or a blunder on the part of the general contractor or at least that's one of the places that it can be attributed yeah I watch the tack there one of the primary tasks and tools that a general contractor has is this list of subcontractors they take a lot of management but a general contractor knows the people knows the process knows what their work should look like and so takes responsibility for their work he pays them he determines when payment is due and it is the money that is in his account that goes to the subcontractor which sets up a situation where they respond nicely to what he has to say and may not respond to satisfactorily to what anybody else has to say Construction in the 21st century is highly specialized tasks that used to be done by generalists are now often done by people who have a little narrow niche of work that they perform your general contractor knows who those people are and knows when bringing in a specialist for a little short-term task is going to save money and maybe get a better job than letting it be included in the scope of work of someone who doesn't specialize and may or may not be efficient at that process closely related to being familiar with subcontractors and scheduling and managing their work is being familiar with the available materials in your area the ones that are tested and proven in your climate and the people that sell those materials and how long it takes to get them and when the quality is good and when the quality needs to be re-examined how those materials should be delivered and stored all of the questions about what goes in to the pro to the project in terms of the stuff is something that a general contractor has to either know or know somebody that knows and by that I mean he's on a first-name basis with the material suppliers in your community and he can go back to his subcontractors and ask them specific questions about new products and innovative processes and where to go for the latest and greatest and all of that knowledge about the people who install it and where you can buy it is integral to getting a good product the flipside to a general contractor's familiarity with the right product is that it opens up a whole field and a whole area where a general contractor can rip off the client by substituting substandard materials we'll talk about that later more and in detail but I didn't want you to think that I have any illusions about the fact general contractors can and do in fact substitute substandard materials and Bill as if it was top tier stuff so we'll talk about that but familiarity with materials and suppliers is a key part of being a general contractor so the risks that a contractor takes are it's a mile wide right I mean there's a wide ride wide river of pitfalls and construction from manufacturing defects and material to individual trades people's personal lives creating complications which keep them off the job and slow down the process stretching out timelines to weather events that nobody can control but that will absolutely damage or delay a project missing a completion date too bad workmanship by someone who is not appropriately managed or you know how did it happen I don't know but the workmanship is there and so it has to be fixed and to injuries and to accidents and car wrecks and cranes that break and ladders that get tipped over and there's just I mean there is no limit on any given day to the number of things that can go bad on a jobsite and I mean that's not even to mention interacting with jurisdictions and municipalities and inspections and OSHA and all of the things that can complicate a job to the point that somebody's going to lose some money and in real terms if your general contractor is a good one and if your contract with him has been reviewed by somebody who knows how to review a contract the money that's lost should be his not the clients at least that's the exposure that he has opened himself up to and that he's willing to take for the promise or hope of making some money when the job is all done [Music] [Music] we got here this morning planning on just laying this conduit and right when I pulled up I saw that water on the wall which interestingly it this wall totally dry it must have been raining sideways because that's the wall that's where the water hit anyways it filled up our trenches and they were flowing what must have been like a river and now instead of blank conduit we're gonna spend the day digging out this trench for the third time there are some jobs out there they tend to be the larger jobs where it's either a bank or a building department that mandates nope we're not doing this unless you've got a general contractor on the job with his license with his bond with his insurance so that we've got somebody to fall back on if things go suddenly and irretrievably bad and we're not doing it unless you have one well that makes it pretty easy to figure out the thing that's not quite so easy to figure out next is how to find the right one now I don't know you and I don't know where you live or how your lenders respond to this or how you're building departments if you have one respond to this but you might be able to build a house or some other project on your own I don't know but you can figure out whether or not you can do that and if the answer is yes there you go and if the honest answer is no there you go and it all boils down to how much risk are you willing to take upon yourself for some amount of reward so I am at least vaguely aware that a video like this is so broad and there's such an infinite range of projects and people contractors and clients that to have anything specific and helpful for you out of a video like this is frankly kind of unlikely isn't it I don't know if one word I've said has been helpful to you but here's the takeaway that I think perhaps is worthwhile a general contractor is agreeing at least in theory to take risk and responsibility for the outcome of your project in return for a premium money he marks up his costs he adds he intends to be paid and he will see that he is paid one way or the other if you find a good one you will know in advance how much he's going to make or at least you'll know what your project is going to cost if you find a bad one he's got his hand deep in your wallet and he's gonna find ways to be paid over and over and over that will be painful so you've got to be smart you have to be unguarded to start the process you have to realistically be able to evaluate what you bring to the table and evaluate what a possible general contractor is bringing to the table now we have an e-book for sale on Amazon that covers some of these very basic and important things that you need to know about and understand before you hire a contractor these items are important for hiring any contractor but especially important if you're going to hire a general contractor because as we have discussed a general contractor has an enormous ability to impact your project for good or for ill the e-book covers nine important topics including what has to be the most important topic how and when to pay the contractor this book's only five bucks which is less than a box of good screws and I hope you check it out we've also placed the content from this ebook into video format and it's available to our supporters so check the description below for more details thank you for sitting there and watching me talk about what a general contractor does and keep up the good work [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Essential Craftsman

Views: 507,819

Keywords: anvil, forge, blacksmith, forging, craftsman, mentor, trades, tradesman, career, smith, carpetner, builder, wisdom, workbench, fabricate, tools, tool, tips, trick, hacks, protip, General Contractor, general contractor contracts, subcontractors, material suppliers, contractor risks, general contractor liability, General Contractor responsibility, suppliers, job site mishaps

Id: 9yQBvzly0EI

Length: 11min 9sec (669 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 20 2020