q & a - builders

what’s the difference between a general contractor & a subcontractor ?

General Contractors co-ordinates the entire project, while a Subcontractor does one specific trade (such as an electrician or a painter). The General Contractor organizes, oversees, and directs the entire job, including the hiring and supervision of all Subcontractors.

An advantage of hiring a ‘General’ rather than each subtrade individually is that you only have one person to deal with whom is responsible for everyone. This can be a real benefit in certain situations, such as where it may be unclear which subtrade is responsible.

can we be the general contractor for our project ?

Some owners feel they can save money by hiring the subtrades directly and coordinating the project themselves. While this may be the case, there are many considerations to determine if this is a good fit for you.

To start with, often a great deal of time, patience, and assertiveness is required to supervise and organize all the necessary trades people, material deliveries, and required inspections. (Even for someone with experience, this can be frustrating & somewhat stressful.) This generally will require a thorough knowledge of construction scheduling, as well as construction materials and methods.

Another very important consideration for an owner contracting different parts of their project to more than one contractor, is that there are specific legal duties that must be complied with, regarding such things as health, safety, insurance, etc. Advice from a lawyer experienced with these matters would be strongly recommended.

what is a design-builder ?

A design/builder is a general contractor that will provide drawings as part of their ‘package’. The drawings may be done ‘in-house’, or by an independent business – and most likely will be done by a draftsman (not an architect, as many people assume).

A potential advantage with this type of arrangement is that you only have one business to deal with, right from the initial drawing process, through to the end of construction.

Note that by the very nature of this process, you will be unable to get competitive prices (for a particular design), as you are actually retaining the builder long before you have any of the drawings that are necessary to get a competitive quote from another builder. As well, I’m not convinced that you will get a very ‘fair’ or reasonable price with this method, again because you are committing yourself to a single builder before you have a specific price from them.

For someone thinking of this route for their ‘design’, it would be advisable to determine who would be doing your drawings and investigate their design qualifications, experience, & skill. You may also want to see some of their work – as they haven’t necessarily done the drawings for the projects that the design-builder has shown you.

Note – if a design-builder is claiming that they do not charge for the drawings, I think you need to be leery. If this is in-fact the case, I can’t imagine that much time, effort, thought, or expertise will go into your design – which in my view, is the most critical aspect of your project.