General Contractor Roles
General Contractor Lexington KY is responsible for obtaining construction permits, following detailed construction plans and offering estimates. An experienced and knowledgeable contractor will ensure all building codes are adhered to.
They also resolve conflicts on the construction site and hire subcontractors to complete specialized tasks. The GC oversees the entire project.
Project planning is an essential component of the role of a general contractor. They must prepare the work plan for each phase of construction and set the deadlines to meet their goals. This can help to avoid cost overruns and delays. In addition, they are also responsible for ensuring that the materials and equipment required for the project are available on time. GCs must work closely with the architect to ensure that the work is carried out as per the design and blueprint. They also act as the dispenser of cash, taking advances from the developer’s construction lender and disbursing them to subcontractors, material suppliers, and workers on site.
Peer behind the curtain, and you’ll find the general contractors are maestros of a construction site’s orchestra. They navigate a landscape peppered with ever-changing challenges, coalescing multiple, often conflicting, project facets into a cohesive whole. They juggle budgets, schedules, and expectations with a precision that’s equal parts leadership and mediation.
Major commercial projects require a lot of human elements such as specialized subcontractors, different design consultants, and different vendors who provide the necessary materials for the construction process. These teams have to be managed and monitored by the GC to prevent any delay in the completion of the project. Moreover, they must ensure that the quality of the materials is as desired by the client and the contractor. If the quality of the materials is not satisfactory, the GC must exchange them.
Managing the human resources of a construction project is not an easy task. GCs must have the ability to determine the right people for specific tasks and assign them with the right deadlines to ensure that the project is completed on time. Similarly, they must also ensure that the subcontractors and employees on the construction site are properly trained for their work.
In general construction terms, scheduling is the process of matching equipment, materials, and labor with project work tasks over time. Effective scheduling eliminates production bottlenecks and helps to ensure that work is completed as soon as possible. This practice is particularly important because delays in construction can cost contractors money.
A construction schedule can be created using Gantt charts, spreadsheets, whiteboards or any other software platform. It should be updated regularly to reflect current conditions. For example, a contractor may need to obtain updated prices, availability and lead times from vendors before creating new task duration estimates. The contractor also needs to carefully review the schedule with subcontractors and workers to verify that they understand each task’s order of execution.
It is not uncommon for a general contractor to have someone assigned to oversee scheduling practices on a large project. This person could be the project manager in a smaller company or a supervisor on the job site in a larger construction firm. Regardless, the person who manages the construction schedule should be familiar with best practices and able to communicate these methods to others on the team. Moreover, a scheduling tool like ClickUp offers multiple views of the project schedule, which can help with communication and accountability.
Managing subcontractors involves a lot more than just assigning work and schedules. It also involves ensuring that workers are qualified and up to date on their safety protocols, and coordinating with other contractors, design teams, or construction supervisors.
As such, it’s vital that a GC maintain an accurate and complete database of the subcontractors that are employed on their project. This will make it easier for them to identify any potential issues before they become a problem. For example, if one subcontractor’s work permit expires or they haven’t updated their licenses, it could lead to serious legal issues for all parties involved.
A general contractor will often hire a team of professionals to handle all aspects of vendor management. This includes assessing the intricacies of each project’s needs, evaluating bids and proposals from prospective vendors, and hammering out specific contract details. This process is essential to a successful project and typically takes place during the pre-award phase.
Large construction projects require the movement of a substantial amount of people and materials. It’s important that these moves are coordinated and efficient to ensure that the right people are in the right place at the right time. This is the responsibility of a GC, who will manage the entire supply chain to ensure that it runs smoothly and is in line with the project’s budget.
As a GC, you will be responsible for dispensing advances from the project’s construction lender to various subcontractors and material suppliers throughout the process. As a result, you’ll need to be familiar with the ins and outs of payment chains, which can often get complicated as money is passed from multiple tiers of contractors and suppliers. Visibility and communication are key here, as both will help to speed up payments and ensure that everyone gets paid on time.
As a general contractor, it’s important to have a clear process in place for managing construction budgets. This includes reporting cost data periodically, whether through a spreadsheet or more advanced software solution, and handling scenarios in which projects are over or under their original estimates. It also involves learning from your past performance so that you can make future project budgets more accurate.
The best way to manage construction costs is to ensure that they are accounted for before the actual work begins. This requires a careful review of the project scope, tasks, and materials to create a detailed estimate. Then, the estimate should be monitored periodically throughout the build to catch any unforeseen costs that may arise. This will allow you to provide the client with a realistic total construction cost and deliver the home on time.
It’s also important to have a strong system in place for addressing change orders. This can be a huge source of budgetary issues and delays, and it’s critical that your team address these quickly and effectively. Change orders are also a good opportunity to discuss any potential risks and come up with pragmatic solutions to keep the project on schedule.
Finally, it’s important to understand the project owner’s expectations and goals for the project. It will help you to prepare an accurate budget for the project and improve your chances of winning the bid. You can do this by establishing open and honest communication with the client and clearly explaining your thought process behind each budget line item.
Remember Sun Tzu’s famous quote: “Every battle is won before it’s ever fought.” This is particularly true when preparing and managing construction budgets. By being transparent and conservative in your construction budget projections, you will set yourself up for success on the job site and be a preferred general contractor to work with in the future.
A general contractor oversees the plethora of people and professionals needed to complete a construction project. They can work with a variety of different tradespeople, including carpenters, electricians, plumbers, painters, interior designers, and HVAC specialists. This is why most home remodelers use a GC to ensure all the parts of their project come together in a cohesive manner.
Typically, a GC is responsible for implementing plans that have been designed by someone else. However, some GCs do not have the skills to complete the whole project so they employ subcontractors to carry out specialized tasks like electrical installation, drywall and roofing. This can be a more cost-effective and efficient solution for projects of larger scale.
One of the biggest challenges for a GC is managing human resources. Construction involves a large number of people who need to be accounted for, managed and paid on time. Often, payments to subcontractors and contractors are contingent on meeting certain requirements, which can slow down the payment process. GCs can help speed up the process by streamlining paperwork and keeping lines of communication open with all parties.
Licensed GCs earn their money by charging a fee for their services that get applied to supplies, labor, equipment and other expenses necessary to deliver a successful project. This fee may be a flat rate, a percentage of the total project costs or an estimate. In the case of estimating, a GC must assess the proposal or bid documents and visit the job site to see the site conditions firsthand to prepare an accurate price for the client. They must take into account the cost of materials, labor and overhead, as well as any specific or unforeseen project expenses when preparing their estimate.