Building Contractors

Most homeowners hire a general contractor to handle the details of big renovation jobs, room additions and especially entire home construction for a whole lot of reasons. The tops on the list, however, are for their expertise and their ability to remove the worry and burdens from the homeowner.

With this in mind, the contractor, once hired, is the boss of the job. You might be the owner, but that doesn't mean you run the jobsite. You've hired the boss, now it's up to you to let him or her get the job done.

Most general contractors expect questions, homeowner visits and more. But they don't expect a client to come in and disrupt work on a daily basis, try to make every tiny decision or get in the way of dealing with subcontractors and personal employees.

If you think of hiring a contractor like a president appointing a general to handle a theater of war and you'll be on the right track. The general is in charge of day-to-day operations, management and most decisions. The president gets consulted on everything big, has a right to request status reports and "see" progress, but he typically doesn't get involved in every aspect of the war. Instead, he leaves that up to the professionals and so should you.

Once a contractor has been hired, it's your job to trust them and turn the basic operation over. Construction decisions are better off left in their hands as are the day-to-day concerns such as jobsite safety, time management, budgetary management and so on. When the contractor needs you for a decision, he'll let you know.

Although it's advisable for homeowners to take a hands-off approach with the little details, it is your right to know what's going on with the job. You should receive regular progress reports, be welcome on the jobsite to see major milestones in the construction has they happens and make decisions that have an impact on the home's overall appearance or functionality, or the renovation's or add on's. Just because you've put your "general" in charge, it doesn't mean your requests shouldn't be fulfilled.

The best run jobsites are ones that are run in the field by the general, contractor that is, and overseen from afar by the president. Keep an eye out that work is progressing as you'd like it to and make sure your personal concerns are addressed, beyond that, if you've hired a good contractor, you should leave the routine worries up to him, or her.