Cost- When you hire someone to build your house their the general contractor you’re paying them to oversee the entire project from start to finish. This includes hiring out subcontractors for all the jobs that they do not specialize (ex: foundation work, electrical, plumbing, tile, paint etc.). For this service and their expertise in scheduling, bidding out the work, and holding these subcontractors accountable they charge a fee. Typically this is anywhere between 8 to 25% more for each portion of your construction project and if have a contractor giving you a FAT BID then it can be way more than an extra 25%. So by being your own GC then you take on their responsibilities, but could save substantially. Disclaimer Alert! This cost savings could be eaten up or eclipsed by missteps or major subcontractor error that is not handled properly.
Time-Most general contractors and the subs they use have more than one job they are working on at any given time and they attempt to schedule for what is most efficient for their business. Unfortunately, this is often not in line with the best and/or quickest schedule for your project. When you are the general contractor you are in charge of scheduling you only have one project to focus on: yours! This could significantly help you get your job completed faster. Disclaimer Alert! Any time saved to get the project done faster could be lost by mistakes from lack of experience with scheduling so time needs to be spent before beginning to plan out projects steps and unexpected problems need to be addressed as soon as possible to prevent bigger delays.
Oversight- This one is double-edge sword just Cost and Time. When your the gc part of your job is oversight of the subcontractors you hire, which includes inspecting their work. General contractors have experience inspecting their sub’s work to hold them accountable while not micromanaging/nitpicking minor imperfections that could unnecessarily sour the relationship.
