General Contractor Mark Ups
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Markup & Profit: A Contractor’s Guide $32.50 … |
A Basic Guide To Contractors
A general contractor is the main contractor you have to hire for a major renovation project. The general contractor though, has other subcontractors that he oversees for the renovation of your home. The repair and maintenance contractors you need are very different from the general contractor.
Typically the General Contractor does not provide the labor to build the house. The laborers come from the subcontractors or the trades. This may include carpenters for roughens, excavators, flooring, painting, concrete sub, plumber, electrician, roofer, and the finish carpenter. The general contractor hires the subcontractors and holds their contracts. Holding the contract means that they are working for him, they are under contract to him and he pays them directly. When you hire a general contractor you only have a contract with him not all the subs. The general contractor marks up the subcontractor’s fee a certain percentage of the construction amount.
For this fee the contractor does all the managing and scheduling of the subs. He also pays, provides supervision of the construction, provides dumpsters, port-a-john, insurance and other miscellaneous things involved in the Construction Project. The contractors make money by charging for labor and by marking up the materials. The general contractor is referred to the generalist and the subs are the specialist. Whenever you need just a specific thing fixed in your home you would always hire a specialist. A specialist would be for an example a plumber or electrician. When hiring someone for maintenance task some people just hire a guy with a magnet advertising on the side of his truck but in reality he is not licensed at all. This could be people like gutter cleaners, painters or lawncare. Usually using these types do work out but you must be careful because you do not have the legal protection as with using a licensed contractor. It’s just better to use common sense and keep yourself protected by going with someone who is licensed.
It’s usually easy to tell the unlicensed contractors or scam artist or possibly someone who is just trying to get in your home. Use wisdom and do your homework to avoid the following pitfalls.
1. Unlicensed contractors often go door-to-door claiming they “just finished a job down the street and we’re in the neighborhood and noticed your roof needs patching.”
2. They may rush you and twist their words stating, “If you act now, you’ll get a special price.”
3. Unlicensed contractors either neglect to pull construction permits or they ask you to do it for them. If you do this, you are assuming liability for the project as well as the contractor’s mistakes.
4. Some states require contractors to list their license numbers on their vehicles, their estimates and their advertising. If a contractor has not done that, this is usually a bad sign.
5. If you see a license number in an ad, and it has a different number of letters, numerals and digits than all the other licenses, this probably means it is a bogus license number.
6. Be wary if a contractor provides only a PO box or cell number. That may mean he does not have credibility in the community and could skip town when people start to complain.
7. Unlicensed contractors often ask for a lot of money up front if not the whole amount. Consider this a red flag and try not to pay any money in advance. If you must, keep the amount to a minimum.
About the Author
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Condo Renovation?
I just bought a 700 sf 1 bedroom condo and I would like to do remodeling on almost everything…kitchen, appliances, bathroom, floor, lighting, paints etc. I know the quality of materials I choose will be a big part of the remodeling costs, so is labour and mark up for the general contractor, but in general what’s a reasonable amount to spend not necessarily to make it super fancy, but better than average. $10K, $30K, $50K ??? Any personal experience to share?
I am 27 now and remolded my home that was left to me by my parents about fours back.I spent all of the 100,000 dollar of the loan and will be paying it back for years to come.But since the house is now all pimped out,i have it renting for 2,750 a month in Southern Cali.Invest in this condo with as much money as possible cause it will greatly increase in value in the long run.Oh yea make sure the guys are pro on the install.Take care…tom science
Wrapping Up the Austin Project
In by gone days all a contractor had to do was give the customer good quality and good service and he/she would be set. Then set back and let your customers do your selling for you. They would tell a friend and then that friend would tell a friend. Your phone would be ringing off the hook. I remember as an Architectural designer some days I would have up to four people wanting to schedule appointments for designs. Those days are long gone! But Fear Not! Click Here For Help
