changing general contractors?

[juanmcasasjr]

The Rio Grande Valley. 10 miles from the Texas Mexico border.

[BlackoutRam2500]

I like this thread. It took them 9 months to build our home. My wife fired the sub painter. The GC brought in another one to clean up the mess and finish the job. In my area the RGV, Welfare is the problem. No one wants to work. The best painter came to work 2 1/2 days left early on Friday, 6 kids at home and the expecting a baby receiving $1100 of help. Shoot I wouldn't work either. Oh and the house still needs little odds and ends to be finished.

We are on month 7 but my wife is the GC. She's experienced and has been doing a great job. It's been the weather and the size of our house that's kicked her butt. She says 6 more weeks and I want to believe it but there is a lot left to do and after hearing her on the phone with the electrician I think she's about to make a change.

If it were me in the OPs situation I would examine the value of making a change. I can't believe the contractor left him sitting for months with zero work happening even though he was already behind. That alone would necessitate a change but at the same time if the OP doesn't know anything about construction and his guy is honest, albeit sorry, its safer to stick with him.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[crxshooter]

They started ours up here in Cedar Creek and I came up Thanksgiving from Pasadena to see how it was coming along. One worker was here that monday-wednesday. As he was packing up wednesday evening I ashed where's everybody. He looked at me like I was an alien and said "it's deer season".

[db@100]

If you are still holding enough of his money, he will finish.

[Plain Lucky]

We are on month 7 but my wife is the GC. She's experienced and has been doing a great job. It's been the weather and the size of our house that's kicked her butt. She says 6 more weeks and I want to believe it but there is a lot left to do and after hearing her on the phone with the electrician I think she's about to make a change.

If it were me in the OPs situation I would examine the value of making a change. I can't believe the contractor left him sitting for months with zero work happening even though he was already behind. That alone would necessitate a change but at the same time if the OP doesn't know anything about construction and his guy is honest, albeit sorry, its safer to stick with him.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

This may answer my biggest question. So if your wife is your GC, I guess the homeowner can be the GC? I'm very comfortable with doing that.

[BlackoutRam2500]

I can't answer that question because I don't know where you are and what the guidelines are in your municipality. You can check with your city planning department and ask them.

We had a "builder of record" to satisfy the bank requirements because my wife hadn't built anything in 10 years.... but those jokers have been a huge waste of money.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Plain Lucky]

Thanks for the feedback. We are going to try to ride it out.

It baffles me how we have to put up with this from this profession simply due to the fact that its the norm.

[txhunter33]

Plain Lucky, since you have stated he is not good at keeping schedules and scheduling maybe you can help him out in this area by emailing him and the subs daily to what needs to be completed and when it needs to be completed by. A lot of the Single Family contractors work out of their trucks and are probably handling more work load than they can and by simply sending him an email and copying the Subcontractors or sending them a group text will help you get your project completed.

[kmitchl]

You are better off suffering through with the guy who started. You won’t find anyone who will take responsibility for his work.

[El General]

Thanks for the feedback. We are going to try to ride it out.

It baffles me how we have to put up with this from this profession simply due to the fact that its the norm.

There is basically no barrier to entry for home builders. It is a different skill set than running a single trade. It is not a huge surprise to me that a trade subcontractor turned home builder is having trouble scheduling.

I wouldn't say that it is the norm, but I always laugh when my friends tell me that they were promised that they would be in by 'x' date that is several months in the future when they build a home or get a remodel. I tell them they aren't gonna make that date and I have been right 100% of the time. Often, it is not the fault of the home builder, though it seems like it is in this case.