What were/are your expectations from your GC?

10 years ago

Just wondering if my DH and I are being unreasonable. This is are first kitchen and has been a huge learning experience. Our KD was/is to be the GC for our kitchen remodel. It started off bad, really bad. To save money, DH planned on ripping out the old kitchen and patching up all the walls and scrape the popcorn off ceiling and get it all ready for install. The GC never called the plumber or electrician, so the kitchen was out and he decided to start calling them and his electrician was out of the country for two weeks, so the process to find another took another week or so and thankfully we had rain so the electrician's other job was postponed, that was the only reason we got him. GC told my DH, should be able to patch it all up in a few days. Well by the time the electrician was done, 80% of the walls were gone and 1/2 of the ceiling, so took my DH 5 days to get it all dry walled to painted, looks really good. Anyway, the GC has only been out here twice since the cabinet installation started, once was for the granite template and the second was when I requested he come because the panel next to frig was to be cut and the decorative trim was then going to be hidden behind the trim.....ughhh I wanted to scream. The carpenter is asking me how far back to cut it, I don't freakin know, ask the KD. The carpenter asked me yesterday, so who is installing the appliances, again please ask our GC, I don't know. I am ordering tile, so I text my KD to check how much to order, he doesn't know and tells me how to measure for it. I don't know, isn't that the KD/GCs job? I am so frustrated, we are paying this guy to be our GC, are they supposed to be onsite? How often do you expect them to be? Am I expecting too much? We already complained to the owner, had him out here to see how long the project is taking due to his incompetent GC and lack of planning, he doesn't seem to be getting involved as much as I would have expected. Granite to come in on friday, so I called the tile guy to make sure he has us on his schedule, he didn't know who I was and knew nothing about the tile installation for our kitchen. Is it me??

Comments (7)

jellytoast
10 years ago
You know you don't really have to ask "Is it me," don't you? While a GC may not have to be on site at all times, they should be there often enough to make sure that the job is running smoothly. Measuring, determining what materials to order, scheduling the trades, etc. are all things that the GC should be doing. If he's not doing them, he should be delegating those responsiblities to someone other than YOU. Are his responsibilities spelled out in the contract?
blfenton
10 years ago
This is going to seem a little simplistic but it is how it worked - With our GC, we signed off on the plans, chose some finishings, signed off on those chosen by our KD and wrote cheques.

The GC did everything else - interacted with the subs, if they had questions they asked him and not me. If the GC didn't know the answer to the question asked by the sub then we would have a discussion. I was basically not allowed to deal with the subs except for a "good morning", they took their direction from the GC who took his from me. The GC did all the ordering of my choices because he did all the measuring.

I just hope that at the end of your reno that you don't wind up with a deficiency list nightmare combined with a lot of "he said, she said" and no one taking responsibility for any shortcomings or problems.
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CAGiselle
10 years ago
Our GC has his own employees. We haven't started yet but our contract says GC will be here daily to check work.
CAGiselle
10 years ago
Our GC has his own employees. We haven't started yet but our contract says GC will be here daily to check work.
fsteph
10 years ago
Mid-way thru my project. GC is here daily, often multiple times a day directing his crew and the trades. He calls/txts me updates and I write checks :-)

I hope you are not paying much for the services you are receiving!
gabbythecat
10 years ago
Our main sub - the guy that is assembling our log house - is handling the scheduling of the subs. He is also the site foreman. DH and I are doing the rest. This arrangement is saving us a bundle of money and we are getting precisely what we want inside the house, etc. We are very clear with our foreman about this; he expects to be on the site every day once our house actually starts going up. He lives about an hour from here - he may decide to live on site - not sure about that. I am giving the subs the name and phone number of the foreman; they know that he is the site boss, although I will be back up if they can't contact him for any reason. It helps that our foreman is a nice guy - we trust him to look out for our interests as we start building.

I do think that expectations need to be very clear from the beginning and all along the way.
threegraces
10 years ago
Our GC handled almost everything. We picked out the granite, lighting, sink and faucet because we wanted to. He took care of the flooring, the "stock" lighting (undercab, can lighting), all the subs - basically everything else. The entire job of the GC is to field those questions, not you. The only person that should be asking you questions should be the GC, in my opinion. That's what they are paid to do