Helping people learn about construction for one year!

One year!

One year ago I started this blog, oh how time flies!

I started out slowly, but now I have got the hang of this blogging. I find it interesting how many people have questions about home construction and the construction industry in general.

I started this blog because of a disturbing trend that I have found in my dealings with home owners in the custom home building and custom renovating field. The disturbing trend was that people’s knowledge of building and building techniques seemed to be full of half truths and rumours that one person told another person. So my true goal for this blog is to help educate people about the construction industry in hopes it will make the dealings between contractor and home owner simpler and more transparent. If I can educate people before they arrive at my office then it makes my life easier.

The best clients that we have ever had are the ones that recognize that being a general contractor is a true profession and building a custom home properly is a complicated thing. There is nothing wrong with asking your contractor questions about why they do what they do or why they used a certain product. What is unacceptable is when the home owner accuses the general contractor they are doing something wrong or they are using the wrong product. Usually when we get homeowners accusing us of this, it’s when they have visited the jobsite alone without anyone around to explain things to them and they remember something they saw on an episode of HGTV. It takes longer to explain the situation later when the homeowner is accusing everyone of not knowing what they are doing then to simply explain what is going on at the site while everyone is present.

  What you will notice with everything I write is that I try to explain the process of how a homeowner and a general contractor should interact and communicate. If everyone understands how they are to communicate before they start working together then it has the ability to greatly enhance the learning curve between contractor and homeowner.

So in the future if you have any questions feel free to email them to me, I will be glad to answer them. I have already helped people from different places in Canada and the United States and I even had the pleasure to help a woman in Ireland.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more information and advice about custom home building and the construction industry.

Rob Abbott
Operation Manager
Village Builders Inc.

General Contracting what does this mean?

General Contracting what does this mean?
This is one of the most asked questions by people that read my blog. I decided when I started this blog that I would try to answer everyone’s questions to the best of my abilities.

So the question is what does General Contracting mean?

From my point of view, it means a company that manages and constructs residential and/or commercial construction projects. A general contractor is a construction company that builds and manages construction projects for their clients.

A few things about a general contractor that you should know;
• It is there job to construct the building to the best of their abilities by following the local building codes and the approved drawings.
• A general contractor is hired by the owner of the project or someone working on their behalf.
• A general contractor is responsible for all safety standards and the following of all safety procedures on the site.
• A general contractor will use their own employee’s or qualified sub contractors to complete the project.
• A general contractor is responsible for all budgeting, bill payment, sub contractor payment and change orders.
• A general contractor is to make sure that all appropriate inspections by building officials are completed and approved.
• A general contractor is responsible for quality of work and materials that are used by their employee’s and the sub contractors.
• A general contractor is responsible for creating and adhering to a schedule weather, client and sub contractor permitting.
• A general contractor is responsible for all warranties that need repairs after the project has been completed.
• A general contractor must be properly insured against any loss or damage that could occur.
• A general contractor is responsible for getting and keeping any appropriate licensing or accreditation that is required to construct the building project. For example; to build new homes you have to be a licensed new home builder in certain parts of North America.

If you are planning to build a new house you should hire a general contractor. They will help you have your plans drawn up, they will help you get approval from the local government to build the house and be able to give you a proper budget on what they believe that the house will cost you to construct.
They will organize the whole job, the material, the workers, the inspections and the timeline of when this will all happen. They will consult with you as the building is being constructed on any over runs, under runs, changes and upgrade options that you may need.
They will organize onsite and offsite meetings with you the homeowner and give you timelines of important decisions that you will have to make to keep the project moving along.
They make sure that your vision of what you want your custom home to look like will come to life and that you stay in the budget that you have approved.
A general contractor will make sure that when they are done all they do is hand you the keys so that you can move in and enjoy your new home.

I hope this answers the question of “what does it mean to be a general contractor?”

If anyone requires more information feel free to email me or post a commit and I will get back to you.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.