Remodeling Made Easy: Do You Need a General Contractor?

/ Rio Contracting/

DO YOU NEED A GENERAL CONTRACTOR

If you’re reading this, you’ve most likely wondered whether or not hiring a general contractor is necessary for your upcoming home improvement project. While there’s clearly a value in letting a professional manage your project, if the work scope is not too involved and you’ve got a great DIY attitude, you may very well be able to skip out on this additional cost.

What is a General Contractor?

A general contractor (GC) is someone who coordinates and supervises every aspect of a renovation project from start to finish. This includes obtaining any necessary permits (building, plumbing, electrical, etc.), purchasing construction materials, and hiring and managing subcontractors. Whatever trades are required for a given project, the general contractor will schedule and manage their work so that it’s completed in an efficient manner.

Benefits of a good General Contractor

  • Knows how to schedule subcontractors in the most efficient order, minimizing the time it takes to reach a completion date, and potentially even saving you money

  • Relationships with vetted subcontractors and vendors, ensuring high quality/proper workmanship is performed

  • Expertise in spotting and addressing unforeseen problems

  • You, as the homeowner, need to be a lot less involved and deal with only one contractor, while he/she will handle all the subcontractors and their paperwork (licenses, worker’s compensation, liability insurance, etc.)

When you may not need a General Contractor

  • Your home improvement project doesn’t require filing for a permit with the building department (permitted projects usually require a licensed professional to run the job)

  • The work only requires one specialized contractor, or the various work performed at the job site does not interfere with one another (i.e. flooring and electrical)

  • The project will not take long to complete

Final Thoughts

Whether or not you need to hire a general contractor for your upcoming home renovation will be completely dependent on the work scope, as well as your experience and knowledge of dealing with subcontractors. We hope this guide can help you in making this decision, but if you still aren’t sure and have any questions, you can always reach out to Rio Contracting and we will certainly help you out.