After our DIY week, we are going to talk about how to find a contractor. You have three paths to choose from when building a home.
Path 1: Hire everything out. You want someone to build your house from start to finish and it be move-in ready.
Path 2: Do portions of the work yourself. You want someone to do the concrete, framing, plumbing, electrical, etc., but you want to do the drywall, flooring, cabinets, countertops.
Path 3: Do all the work yourself. Start at underground utilities and finish with fixtures, you can handle all of the work!
The first step is to determine which path you are taking and if you need a general contractor, only subcontractors, or great friends motivated by pizza.
What is the difference?
A general contractor (GC) is a licensed individual or company that will oversee your entire project from start to finish. This includes pulling permits, managing the schedule, coordinating different subcontractors, ordering materials and controlling costs. They carry insurance for the entire jobsite and are ultimately responsible for managing the budget and delays. They may or may not perform any of the work themselves, but they bring to the table a network of preferred subcontractors; people and companies they have worked with across multiple jobs with good results.
A subcontractor is highly specialized and brought in for specific tasks. If you are planning to build most of the project yourself, you may hire different subcontractors for only the areas of work that you do not wish to perform, like pouring the foundation or running the electrical wiring. Hiring a subcontractor directly puts you in the seat of the “general contractor”, so to speak. You are responsible for signing the contract, paying the invoices, scheduling the subcontractor to be on site when you need them to be, supervising the work to be done, and ensuring they have pulled the permits needed to do the work. Some subcontractors will work directly for homeowners, while others prefer to only work for licensed General Contractors.
Searching for a Contractor
The process for finding either a GC or subcontractor is very similar. Your local Chamber of Commerce or City Authority may carry a list of licensed companies in good standing. There may also be a local Builder’s Association chapter that can provide a list of members. If you purchase a microMansions kit, we provide any recommendations we have for contractors we have used in the past. We will also provide a bid package with construction documents included for you to obtain bids from contractors. microMansions does not act as a GC for your project. We will coordinate directly with you for plans, specifications and delivery of kit materials and you will hire the general contractor or subcontractors directly.
The Bid Process
Obtaining quotes from contractors for a project can be difficult if you’ve never built a home before. We are here to make that process easier for you! Included with your kit purchase is a bid package with all the information needed for a contractor to price out your project. We provide the floor plans and specifications for the products in our kits, as well as the selected finishes and structural information needed for your build. This bid package does come with a fee, as the bid process usually takes place before you sign a contract with us to purchase your kit. The fee for the bid package is treated as a non-refundable deposit towards your kit purchase. This process can take 4-6 weeks from start to finish. Once you receive the bids, we are happy to review them with you to answer any questions. We coordinate all information directly with you and your GC for the duration of the project. We also provide you with an 8-week build schedule, as well as binders that include all manufacturers’ installation instructions and warranty information for the products included in our kit.
Happy building!
