4 Details You Need To Attend To With Subcontractors
When it comes time to start breaking ground on your new project, it is important to have all of your subcontractors on the same page. The only way to keep your project running smoothly is to create methods for monitoring subcontractor work, and making sure that everyone is meeting their project requirements.
Site Inspections
As a general contractor, you are liable for all of the activity that takes place on your jobsite. To ensure the safety of your own workers, you perform regular site inspections to make sure that all of the equipment being used is safe, and all of the proper work methods are being followed. As the general contractor, you also have the right to inspect the work being done by each of your subcontractors as well.
It is the responsibility of the general contractor to perform routine site inspections to make sure that every subcontractor is performing within the guidelines of the project and the law. It is also to your advantage as a general contractor to spend time investigating the work methods and equipment of your subcontractors to make sure there are no potential OSHA violations occurring on your jobsite.
Subcontractor Work Schedule
In the contracting industry, time is money. Are you going to trust that your subcontractors are on schedule, or are you going to work closely with every subcontractor to make sure that they meet your project milestones? The smart general contractor spends plenty of time every day reviewing the project schedule with subcontractors, and making sure that each subcontractor will meet their time obligations.
A construction project is a very dynamic event where each subcontractor has to finish their task to make sure that the other subcontractors can do their jobs. When you allow subcontractors to work unsupervised, then you will suffer the consequences that come with falling behind in your schedule.
Subcontractor Staging
Are you going to allow your subcontractor to create their own staging areas for tools and materials, or are you going to have your subcontractors use the areas you have created? As the general contractor, it is your responsibility to maintain order on your worksite, and that means making sure that there is a separate section on your site for each type of work.
If you want your subcontractors to use your receiving area for their supplies, then create a schedule that will allow everyone to get their vendors in and out of the site without indcident. If you are going to have a medical treatment area for your workers, then you need to decide if you are going to allow your subcontractors to access that are as well.
Worksite Rules
Every contractor brings visitors to a worksite; even subcontractors. That is why the general contractor has to establish rules for the worksite that apply to all of the general contractor’s workers, and the subcontractors as well. When can there be visitors to the site? Where should visitors sign in? What parts of the jobsite are off limits to visitors? Each worksite has rules, and it is important that your subcontractors know your rules before work begins.
We work with contractors each day on finding new ways to make their projects safe and efficient. An unsafe project takes on unnecessary costs that eat into the overall profit margin, and that is something a general contractor cannot afford. By establishing a productive relationship with all of your subcontractors, your business will remain profitable and meet all of your project deadlines.