Should contractors be expected to work on Saturdays?

[Sofia De Santos Tavarez]

My husband and I just started our first flip and have found a contractor we like. He has great communication and seems to be reliable and was referred to us by my agent. He seems to be a little expensive but we think his work will be good. He gave us a timeline of 3 months in our first flip, but his timeline includes working 8 hours a day Monday - Friday.  Just wanted to check if this is industry standard or if I should expect longer hours? I know it's important to also not over work them, so want to be conscious of that while making sure we are also working with someone that is at least industry standard. He did mention that if he was to start getting behind, he would work longer hours or weekends if need be. Any advice helps.

[Bruce Woodruff]

As a loooongtime GC, I can tell you that the typical hours should be 7:00am - 3:30pm sharp. The crew will get there about 6:45 and start rolling out the extension cords, air compressors, etc. They will stop about 3:15 pm and roll up everything.

But if this is a typical GC, he will have more than one job going at any given time - he has to to keep his crews employed....there will be times on your project when a Sub-Contr is on-site and the GCs crews will take off (i.e., demo is one of those times, painting is another)....so don't freak out if they aren't there some days, it's very typical as I said.

The main thing that slows down a project is the customer making changes, so avoid changing anything once you start...also you should have a very clear and concise Scope Of Work to avoid conflict later on, like "what kind of tile goes where", "where do the pendant lights go"?

Good luck, and take it easy on the guys...bring them some lemonade and cookies once in a while and praise their work...it'll make a difference....

And no, they don't work weekends....unless you want to pay big bucks extra....