Questions to Ask General Contractors

[Becca Lavin]

Hello everyone! 

What are some important questions to ask general contractors in an effort to vet them? Bonus points for information related specifically to investors. I'm also open to recommendations of reputable contractors in the Raleigh/Durham and Fayetteville areas. 

Thanks in advance! 

[Bruce Woodruff]

Quote from @Steven Foster Wilson:

These are good ideas, but its also important to note that:
1) Contractors do not give out references that they had bad experiences with. So every reference you speak with is going to say nice things about the Contractor and you learn nothing. References are highly overrated.
2) It doesn't matter how many guys a Contractor has on his personal crew. I've seen (and had) a crew of 10, and a crew of two. What really matters is how well they run their subs and their own crew together. And for instance, who are these two guys? A GC with two craftsmen is preferable to a crew of 10 guys running around. One of the best competitor GCs I used to know had only 1 guy working for him. But this guy was such a craftsman and so good at managing a project that he was preferable to a larger crew. The key is how a GC runs his subs.