General contractors: what do you need?

[Jordan Kohl]

If you're in the business of managing the various sub-contractors during remodels and flips, I'm very curious to know what your biggest challenges are. I'll go out on a limb and guess that it's currently not finding enough work to stay busy.

What's your biggest headache? What are you wishing you just didn't have to deal with, or could have someone else take care of? What do you wish your clients understood that they just don't seem to get?

[Bruce Woodruff]

My largest problem has always been the customer. More in recent years. Unreasonable expectations of time and budget....even though they have complete control over both. Constant changes to the approved plans, requiring Change Orders. Not a couple per job, I'm talking 30-40 per project...and then of course the shock when the schedule and budget became affected by their COs, and with the blame always on the GC and his subs.

Now, I was working with high-end customers and projects - average remodel:$500k+, average build $2mil....but you would think these people would be smarter than your average client, right? Nope. One lawyer didn't want a drain in the shower because it was ugly.....you can't make it up....

And then came HGTV....people would watch that at night and expect the same on the real-world jobsite...like the lady that wondered why my painter was taking a month to paint her whole house when she saw a HGTV painter do it in a half hour...

Rant over.