General Contractor vs hiring subs

[Bin Chen]

Hi all,

I've read articles online about how if done right, hiring a bunch of subcontractors and managing your own projects is cheaper and more cost effective. From what I've read, general contractors only do what they know how to do and sub out the work to subcontractors anyway. I have done other renovations before but have always worked with general contractors. I'm looking for some insight on if its worth it or not.

A little about the project:

I am converting a 2 family house to a 3 family so I think it is a fairly large renovation project. I need to do 3 new kitchens, 5 bathrooms, add some walls, new stairs, 3 new boilers, new split air system, polish and stain 2 floors of hardwood floor and redo the wood flooring on a 3rd. Sprinkler system and new concrete sidewalks. The house is about 3000 sf. Ive been getting quotes around 200k. I've read that GCs generally gave a 15-20% markup so if I can get better quality work and save 30-40k I am willing to do the extra work but just want some insight.

I believe I would need to hire:

Demo crew to take out existing fixtures

A carpenter for the framing of the walls and stairs. (installing the moldings/cabinets? not sure who does that)

Electrician to make sure everything works and make repairs

Plumber to install the sinks and tubs and boilers

Hvac person to install the split air

drywaller to install and plaster the walls

Tiling crew for the bathroom and kitchen tiles

Painter to paint

Flooring crew to polish and install new hard wood

I tried to put things in order but not sure if its done in that order.

Thank you in advance for any advice

[Alfred Edmonds]

Bin Chen
A good GC is worth it. Scheduling subs and understanding the flow of construction is not as easy as some would say. A good GC has relationships with subs already in place and many times subs will be way more flexible with their schedule with someone they work with regularly.

Homeowners trying to act as GC to save a few bucks almost always lose money.

If one is not intimately familiar with how things work they will inevitably overlook things and that can sometimes mean redoing work or opening up already finished work in order to get inspected.

Time is $.

A good GC is worth every penny. A bad one is worthless so do your homework and ask for references. Make sure they are licensed and insured and have active workmans comp.