When to fire contractors

[Thomas Fortune]

For those that have fired contractors, what was your breaking point? Particularly when dealing with a contractor who is late starting (or finishing) a job - it often feels like a rock and a hard place. Options are to fire them, and deal with the downtime of locating and scheduling a new contractor, or try and make the best of a bad situation with current contractor. What have you done?

[Peter MacKercher]

@Thomas Fortune

I fire contractors if we simply don't get along or if I don't think they'll be able to finish the project. Sometimes you can tell when someone is defeated and it'd better to cut your loses and move on.

I have something similar to what @Jeff B. mentioned that I add to my contracts. After I get their bid and proposed finish date I add that, for every day before their projected finish date, I'll pay them an extra $100. For every day after their finish date I pay them $100 less. Gives them incentive on both ends to finish early, and so far I've never had to pay out the extra $100 once.