How to determine when to Pay GC or contractors on Rehab

[Buyan Thyagarajan]

Hi Guys,

I am currently in the process of doing Rehabs on my 2 single-family homes around Philly. I had a bad incident where a contractor ran away in the middle of the construction and I have hired a new company who is working on the 2 projects now. I have made some payments for the initial advance and demo and currently, they are working on the house. My rehab is simple where I am replacing the floors with LVP, repainting, adding a half bath, kitchen redo, and bathroom redo. I had paid close to 50% on the first project and the contractor is asking for a payment. How do you guys set milestones on rehab projects and how do you determine project progress like 30% done, 50% done, etc? How do you determine when to pay the GC on payments? Do you have any project management templates in excel or any other tool which could help?

Buyan