Sitework for new construction project

[Matt McPheely]

Hi everyone - I'm in the development process for a 1-acre 4-home construction project in downtown Greenville, SC. It seems tough to get the big guys to do civil work on a small project like this in a booming market, but not sure I want to manage individual contractors for things like utilities, bonding, grading, and road work. Anyone have experience to share on best way to proceed?

[Mike Garrett]

Matt, There are a couple of options. 

Hire a construction manager- many of these want to charge based on a hourly rate so this variable can affect your overall profit, negotiate for a fixed fee

Hire your architect to help. Architects have connections with lots of contractors (your civil engineer may be a great resource too). because of these relationships we sometimes can call in a favor for these too-small-for-the-big-guys-yet-too-big-for-the-little-guys projects. 

Find a small general contractor that is looking to scale up. This can be risky as you are really paying for their education to do this kind of project, but there are great concrete contractors that are looking for this kind of opportunity.