Ideas on getting subs to finish work on time

[Allen L.]

HI guys,

My contractor tells me that he has issues getting his subs to come to the job site and finish what they are contracted to do. I gave him the idea of putting % rewards for finishing earlier than and % penalties for finishing later than the scheduled finish date in the contracts, but he says the subs don’t care! He says all they care about is receiving the down payment. I don’t know if I fully understand that reasoning  

Do you guys have some ideas on how to help my GC dealing with his subs? He’s a good guy and does really honest work for good price but this is too frustrating and probably already cost me 1 month delay per property on sub issues. 

[Eric M.]

It is a big problem if all the subs care about is getting the down payment. That means your DP is too much and they have no intention to finish the project.

But your REAL problem is your GC. If he can't get subs to work and you are giving him ideas to do so, then he is failing at his basic job. You need a new GC, not new subs.