How you can build better subcontractor relationships
As a general contractor, one of the most critical keys to success is maintaining collaborative, fruitful working subcontractor relationships. After all, you likely work with anywhere from hundreds to potentially thousands of them each year. They are the fuel powering your projects, wielding the carpentry hammer, plumbing the pipework, or wiring the electrical fixtures.
These days, tasked with managing projects that are larger, more complex and data-driven than ever before, it’s even more important to build solid subcontractor relationships. It can be a balancing act. On one hand, you need to effectively track the subcontractor job progress — holding them accountable for quality, safety and timelines. On the other, respecting the subcontractor’s expertise and seeking their input and innovation while also providing them with the resources, timely communications and information they need to perform highly.
On top of that, construction remains one of the most heavily-regulated industries with a need to maintain compliance at all times. Beyond the contractual agreements with the project owner and subcontractors, general contractors need to consistently keep tabs on building codes, insurance and bonding requirements, credit and background checks, prevailing wage and union payroll requirements, lien requirements, a plethora of safety regulations and much more. This often means that reigning in multiple subcontractor jobs on each project requires full-time attention.
With a healthy mix of industry best practices and modern technologies, today’s leading general contractors are able to not just maintain healthy working subcontractor relationships, but consistently improve them. Here are six tips these leading firms put into practice every day:
