Have you ever looked at a home improvement project with the attitude of, “How hard can it be, really?” This is typically the attitude of someone with a can-do spirit who likes a good challenge. They are willing to learn on the job if it means gaining the satisfaction of having completed a task on their own and maybe saving some money in the process.
In the home construction and home remodeling industry, we come across these types of people on occasion. They can sometimes look at general contractors and see us as an unnecessary part of the process. They reason that they are perfectly capable of hiring subcontractors on their own to get a project completed. After all, it’s just a matter of making some phone calls and telling the subcontractors when they want them on site and what they want them to do, right?
If only it were that simple!
Finding good subcontractors who do quality work for a fair price in Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills can be a challenge. At Scott McKee Construction, we’ve spent years creating a network of the best subcontractors in our area who we can call on for specialty work that we can’t complete using our own team. But, even if you had a list of all of the best subcontractors in Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills, you could still struggle with getting a home construction or remodeling project completed in a timely manner and run into a lot of issues that you didn’t anticipate.
A big part of managing subcontractors on large projects has to do with communication and setting expectations. For example, if you were going to have new trim and crown molding put in your home, you would likely have to hire one subcontractor to install the trim and crown and then hire someone else to paint it. You would have to make sure that one of the subcontractors agrees to fill in the nail holes prior to painting. If you don’t, you could be left in a situation where the trim installer says it’s the painter’s job and the painter says it’s the trim installer’s job. This will leave your project at a standstill until you inevitably pay one of them extra to complete this task. A good general contractor will have communicated in advance with one of the subcontractors to make sure it was included in their scope of work.
This is just a very small example of the type of situation that can come up. Another situation that could arise is having tasks completed in the wrong order, which could lead to you having to do certain tasks twice. Some things need to be completed in an obvious order of events—like having the electrical lines run prior to having the drywall installed—but others are not as clear cut.
The saying, “You don’t know what you don’t know” can certainly apply to homeowners who take on the task of serving as their own general contractor in Mission Viejo or Laguna Hills. Even the handiest of homeowners will, at some point, run into a situation that they didn’t anticipate. That’s when it would have been advantageous to have an experienced general contractor in Mission Viejo or Laguna Hills on their side. As a general contractor who has been in business for more than three decades, we’ve come across virtually every scenario with regard to home construction and remodeling.
Our experience allows us to anticipate situations that could arise and prepare for them before they become problems. It also allows us to make helpful suggestions and come up with solutions that our clients might not have considered.
We would love to help you with your upcoming project in Mission Viejo, Laguna Hills, or any of the surrounding areas! Contact us today to get the conversation started!
