General Contract in Raleigh or list of good subs

BRUISER

BRUISER

silent.. but deadly
Moderator
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Raleigh
Ok I have talked to a bunch of GC in Raleigh area and they all seem to just drag there feet..

So I am looking for a Good GC ( someone you have actually used that will actually show up to give me a quote ) or if any of you have a list of good subs in Raleigh, then I will be my own GC and do it myself

this is not a small job.

I have a concrete sub.. but I need framing, roof, plumbing, electrical

thanks
Ken C
 
Who have you talked to?

GCs:

Greg Paul
Seab Howard
Bob Aiello
Dempsey Hodges
Brian Kemp
Drew Remaley
Original Space

Plumbing: Bart Tobin

Electrical: Jay Hicks
 
I'll throw the card in for my brother as an Electrician to consider. Commercial or Residential. Licensed and insured with many years under his belt and a slew of happy references. 30-40 that I turned him onto over the years all very happy and return occasionally. He' serviced the office complex I work in for many years now. But he's only getting maybe 25-30 hours a week right now and could use the work. Very hard worker!

Jeff Jones
919-723-6699
 
The one thing I did not want to do was just start calling all the ones listed on CL. I was hoping for referrals.

So I asked a bunch of folks and I have called a bunch and left VM, 5 got back with me and only 3 have shown up at the house to look at the plans I have (all done in autocad to spec) and only 1 has come back with pricing and it was crazy HIGH..

I was hoping to get 4 or more people to give me some price quotes so I can see if they are all in line or not.

with what I have see with them being so unresponsive, I started to think why not just do it myself and hire subs.. the biggest issue I have found is Framers. I can take my plans to someone like pro builders and get all the wood ordered and delivered but I need someone that can come in read my plans and frame it up.. that seems to be the hardest group for me to find
 
Brian Kemp is a GC but also does framing for other contractors. He did our renovation, so tell him I gave you his name.
 
BRUISER said:
all done in autocad to spec
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There's your problem. If you go drawing up that fancy stuff, they know you are going to be very particular and have high expectations of everything, so they charge accordingly or avoid the job. Contractors work on napkin drawings over bojangles biscuits on the back of a white Ford truck.
 
Feel free to call if you want to at least chat.

I'm a GC and have zero employees; I would be subbing everything out much like you would do by yourself
 
Likewise, everyone I listed above subs most if not all the work out. The GC just manages the project. That's the key, because scheduling the trades and deliveries effectively makes the difference between a well-run job and a nightmare job. Something else to think about, especially if you don't know subs personally, is that those subs are beholden to the GCs for the majority of their work. Keeping those GCs happy is important, so their work may take priority over side jobs.

If you have the time to run it yourself, you can totally do it. Speaking from experience, I recommend having a GC.
 
Running it yourself is totally doable, if you have the time and are willing to do it. A GC pretty much just gets paid to make time to do it plus they tend to be a little more efficient with the subs because they are a little more experienced in working with them and construction in general.

If you have the time, you can save yourself some decent $ by doing it yourself.
 
jeepinmatt said:
There's your problem. If you go drawing up that fancy stuff, they know you are going to be very particular and have high expectations of everything, so they charge accordingly or avoid the job. Contractors work on napkin drawings over bojangles biscuits on the back of a white Ford truck.
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I understand that but I still think it is stupid..

I can give a GC drawings that they can just take to inspection office and get a permit.. makes no sense why you would not want that.
 
BRUISER said:
I understand that but I still think it is stupid..

I can give a GC drawings that they can just take to inspection office and get a permit.. makes no sense why you would not want that.
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From what I've seen (and maybe Davidson County is different), most GC's only want blue-prints from engineers they know and have worked with. Seems REALLY stupid since and engineered drawing is supposed to be just that - an engineered drawing.

When we did my addition, I was the GC and prior to that, I had very little carpentry background and no engineering degree or anything. The permit department worked with me quite well. I was upfront about what I wanted and they helped me accomplish it. The biggest thing that I had to deal with was the trusses. The truss manufacturer sent me the drawings based on my specifications and I submitted them. All was well with that, so on I rolled.

The only parts that I subbed out were the foundation (and come to find out, the mason made my rectangular building slightly keystone shaped by 3/4"), rough electrical (Thank you WillC!!!!!) and HVAC.
 
ManglerYJ said:
From what I've seen (and maybe Davidson County is different), most GC's only want blue-prints from engineers they know and have worked with. Seems REALLY stupid since and engineered drawing is supposed to be just that - an engineered drawing.

When we did my addition, I was the GC and prior to that, I had very little carpentry background and no engineering degree or anything. The permit department worked with me quite well. I was upfront about what I wanted and they helped me accomplish it. The biggest thing that I had to deal with was the trusses. The truss manufacturer sent me the drawings based on my specifications and I submitted them. All was well with that, so on I rolled.

The only parts that I subbed out were the foundation (and come to find out, the mason made my rectangular building slightly keystone shaped by 3/4"), rough electrical (Thank you WillC!!!!!) and HVAC.
Click to expand...

the funny is where my wife works has engineers on staff that have already said they would make sure her plans are correct before we ever submitted them..

i guess the just dont like people with cad experience.. especially the one guy that was like ya ah can you just print that.. I dont think he even had a computer to be honest
 
BRUISER said:
the funny is where my wife works has engineers on staff that have already said they would make sure her plans are correct before we ever submitted them..

i guess the just dont like people with cad experience.. especially the one guy that was like ya ah can you just print that.. I dont think he even had a computer to be honest
Click to expand...


To the average hammer operator, I'm sure a homeowner coming to them with a set of engineered drawings saying "build this" might seem intimidating since they always want to be the one who knows it all. Them saying, "I can build you X" and then going and seeking out someone to draw out what they promised to build even if it ends up as the same drawing as the homeowner with the engineered drawings seems to be a little easier for them to swallow.

It's all about their ego.
 
Gave this some thought...

Speaking with framing experience, there's no way to snap out the floor with chalk line without a detailed drawing. Unless it's something simple or you snap out the same pattern over and over every day or something and just "know"??? But SOMEONE better know how to read plans to get everybody else started or you're in for trouble!!!

Plus, there's codes to where exactly the plumbing has to be, electrical boxes need to be, what room gets what, ect. And I'd be pissed if I gave a set of plans to a GC and came out with something different built. And the engineered set of plans would be "exhibit A" when I took them to court for at least half refund.

After SOMEONE snaps out the floor, everybody else can be average hammer operators. But there will be a floor snapped out before any hammer operator ever sets foot onto an open floor. Always! No way around it???
 
You get better quotes when a client has detailed drawings and knows what they want. It's the people who figure it out as they go that end up blowing the budget clear out of the water and then blame the contractor, architect, anybody but themselves. I've worked with architects who got lazy because they always worked with the same contractors who knew how to ask the right questions... and I've had the same contractors tell me they get better results with more detailed plans.
 
Not only do you get better pricing, but you also know what you are getting as a homeowner. Having detailed drawings may be a little more $ but it sets the level of expectation for everyone. But that still doesn't prevent a contractor from trying to cut a few corners to save some $. To combat that, a set of detailed specifications would be needed, but then you start to overwhelm most contractors.
 
Don't worry about specifications, they have to do everything to code and the CoR inspectors are pretty good at their jobs. At a residential scale, you're picking the appliances and fixtures yourself, so there may be some price comparison between vendors but not like on a commercial job. You pick what you want, how much research you do on quality or performance is up to you.

DO walk through and punch list every invoice they submit, prior to payment, to make sure they did not only what they claim but what you wanted and to your satisfaction. It doesn't help to find, a year later, that they didn't paint the top of the door trim.
 
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