Benefits of Hiring a General Contractor

If you are considering building a new home or doing any sort of major renovations (such as an addition, bathroom or kitchen remodel, etc.) then you will need to hire a General Contractor (GC). I know there are a lot of people out there thinking to themselves, "I can act as the GC, it can't be that hard..."

To start with the basics, I want to make sure you know the difference between a GC and a subcontractor (Sub). Subs are specialists in a certain trade of the construction industry. Examples of subcontractors are plumbers, electricians, masons, painters, drywallers, framers, finish carpenters, etc.

General Contractors hire and manage subcontractors. Which brings me to the first reason you should hire a GC- We, as GC's have established good working relationships with subs. We know which subs share our work ethic and commitment to quality work. We know which subs can get their part of a job done on time, and have weeded out those who can't. In our case, subs know that we are fair, organized, and pay them on time. All reasons that they enjoy working for us, give us fair prices and strive to make us happy.

Something that is often overlooked by homeowners is the number of subcontractors that need to be involved in a project. Let's take a Kitchen remodel for example. Typically you would need a plumber, an electrician, a drywaller, a carpenter, a cabinet installer, a tile setter, a painter, and someone to install the countertops. That is a lot of people to manage! For things to go smoothly everyone must be scheduled to come in at the right time and in the correct order. All the materials that they need must be there when needed. A GC can get the job done much more quickly than a homeowner simply because he has experience on his side! Ultimately this results in less money spent and less stress for you.

To put it simply, the General Contractor is the manager of your project. The GC hires and oversees all the subcontractors. The GC also makes sure that all of the products and materials needed for the project are there when they need to be. The GC is the only person that the homeowner will need to sign a contract with and pay directly. The GC is then responsible for paying subs and suppliers. It is imperative that the GC be a good communicator because he needs to keep you informed as to what is happening throughout the project, and he also needs to communicate any concerns you may have to the subs and vice-versa.

As in the case of any job that involves multiple people working together, your construction job needs a manager. Hire a professional General Contractor!

Save Trees! Reduce the amount of paper used in your office

Here are some simple steps that I take to make our home office more eco-friendly.

• Use an online fax service This is a great way to save paper and save money. You receive faxes as a PDF. They come straight to your email, so you only need to print out documents that you really need a hard copy of. Otherwise, you can just save them to your computer. If you are just starting out you can save even more money because you don't need to buy a fax machine. It also eliminates the need for a separate phone line. (Take my advice and do NOT try and have your phone and fax lines be the same- the whole 'you just have to let me know you're sending a fax so I can switch it over' is SO unprofessional!)We have been using myfax for several years now, and I have no complaints. We pay $10/month and it's completely worth it in my opinion.
• Receive & pay bills online when possible This is one of the easiest ways to save trees- use less paper! You can simplify things by signing up for auto-pay programs too.
  
• Print drafts on recycled paper (meaning flip it over & use the other side!) I am pretty hard core about not wasting paper. Although I have drastically reduced the number of things I actually print out, of course I am still printing pages of paper on a daily basis. Now I save pieces that only have 1 used side (whether they are pieces of junk mail or things that I had to print out but didn't end up using). Anytime I print a draft or something for my own personal use I just use the other side of the paper I have been saving. We save a ton of paper with this method! It really makes sense, too- just try it & you will be surprised how many instances this comes in handy.
• Buy printer paper made from recycled content When I first started working out of our home office, I bought a case of paper from Costco. It literally lasted me around 2 years, maybe more like 3- it was ridiculous! It is really inexpensive to go that route, but totally unnecessary for a business our size that takes the steps we do to not waste paper. When the case finally ran out I started buying reams(500 sheets) of 100% recycled paper. Makes a lot more sense! Staples has a range of products that use anywhere from 30%-100% fewer trees. This is one of those things that I strongly believe in doing- why cut down new trees to make paper when it is completely feasible to make paper out of recycled content?!

As this is my first post I'm going to try and keep it short & sweet- check back for more small changes that make a big difference!