Picking a commercial GC: what to ask before the contract

Three proposals on the table, all within a few percent of each other, all with the same paragraph about quality and communication. Owners tell us this is where the decision gets hard, and it is, because the proposal is the least useful document you will see from a contractor. The useful information comes from questions the proposal does not answer. Here is how we would compare contractors if we were sitting in your chair.

Start with who shows up

Ask who will be standing on your site on a Tuesday morning in month four. Not who signs the contract, not who presents at the interview. The person who runs the daily work is the person who decides whether you open on the date, and on a lot of jobs that person was never in the room during the sales process.

At our company that person is one of the principals. The person who priced the job runs the job. You get the owner's cell, and the owner walks the punch list with you before turnover. Whatever contractor you pick, get the same clarity: a name, a phone number and a straight answer about how many other projects that person is carrying at the same time.

Ask how the number was built

Two bids at the same total can be built from completely different things. One is priced from a full takeoff of your drawings with every trade quoted. The other has allowances for the kitchen equipment, the storefront, the tile and the lighting, and those allowances are placeholders that will be replaced with real numbers after you sign.

Ask each contractor to show you the allowances and the assumptions. Ask what is excluded. A contractor who priced from real scope can walk you through it line by line. A contractor who padded the gaps will talk in generalities. On renovation and PIP work, ask specifically how existing conditions were handled, because what is behind the wall is where most of the surprise money hides.

Ask what protects the date

Every contractor will say the schedule is important. Ask how it is tracked and what happens the first time a trade falls behind. Ask who has the authority to add crews or resequence work on the spot, and whether that person has to call a subcontractor's office to do it.

This is where in-house crews matter, not as a headline but as a practical fact. We keep framing, drywall, paint, millwork, tile, stone, glazing, roofing, concrete and excavation on our own payroll, so when a floor needs to be finished by Friday the owner can move people that afternoon. Ask any contractor which trades are theirs and which are subcontracted, and think about which of those trades sit on the path to your opening.

Ask about changes before there are any

A change order is not a failure. A change order that arrives after the work was done, with no price and no schedule impact, is. Ask each contractor to describe their change process from the moment a field condition is found to the moment you sign. The answer should include a written cost, a stated number of days added or not added, and your approval before anyone touches it. If the answer skips any of those, expect surprises.

Call the references and ask about the end

References will tell you what you ask them. Do not ask whether the contractor was good to work with. Ask whether the building opened on the promised date. Ask how many change orders there were and what caused them. Ask who the reference actually dealt with day to day and whether that person was reachable. Ask if the punch list was walked with them or mailed to them. Then ask whether they would call the same contractor for their next project without getting other bids. That last question tells you almost everything.

No single answer settles it. What you are looking for is consistency: specific answers about the person on site, the way the number was built, the way the date is protected and the way changes are handled. A contractor who is specific on all four will probably be specific on your job. A contractor who is polished in the proposal and vague in the interview will probably be vague when the schedule tightens.

We are licensed and insured. The principals carry over 20 years of combined experience between them, and the owner is on site on every job. If you are comparing contractors for a hotel, an apartment community, a store or an office build-out, send the drawings and we will answer every question above in writing.