Picking a general contractor in Houston: what to ask first

The proposal in your inbox gives you a number and a start date. It does not tell you who will be standing in the parking lot at six in the morning when the concrete truck is late, or who answers the phone the week before you open. That person decides how your Houston project ends, and picking a general contractor is mostly a search for who that person will be.

Ask who runs the job, by name

Start with a plain question: who will be on my site, and how often. Some firms send an estimator to sell the job and a superintendent you have never met to build it. Others put a principal of the company on the project, and that principal walks the site, prices the changes and answers the calls. Ask for the name. Ask whether that name will still be attached to the job in month four. Ask whether the person who priced the work will be the person running it. On our jobs the answer is yes, and we think it is a question you should put to everyone you interview.

Ask what the last month looks like

Most owners compare contractors on how a job starts. The better test is how a job finishes. Ask each candidate to describe the final thirty days of a recent project: when the punch walk happened, who wrote the list, how long the items took to close, and whether the owner opened on the date promised at contract. A contractor who talks easily about turnover, inspections, keys and the day the doors opened has done it enough times to have a rhythm. One who only talks about the start of the job may not have a plan for the end.

Confirm the license and the insurance certificates before you sign, and ask for them to be sent directly to you. That is the entry ticket, not the decision. Once it is in hand, ask which parts of the work the contractor performs with its own people and which parts are subcontracted. We keep crews for framing, drywall, paint, millwork, tile, stone, concrete and glazing, which helps us hold a finish date when the market is busy, but we treat that as a supporting fact. What you are really buying is a person who owns the outcome.

Ask how the number was built

A budget assembled from allowances is a guess with a decimal point. Ask each bidder to show the scope behind each line: what finish level was assumed, which items are allowances, what is excluded, and how a change in the field gets priced and approved. Then ask how the schedule ties to the number. A contractor who cannot explain the connection between the two will discover it later, on your job, at your expense.

Talk to someone who opened on their date

References are only useful if you ask them the right questions. Skip "were you happy" and ask instead: did you open when you were told you would open, did the owner show up when something went wrong, did the final number match the contract plus the changes you approved, and would you hand this contractor your next set of plans. Call at least two. Listen for hesitation more than for praise.

A note on Houston in particular

Houston permitting, drainage rules and the pace of the local trade market all shape a schedule, and a contractor who works here every week knows which reviews take longest and which inspections to book early. Ask how the candidate handles the City of Houston permit path versus a job in a surrounding jurisdiction, and how they plan around a summer that can rain out site work for a week at a time.

We are licensed and insured. The principals bring over 20 years of combined experience, and one of us is on your site from the first day of demolition to the morning you open. Send over your plans and your target opening date, and we will tell you what it takes to hit it.