Let’s begin by reviewing the standard rules of remodeling. What are they? When I ask this during seminars, I let about 15 seconds pass and no one says a thing. Look, it’s a trick question. There are no standard rules of remodeling. That’s one of the reasons that the remodeling industry has some of the problems it has. It’s one of the reasons that consumers are never really sure what they are going to get. But there’s one person who steps in to choreograph this dance that we call remodeling. That person is called the “general contractor.”

You’re the coach

A good GC is like a coach. He organizes the players (employees, subcontractors and suppliers) so they play as a team, and if they play as a team, they have a chance to win (make money!). When they don’t play as a team, the team loses, and if they lose too many times, the coach can lose his or her job. (Just how many jobs can you lose money on?) The coach asks that the players on the team to work together to run plays (show up on time and do what they’ve been asked to do). If one player on that team ignores the coach’s direction and does it his or her own way (doesn’t show up on schedule or get the work done in a timely fashion), what does a good coach do? He pulls that person out of the game, sits him/her down on the end of the bench and says, “you either play my way or you don’t play at all.”

Homeowners

How does a general contractor create order out of chaos — rules in a world without any set rules? For the homeowners they do it through good plans and specifications. Clear plans and specifications eliminate confusion, cost overruns and misunderstanding. Basically, good plans and specifications are how the contractor and homeowner agree on what is going to be built. A good GC also provides a schedule to show how long it will take to complete their project.

Employees

In addition to that, you also have a set of plans for your employees. You have a set of agreements concerning hours of employment, compensation, company benefits, company codes of conduct and the procedures they are going to follow to produce what is on the plans and specs.

Subcontractors

So, we’ve addressed homeowners and employees. The third question is how are you coaching your subcontractors? Are you working with them in the same way that you’re working with your employees and homeowners? What are the agreements that you make with your subcontractors? Have you provided a clear set of expectations that they agree to before the job begins? This is the job of the general contractor. What are the agreements that you make with your trade contractors? Do you have a clear set of expectations that they can agree to?