Just purchased an apartment complex but need to hire a general contractor to do the rehab? There's no difference here than if you were to hire one to re-model your house.
It's just a bigger project.
To start with check their references of past work his company has done in this last six and twelve months respectively.
Call several and drive to at least one.
At the same time ask for your general contractor's driver's license just to make sure he's who he says he is.
At the same time run their credit report.
You don't think you can do that? I would think so.
Run a criminal check.
All this can be run in a short amount of time.
This is just on the first time you meet the new general contractor.
Wikipedia: A general contractor is a group or an individual that contracts with another organization or individual (the owner) for the construction, renovation or demolition of a building, road or other structure.
A general contractor is defined as such if it is the signatory as the builder of the prime construction contract for the project.
In the end you're trying to figure out if you can trust someone you don't know; that when it's all said and done you're going to write a check for several thousands dollars.
See if his company is a member of the Better Business Bureau.
Call his office to see if a live person answers the phone.
Make sure his office can fax over a copy if their general liability insurance is up to date.
Make sure its insurance and not just bonding.
The bonding part would just pertain to one job.
I know this process seems a bit long, but if this is a professional general contractor outfit they won't mind.
It's better to be safe than sorry! You're the one giving the go ahead to work on your apartment complex that's worth over a million bucks.
You want to get a commitment of how long the job is going to take, how much it's going to cost, are they going to haul off all their trash and when they can get started on the job.
One of the main things is to not pay anything up front.
Though in the scope of work papers look into the payment schedule.
This is for projects that take a few months.
This can all be changed up as you see fit.
The idea is to always owe way more than the general contractor has cost into the job.
To sum up your inquiry you may ask the general contractor will he use many different subcontractors, so if any questions you want to know who they use, feel free to ask.
A good question.
It would not be good if six weeks into the project and for whatever reason you had an issue with the roofing company he uses and you had a lean on that company.