A website that shows GCs your past work
A GC or an owner who looks you up should find your past work in a minute. We built covenantcommercialconstruction.com for Covenant Commercial Construction: who they build for, their projects with photos, and how they work, in 4 steps. Then we ran a hiring campaign for them, and it brought about 800 visitors to the site in 2 weeks.
For your own site, start with the projects: a photo, the size, the sector and the GC or owner you built it for. Then say who you build for, and how a job runs with you, from the first call to the closeout.
When a general contractor doesn’t pay you
Google suggests “what to do if a general contractor doesn’t pay you” as you type. Nothing here is legal advice, so talk to a construction attorney early. What you can do on each job:
- Read the payment terms before you sign. Check whether you get paid only when the GC gets paid, and how long that can take.
- Set up your schedule of values with the GC at the start, line by line, so each pay app bills a percent complete against lines they have already seen.
- Send every pay application on the GC’s schedule, in their format, with backup attached.
- Get every change order in writing, priced and signed, before the work.
- Track retainage by job, with the date it should be released and any warranty period tied to it.
- Keep your requests in writing, by email, with dates.
- Know your state’s deadlines for a mechanic’s lien or a payment bond claim. Ask a construction attorney for yours before a payment is late.
The paper trail is what you have when a payment is late. Build it every day while the work is fresh, so it’s ready the week you need it.
Daily logs that hold up
A good daily log is written the same day by the person who was there. Include the date, the weather, the crew count by trade, the work done and where, deliveries, delays and why, visitors and inspections, and photos with the time on them. Keep the same order every day so anyone can read it fast. Don’t wait a week and write it from memory. Before work gets covered, photograph what’s in the wall, under the slab or above the ceiling, and note the floor and the grid line in the log. When a delay is someone else’s, say whose in the log, with the time you told them.
Change orders, in writing, before the work
Don’t do extra work on a verbal yes. When the GC or the owner asks for something outside your scope, write it up before you start: what changes, the price, and the effect on the schedule. Get it signed, and send the signed copy back the same day. Number each change order in order, and keep a running list for the job: the number, what changed, the price and whether it’s signed. Then show approved changes on every pay app, so they’re billed with the rest of the month.
How to get on a GC’s bid list
Prove to GCs that you show up and finish, and make it easy for an estimator to say yes:
- Keep a prequalification packet ready: insurance certificates, your license, references, a safety record and your bonding capacity if you have it.
- Show your past projects with photos, sizes and the GC you built them for, on your website and in the packet.
- Call the estimators at the GCs you want to work for, and ask how their bid lists work.
- Answer every invite, even with a no-bid, and follow up after every bid you send.
- Keep a list of the bids you send: the GC, the project, the bid date, your number and the day you followed up.
Punch lists that close the job
Ask the GC what releases your retainage. If it waits on the punch list, a slow punch list is slow money. Walk the punch list with the GC as early as they allow. Give every item a photo, a location and the person who will fix it. Mark each one done with an after photo the day it’s fixed, and send the GC the closed list with the photos attached. Ask for the sign-off in writing, and put the date it was asked for in your records, so the date is on paper when you ask for your retainage.
The app we’d build next: the field and the office
This app is an idea, not a build yet: the next thing we’d build for a company like yours. Field: today’s job, the daily log and photos, punch lists and RFIs. Office: change orders, pay applications, retainage and what’s owed, job by job. On Growth it connects to the tools you already use, and a new feature or automation comes every month. It runs on phones in the field and computers in the office.
Not ready to start? Have Otis audit your business, free.
