Yes it has Steve. I personally only use a contractor for Gutters because you have to have a gutter machine to make them seamless. There is nothing you cannot hire out yourself. Even electrical. Just post on Facebook, craigslist or where ever you prefer and start trying people out. Just be prepared to let most of them go once you find out they lied about there skills just to get a days pay so they can run straight to there dealer to fill there meth pipes.
If you take the time to sort through them you will find a few good men. Guess what you just became, your a contractor now. Can even go get a license if you want to look cool. Maybe pass out some shiny cards. But better yet, you save 10's of thousands of dollars that would have went to contractors to do the same thing for you.
I'm not saying this is easy, but it is necessary to keep from bleeding out.
I think a lot of guys think they will just buy a messed up house and call 3 companies, hire one and there off and running. They night be getting that from TV or something, I am not sure but Make sure you have a lot of money and several check books before you try that. Contractors don't like credit cards.
Shawn Coverdell
Homes in the Hood
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Absolutely, for some people this approach works just fine. It really depends on the scope of work. Where it can go off the rails is when you encounter advanced problems you have little experience with such as structural or foundation issues. Or if you know a lot less than the person you've hired to do some work for you, how do you know you're not getting ripped off?
Here's an example...years ago I got a call from someone who had bought a 3 flat in Logan Square (a hot area in Chicago) and he was trying to be his own GC. He hired an electrician from Craig's List to rewire the entire building. The person he hired lied about being licensed, had no insurance and did not bother to pull a permit. They did shoddy work, ran bare wires behind the walls and plastered over them so nobody would see, and ended up skipping out on the owner with $5,000 of his money. I went in and fixed everything--my electrician is licensed and insured, as am I--but it cost the owner about $10,000 to do the repairs. The issue was the owner did not know enough about doing electrical work to see the red flags the person he hired was putting up and by the time he figured it out it was too late.
The cool thing about construction is there's always something to learn. Unfortunately learning can be a costly and frustrating process if you're trying to do it all yourself. If you find a good GC to help manage your projects it can save you a lot of headache and time. For smaller projects, one off things here and there, a good tradesperson is sufficient. But for a $200,000+ gut rehab, or a ground up development, you're going to have to go with a GC and an architect. Don't chance it.