Finding a General Contractor for a large out-of-town job

[Gary E. London]

What process would someone recommend for finding a general contractor for a large (i.e. $1M) out of town rehab of a multi-unit apartment complex?

[Timothy W.]

Gary, assuming your architect or engineer is not overseeing the project - on a rehab of a multi-unit complex like that I would actually look to a GC that does insurance restoration work rather than a remodeling GC. I've worked as an estimator for a remodeling GC as well as an adjuster working with restoration GCs while doing claims work.

Here's two reasons. 1. In the restoration business, you can standardize and track pricing much more efficiently using Xactimate - which is pretty much the standard of restoration pricing in the US (Xactimate or MSB Integriclaim). The business of remodeling contracting has few such pricing standards (with the exception of perhaps Timberline on some large commercial work - but even then it's more standardized for new construction than remodeling.) 2. Restoration contractors are of a mindset of bringing property back to it's previous condition. In the business of remodeling, the mindset is property improvement which typically represents a larger initial cash outlay and a resulting increased time to recover that investment in cashflow.

The long and short of it is - if the project is $1M in costs - then it is worth hiring an "on staff" professional to oversee those costs and the hiring of contractors. There are staffing companies that you can contact to contract hire a project manager with the appropriate experience. PMs travel to oversee project like this on a contract basis all the time.