Matthew Paul & Ray Schumacher thanks for for taking the time to respond. I’m glad to see responses from contractors on this question.
I would love to get your perspective on this:
1. how can I ensure that the job will be completed within the agreed upon timeframe? Bonus for completing on time? Penalty for going beyond a certain timeframe? Which works best and what are reasonable $ amounts for these for a 80-100k project?
You do both . But remember there are delays outside of the contractor control , those dont count
2. How can I know if the timeframe the contractor has promised is doable?
It all depends on the contractor and his subs
3. How can I verify that the contractor has enough of a crew available to handle the job?
You cant , most contractors dont have a crew , they use subs for each part . The contractor may only be 1 or 2 guys .
4. How can I make sure the contractor makes my job a priority and doesn’t disappear into another job?
Thats all in your contract and timeframe
5. Is it problematic to hire out some of the work separately myself to remove workload from GC and get the project done faster?
Yes it can be very problematic , if you hire out lets say the drywall hanging and finishing , and they take an extra 4 days over schedule , this will push the GC"s painter out .Now that painter will have to reschedule , but they are already promised to do a 2 week job in that time frame . So the GC has to get another painter who is 25% higher and only a week out . Now the rest of the trades are all rescheduled and you have added 3 weeks to the job , and more money due to rescheduling , and still have to pay the bonus to the GC because those delays were your fault , not his
I will be bidding the job out in the next 2-3 weeks and I will be consulting an attorney about this also but I want to go into conversations with contractors with as much knowledge as possible so as much input I can get, the better.
Thanks again.