When should i fire my contractor?

Question

Morning To All,

Need your advice.

I started renovations on Oct 14th for a multi family property in Baltimore, MD.  I decided to sub contract and not use a GC.  I have done this before and its worked out fine and saved a lot money.  Out of the 4 workers, which is what I am paying for, there is one that has taken the lead, therefore, I go to him for any and all updates.  Lately, he has not been coming to the site.  He is working on another job in Potomac MD and spending less time on my project, though he drops off the other 2 workers and picks them up in the afternoon.  I have already spoken to him about having 4 workers on site as that is what i am paying for and also how he needed to be there as well.

Yesterday, the electrician called me saying they couldn't work on the electrical as the sheetrock was up on of the bathrooms.... this was the icing on the cake!   I had specifically told him and texted him not to put up any sheetrock as the inspector was coming and the electrician needed to finish up.  This caused delayed and money.   To top it off, he wasn't there either.

I am getting frustrated with him and feel like I should let him go..... only him, not the other 2.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Alexander Felice · Answer

SLOW TO HIRE, QUICK TO FIRE

When you internally oblige yourself to one contractor you become beholden to them, as you feel now. You've already given up too much leverage, and it's easy to tell from your post that you want out of this relationship and he seems interested in other things.

You should spend some time finding his replacement, and investors should always be spending time finding the replacement contractor. Once you have someone waiting in the wings you'll feel much more confident to boot this guy.

For me, there is no way after 2 no-shows that I could allow someone to come back to work, often it's 1 no-show.

Don't let them punk you out yo! ;)

Joe Norman · Answer

In my experience managing real estate teams and contractors, I always feel more confident letting someone go if I have a deep bench.  ALWAYS be recruiting for your next great team member, because knowing you have a deep bench will allow you to confidently get out of a businesses relationship (i.e., fire) with someone who isn't meeting your standards.

In regard to this particular situation/contractor/question: the time to fire this guy is now.

Good luck!

JD Martin · Answer

When you say "only him, not the other 2" do you mean the 2 workers he drops off?

I'm a little puzzled by the worker count and the set up. When I sub something I pay for the job and some scope of time. It makes no difference to me if 15 guys show up and do the entire job in an hour or one guy does it in 15 hours so long as we come in on budget and on time. On rare occasion I will pay someone for something by the hour but it is rare and only with subs I've worked with before, where I know their work and work ethic and the job is difficult to pin down for a specific front-end figure.

Aside from that, you say you are paying for 4 workers to be on the site. This guy drops off 2 guys. Who are the other 2 guys? Is one of them this guy, plus another guy? Or are there 2 other guys besides the 2 he drops off? You say you've gone to one guy because he has "taken the lead". Why? Is he the supervisor or employer of the other guys? If not, why would you go to him for updates and such? Subs aren't responsible for other subs unless they specifically sub them out themselves. The GC is responsible to organize work in such a way that things like drywall with no wiring doesn't happen, unless the drywaller works for the electrician.

What I would say is if you're going to GC then you have to know what all the subs are doing all the time. If one guy has taken the lead without specifically being the employer of the others, then you have abrogated your responsibility as the GC to a sub and in my opinion shouldn't be upset when work happens haphazardly. This is the way I read your situation, so you'll have to fill in blanks if it's some other way.

Kathiuska Ramirez · Answer

Hello,  Thank you all for the advice.  To clarify, in total there were supposed to be 4 working at all times this is including the gentleman that has taken the lead.  However, there has been only 2 to 3 working for the most part.

Again, thank you all for your wonderful, productive advice.  I have scheduled a meeting with the workers tomorrow to go over the progress and timelines.  Keep you posted.

Anthoney Hanks · Answer

@Kathiuska Ramirez Hello, I believe you there is a need to look a replacement. I had similar situation where the person started off good but let other jobs interfere with finishing mine correctly.

Look at this a as learning lesson and move on.

When should i fire my contractor?

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