Managing Sub-contractors and Material Costs

[Jomar Edwin Benoit]

What is the best way to educate yourself on how much materials should cost? How do you manage subcontractors without a general contractor and make sure subcontractors are insured and have waivers?

[Bassim Audi]

In my experience, unless you are from the construction world trying to GC yourself is a bigger headache than its worth. You can accomplish more by finding a general contractor you can build a trust with, negotiate with them on a high level and let them worry about their own profitability. Create a budget of your full project and work from there. That way, you have a single person to go after if you aren't satisfied with the work or if something goes wrong. Taking on all that liability yourself isn't (in my opinion) worth the money possibly saved.