# General Contracting



## silverstilts (Oct 15, 2008)

It seems that the economy being the way it is there is also another reason why pricing is being driven down and that is the rash of so called general contractors.... for instance there is an open bid for a project what happens is numerous contractors out there ( and more each day ) I will call them behind the desk contractors just sit on the phone all day calling every sub contractor out there getting pricing together for a bid package... the problem with this is the only thing they need is a contractors license ... these desk contractors do nothing but get the lowest pricing out there don't care what the work looks like , and when awarded the general contractor subs out everything using the subs to front out the money for the job so there is no out of pocket expense for himself , maybe except for some bonding , the point is there is no risk involved for himself if one sub or more does not preform he can just move on and get someone else to finish up .... It is a win win for him , all he has to do is sit back and collect the draws and pay all his subs providing that he does ..... I think sure it is a free enterprise here but the way they are doing it is stepping on every other GC and sub out there.. We are not talking about general contractors out there that actually have a crew working for them for the general construction of a project but rather those that are a one or two man show...


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## rockdaddy (Jul 2, 2009)

whats the point stilts?


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## silverstilts (Oct 15, 2008)

The point is anyone can sit down by a phone and call numerous subcontractors and put together a bid package. They can play the pricing game between hundreds of subs if they want getting a low ball bid on everything by doing this it further drives down the actual cost of legitimate subs ... can you see what i am getting at ... then having the subs carry all the funding basically without anything or next to nothing out of their own pockets.


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## [email protected] (Dec 23, 2008)

Or worse....a "builder" who lets the subs carry that 20% or so the bank won't loan on a spec. Leaves us waiting to be paid until the house sells. It's usually the carpet and sod guys getting shafted but had it happen before.

Last commercial job we bid, our GC was in the pack of several bidders in the mid 150s. One bidder at 140 something. Winner was 120 and four hours from the job. This lowball bid was accepted by the owner. Only reference we could find to this "GC" was his facebook page on the net.


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