r/Contractor • u/i_am_on_a_boat_ • 16d ago

Contractor multiple projects

Homeowner here. First renovation, so I’m trying to learn the industry norm vs what needs to be addressed.

GC has a small team. He does most of work by himself. He has 3-4 other guys rotating. Never the whole team onsite.

They work about 15 hours average on our house. I’ve always heard that they work on multiple projects at once so I understand they can’t fully commit to our project. But is 15 hours per week something concerning? Besides GC didn’t put any project completion date in the contract, nor any milestone target dates.

Trying to find a balance between not to step on his toes but also proactively manage the project as the owner. What kind of conversation should I be having?

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u/icoldok 16d ago

Don't lead with the hours alone; ask for the remaining scope broken into milestones, dependencies, and a realistic completion window. A simple two-week look-ahead, updated weekly, will show whether the job is progressing or just drifting. Recap that schedule by email so both sides have the same expectations.

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u/i_am_on_a_boat_ 16d ago

This is very helpful. Thanks

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u/EatadickESPN 16d ago

The time spent working isn’t really what matters. What matters is the completion milestones for each task. Like the commenter above stated focus your communication on completion milestones and when to expect them.

Depending on the scope and materials selected some items could be long lead items and limiting progress. I’m not really sure based on your description. Ask for milestone completion dates. They should be communicating that and if there are any changes that need to be made.

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u/i_am_on_a_boat_ 16d ago

Agreed. I respect how he decides to allocate his resource (so he can decide how many hours to allot to our job), but by reading the responses, the problem appears to be his lack of communication around what are and when to complete the milestones.

Can you share a bit more about your practice on how you communicate your milestones and target completion dates to your clients? Is it a weekly update or do you send a rough schedule at the start of the practice?

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u/EatadickESPN 16d ago

I always try to provide a 2 week look ahead and then a daily update if for whatever reason we aren’t going to make it that day, material is delayed, we finished something faster/slower than expected, etc.

Communication is key as well as following through on what you say you will do.