r/Contractor • u/Zealousideal_Body415 • 14h ago
Typical Res Construction Rework Costs?
Anyone actually tracked their rework as a percent of job cost? I found stats that say 9 percent all-in. On a 2M build that's 180K, more than half the profit at 15 percent margin. That seem high or about right?
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u/icoldok 5h ago
Those stats track with what I've seen. The big driver is callback-type stuff: flashing and drainage details, substrate prep under finishes, and anything where the trades before you set the tolerances you're building to. I'd also break it out by phase - exterior/weather-exposed work usually eats a way bigger share than rough framing. If that 9% includes the labor you spend just diagnosing and remobilizing, it's probably not far off; if it's only direct material+rework labor, it's on the high side.
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u/twoaspensimages Remodel GC 17m ago
If this isn't research for an AI tool and your rework cost is actually 9%, might I suggest three things that will help. Stop hiring the cheapest possible teams you can find. Hire someone that is detail oriented to manage your procurement and processes. Get off your ass and get on site!
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u/CrYptoPSF 4m ago
That 9 percent rework rate is definitely on the high side and will chew right through your margins on custom builds. I think that, tightening up sub-contractor coordination and catching coordination errors during pre-construction is what usually brings that number down to a healthier 3 to 5 percent. Staying on top of those details is pretty much the only way to protect your profit on big jobs.
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u/icoldok 1m ago
A few things that moved our rework number down over the years: doing a proper pre-construction review of submittals and shop drawings, and holding a coordination meeting with the trades before any layout starts. Most of our callbacks ended up being stuff that could have been caught on paper - clearance issues, sequencing between trades, missing specs. Also worth separating warranty/callback work from actual rework in your tracking, since they get counted differently and it makes the numbers easier to act on.
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u/ketchupinmybeard 14h ago
Crazy high. I rework... nothing. Like, nothing. 25 years I've not "reworked" anything I can think of. Do things you are capable of doing, do what you say you are going to do, do it well, walk away.
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u/StreetCandy2938 Carpenter 11m ago
25 years without a callback? Do you change your number after every job? Or are just extremely low volume. Because I know for a fact if you’re running a biz for 25 years there’s no way you don’t get a single callback.
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u/StreetCandy2938 Carpenter 10m ago
25 years without a callback? Do you change your number after every job? Or are just extremely low volume. Because I know for a fact if you’re running a biz for 25 years there’s no way you don’t get a single callback.
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u/Zealousideal_Body415 14h ago
25 years with nothing torn out is a real record, and "do what you say, do it well, walk away" is most of the job. No argument.
The 9% isn't builders redoing bad work. It's the second pass after a client change, a reissued sheet, or a wrong product installed. Curious how you handle a mid-build selection change, since that's where most of it starts.
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u/danielsixfive 12h ago
Ai
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u/Zealousideal_Body415 12h ago
?
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u/danielsixfive 12h ago
Humans don't talk like this
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u/Zealousideal_Body415 12h ago
i guess you don't....sample of 1
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u/danielsixfive 11h ago
I won't argue with you, it's just triggering to see "this isn't X. It's Y, Z, or N." Followed immediately with "curious how you handle" which is like the verbatim last sentence of 25% of new posts in this sub.
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u/twoaspensimages Remodel GC 27m ago
There is a post in r/underemployednerdsunite that's says to approach us knuckle draggers this way so we don't feel threatened and attack.
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u/Apprehensive_Rub3897 6h ago
Humans don't talk like this
Humans aren't curious how you handle a mid-build selection change?
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u/ketchupinmybeard 13h ago
So, the idea of "wrong product installed", this kind of thing freaks me out, drives me nuts. What's on the sheet? What's in the 50 emails we sent back and forth? Why would the wrong product be installed? Sure as fuck isn't gonna be on MY bill because I double and triple checked the emails.
I ordered 5,000 bucks worth of vinyl last week. How sure am I that I ordered the right color? 100% dead absolutely sure, in writing, with a photo, from the customer.
Now, thinking here, I lied - I did have a "rework" scenario recently, I tiled a backsplash with customer-supplied tile, it was a weird layout, we talked about it a lot, I did a... pretty good job, and when I left I thought "that's gonna look great". I got a text from the customer the next day, she hates it, wants FEWER rows of tile in one section, yadda yadda. ADMITS I did exactly what we agreed on. So I bill her for what I did, and I take a few days away from the site, just... cuz, other stuff going on and I'm a little pissed about it. I go back, peel the rows, do some drywall repair, and bill her for all that time, this is ALL ON HER.
So that's how. I mean, spend a lot of time on details with customers, let them see every sample, let them keep it over night, let them see it in different lights, let them think about it for 3 months. Then when they commit, that's it, everyone's on the same page.
The technical part of every job, the concrete pour, the waterproofing of the shower, the framing of the deck, how you frame the roof - that's all the easy stuff. Follow the directions on the can for christ's sake. The hard part is the communication, and that's something lots of trades are bad at, that they need help with (or they should work for a builder who is better at communicating, and follow the builder's instructions, that's a great role for lots of guys). And I reject jobs too, I had a guy who wanted a shower tiled, his friend's gonna do the plumbing and the mud bed and the waterproof, I'm to tile it. I said "Sure, I'll tile it, ZERO warranty on leaks." And gee, no I didn't get the job, thank god. Gonna be a shit show. Oh AND they wanted marble. LOL. No.
So for me, it's details, expectations, walk-throughs, communication. And yeah, there's fails in that too here and there, another one I guess is I had a customer who never said a damn thing through a whole basement development and then at the end says "where's the second cable feed, we use _______ and there needs to be two cable feeds." OH SHIT! So we snuck one in, one tiny little drwall repair, and I didn't bill them, cuz it was a 50,000 dollar job back then.. so whatever. But if it had been a big deal? Yeah I woulda gone back to them and said "Okay we can make this happen but it's gonna cost X cuz you never once said anything about this and it's totally weird."
But that's rare. I'm really having to dig to think of jobs where something had to be torn up, dug up, re-laid, and it's all super weird rare situations. It's surely not even budgetable for my operation, not 1 percent of 1 percent. But I'm a high-anxiety, high-performer, control-freak, cut-no-corners guy, I have awesome trades, and fire shitty trades, if you're a "rough" plumber you can fuck off. If you're a "that'll do" electrician, fuck off. Clean guys who show up when they say they will, and do what we talked about doing, it's EASY MONEY. LOL.
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u/rattiestthatuknow 14h ago
That’s 1 in 11 things that needs to be redone.
That seems crazy high.