ᐅ General contractor, customer service, and communication extremely frustrating
Created on: 6 May 2022 16:50
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Fleckenzwerg
In December 2020, we signed a turnkey contract for a single-family house with a regional general contractor. Due to site development and other delays, construction only started in November 2021. Even before that, we noticed that communication was very slow. Questions went unanswered for ages; scheduled phone appointments were simply missed, and so on. When we finally managed to have a phone call, we expressed our frustration clearly but always politely and professionally. Our general contractor explained everything with too much work, constantly changing schedules because of company XY, and of course, COVID-19. From his perspective, our questions were not important. That might be true to some extent, but for us, it is impossible to know, since the schedule and who is supposed to do what when remain completely unclear. On the other hand, it is reasonable to expect answers to questions about a high six-figure project within a reasonable time. Our impression is that he simply doesn’t care and basically says: “That’s how it is, deal with it.”
As a side note: So far, there is nothing to complain about the work itself; even our independent construction supervisor has no objections. However, there are still frequent questions and occasional requests for changes (recessed spotlights, sliding doors, things like that). When it takes 3 to 4 weeks to get a response — mind you, just any kind of response, not even an answer — the frustration grows enormously. We asked for a list of subcontractors; this was promised again two months ago after several reminders, but we still haven’t received it. We have questions about the further schedule, when the house will be ready to move in — we’ve long stopped believing in the contractually guaranteed construction period; the standard excuse is COVID-19. We just want to know what the realistic timeline is. No sign of life for three weeks now. Two phone appointments were scheduled since then but simply passed without cancellation, rescheduling, or any comment. We have no idea when it might be finished, because the entire interior finishing still needs to be done. The fact that we also need to plan ourselves — vacations (for our own work such as painting), terminating the rental contract, and so on — are again things that, from the general contractor’s point of view, are not important. But they are important to us. Without wanting to sound arrogant, we are the CLIENTS and have paid everything fully and on time so far, so I expect my questions to be answered.
We understand that everyone’s order books are overfull and many companies probably don’t even know how to manage everything anymore. But is this kind of behavior really the standard in the construction industry now? How do you deal with people or companies like this?
As a side note: So far, there is nothing to complain about the work itself; even our independent construction supervisor has no objections. However, there are still frequent questions and occasional requests for changes (recessed spotlights, sliding doors, things like that). When it takes 3 to 4 weeks to get a response — mind you, just any kind of response, not even an answer — the frustration grows enormously. We asked for a list of subcontractors; this was promised again two months ago after several reminders, but we still haven’t received it. We have questions about the further schedule, when the house will be ready to move in — we’ve long stopped believing in the contractually guaranteed construction period; the standard excuse is COVID-19. We just want to know what the realistic timeline is. No sign of life for three weeks now. Two phone appointments were scheduled since then but simply passed without cancellation, rescheduling, or any comment. We have no idea when it might be finished, because the entire interior finishing still needs to be done. The fact that we also need to plan ourselves — vacations (for our own work such as painting), terminating the rental contract, and so on — are again things that, from the general contractor’s point of view, are not important. But they are important to us. Without wanting to sound arrogant, we are the CLIENTS and have paid everything fully and on time so far, so I expect my questions to be answered.
We understand that everyone’s order books are overfull and many companies probably don’t even know how to manage everything anymore. But is this kind of behavior really the standard in the construction industry now? How do you deal with people or companies like this?
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Fleckenzwerg9 May 2022 09:35Thank you for the active participation in this topic.
We also don’t take it for granted that changes can still be made during the construction phase. That’s why we ask. We don’t expect a response within 24 hours, and even if an answer takes a week, we understand.
It’s not like we show up every three days with questions either. We prioritize to the best of our knowledge, gather our questions, and then come back every few weeks with a batch of inquiries. Now it’s been almost four weeks without a reply.
The tip to ask the site supervisor if this is normal for them is a good idea. I still need to call them later anyway.
Since the start of construction, I’ve been regularly visiting the site. I provide the workers on site with water and various snacks. During Carnival, I brought doughnuts. These were always very much appreciated. Of course, I also talk with the people there. And this is where a problem or conflict arises. When I ask questions on site, I’m often told, “clarify that with the general contractor.” When I ask when a particular trade will be on site, the answer is “ask the general contractor.”
I try to be on site at least once a week. I nearly completely missed the roofers. No one on site knew in advance when they would arrive. One morning I happened to run into them, and the next day they were already finished. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that it went so quickly and smoothly, but if I had come on Tuesday instead of say Thursday, I wouldn’t have seen them at all.
There were also times when I received completely different information from the site and the general contractor. On site, it has often been said, “Good that you are here, you need to decide this or that soon and must contact the general contractor.” I contacted the general contractor. No response. For days. And then? The colleagues on site started pressing and asking what was going on with this or that. Eventually, I told the general contractor it was quite urgent (not because I was impatient, but because that’s how it was presented to me). Then the general contractor finally responded and contradicted this, saying the issues raised by the workers were not important at all and that it could all wait. I passed this on to the site staff and, surprise, it was completely fine! So why the rush in the first place, I wonder. This shows me that the information from the site should be taken with caution at times and that most of the information ultimately has to be verified with the general contractor.
We also don’t take it for granted that changes can still be made during the construction phase. That’s why we ask. We don’t expect a response within 24 hours, and even if an answer takes a week, we understand.
It’s not like we show up every three days with questions either. We prioritize to the best of our knowledge, gather our questions, and then come back every few weeks with a batch of inquiries. Now it’s been almost four weeks without a reply.
The tip to ask the site supervisor if this is normal for them is a good idea. I still need to call them later anyway.
Since the start of construction, I’ve been regularly visiting the site. I provide the workers on site with water and various snacks. During Carnival, I brought doughnuts. These were always very much appreciated. Of course, I also talk with the people there. And this is where a problem or conflict arises. When I ask questions on site, I’m often told, “clarify that with the general contractor.” When I ask when a particular trade will be on site, the answer is “ask the general contractor.”
I try to be on site at least once a week. I nearly completely missed the roofers. No one on site knew in advance when they would arrive. One morning I happened to run into them, and the next day they were already finished. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that it went so quickly and smoothly, but if I had come on Tuesday instead of say Thursday, I wouldn’t have seen them at all.
There were also times when I received completely different information from the site and the general contractor. On site, it has often been said, “Good that you are here, you need to decide this or that soon and must contact the general contractor.” I contacted the general contractor. No response. For days. And then? The colleagues on site started pressing and asking what was going on with this or that. Eventually, I told the general contractor it was quite urgent (not because I was impatient, but because that’s how it was presented to me). Then the general contractor finally responded and contradicted this, saying the issues raised by the workers were not important at all and that it could all wait. I passed this on to the site staff and, surprise, it was completely fine! So why the rush in the first place, I wonder. This shows me that the information from the site should be taken with caution at times and that most of the information ultimately has to be verified with the general contractor.
But the trades on the construction site don’t usually know who is scheduled when, and often not even which contractor is responsible. Before the start, I received a list from the site manager with all the contractors and their phone numbers. This gave me direct contact, so I never had to “bother” the general contractor. The site manager always responded quickly if they weren’t immediately available. I then discussed my requests directly with the drywall installer, such as having a stud wall for the sink, the bathtub surround, and boxing in a pipe in the utility room. No general contractor was involved. It was really all very simple. I had expected building the house to be much, much more stressful.
We have been building with a regional general contractor since January 2022, and the communication (as well as everything else) has been excellent.
We received a construction schedule in December 2021, which has been almost perfectly accurate so far. Some trades were faster than planned, and the screed installation was delayed by about one week, but these changes have been communicated. When we have questions or notice (sometimes perceived) defects on or around the house, we share them and receive appropriate responses, and occasional corrections have been made promptly.
Apart from the possibility that your questions might sometimes seem unimportant, I completely agree that you should at least have a rough idea of the process. Now that the interior work is underway, this should be reasonably predictable for the general contractor. I think speaking with your independent building supervisor about how to achieve this is a good idea.
Fingers crossed for you!
We received a construction schedule in December 2021, which has been almost perfectly accurate so far. Some trades were faster than planned, and the screed installation was delayed by about one week, but these changes have been communicated. When we have questions or notice (sometimes perceived) defects on or around the house, we share them and receive appropriate responses, and occasional corrections have been made promptly.
Apart from the possibility that your questions might sometimes seem unimportant, I completely agree that you should at least have a rough idea of the process. Now that the interior work is underway, this should be reasonably predictable for the general contractor. I think speaking with your independent building supervisor about how to achieve this is a good idea.
Fingers crossed for you!
N
Neubau20229 May 2022 11:04Lotti88 schrieb:
We have been building since January 2022 with a local general contractor, and the communication (like everything else) has been excellent.
In December 2021, we received a construction schedule that has been almost perfectly accurate so far. Some trades were faster than planned, and the screed was delayed by about a week, but these changes were communicated. When we have questions or notice (sometimes apparent) defects on or around the house, we report them and then receive appropriate responses, with some issues being fixed right away.
Apart from the fact that some of your questions might be unimportant here and there, I fully agree with you that you should at least know the approximate process. Now that interior work is underway, the general contractor should have a fairly good idea of the timeline. Talking to your independent construction supervisor about how to achieve this is, I think, a good idea.
Fingers crossed! Apart from the communication, which is rather just adequate, things are going pretty much the same for us. At the beginning, there was a construction plan. That fits very well at the moment. Then, one to two weeks before the next trade starts, an additional email is always sent confirming that trade XY is actually beginning.
Fleckenzwerg schrieb:
We also don’t take it for granted that changes can still be made during the construction phase. It is common practice with solid construction houses to discuss the electrical installations on site and to order some changes or upgrades directly from the tradespeople. For example, with the
Andre77 schrieb:
drywall installer plumber, electrician, tiler, plasterer… in our case, it even happened that the tradespeople contacted us first because only then was it clear that the company was working on our project. Often these tasks are only tendered during the house build when the general contractor (GC) already has several subcontractors lined up. This also explains the missing construction schedule.
Fleckenzwerg schrieb:
No one on site knew in advance when they would arrive. One morning, I happened to meet them. And by the next day, they were already finished. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that everything went so quickly and smoothly, but if I hadn’t been there on Tuesday but on, say, Thursday, I wouldn’t have seen the workers at all. Did you need anything from the roofers? (We didn’t see the screeders either.) That’s exactly the difference between the GC/architect approach. There might not be any guarantee that you will actually meet anyone.
Fleckenzwerg schrieb:
This shows me that I have to take the information from the construction site with a grain of salt, and most of the information ultimately has to come from the GC. How should the employees of the subcontracted companies know anything? They receive their work orders from their boss and often don’t even know the client.
Fleckenzwerg schrieb:
I almost completely missed the roofers. No one on the construction site knew beforehand when they would arrive. One morning, I happened to run into them by chance. And the next day, they were already finished. Would it really have been a big problem if you had missed them? Or more generally, if a trade was completed while you were away? I can understand when there are change requests, but when working with a general contractor, I (as someone inexperienced) don’t quite see why that would be such a big deal. Especially if, according to the inspector, the results are fine.
I know that the “I move in turnkey” camp is sometimes frowned upon here, but maybe a little more calmness isn’t such a bad thing?
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