Before you hire a commercial contractor: the questions that separate builders from bidders

Ask about their work, their people and their paperwork

Before you hire a commercial general contractor for a finish-out, ask whether they have built your type of space, who will run your job day to day, who handles permitting, what their price includes and excludes, and how they will report progress. Ask for proof of bonding and insurance, and call recent clients. The answers tell you more than the bottom line of any proposal.

At Harrison Construction we answer these questions in almost every first meeting, and I would rather a client ask too many than too few. An owner who asks good questions up front understands the schedule and the budget, makes decisions faster and is much easier to build for. Here are the questions I would bring to any contractor, us included, and what a good answer sounds like.

Have you built this kind of space before?

Ask for projects like yours, not just a long list of projects. A restaurant, a dental office and a retail store are built very differently. A contractor who has delivered restaurants knows how hood and fire suppression inspections are sequenced and why the health department walk-through cannot be the last thing on the calendar. One who has built medical offices knows how much plumbing and electrical work sits inside a small footprint and how much coordination the equipment vendors need.

Ask to see two or three completed projects of your type and size, and ask what went wrong on one of them. Every job has a problem somewhere. A contractor who can describe one honestly and explain how they handled it has probably handled yours before. One who claims every project went perfectly is either new or not being straight with you.

If you are part of a brand, ask whether the contractor has worked to a franchisor's standards before. Franchise projects come with prototype drawings, approved vendors, required finishes and a development team that wants regular updates. A builder who is used to that rhythm will fold it into the schedule. One who is not will treat each franchisor review as an interruption, and those interruptions add up.

Who will run my job, and how often will I see them?

The person who sells you the job is often not the person who builds it. Ask who your project manager and superintendent will be, how many other jobs they are running, and whether you can meet them before you sign. Ask who you call when something goes wrong on a Saturday and how fast you can expect an answer.

In a firm our size, I stay personally involved with our clients, and I think owners should expect that kind of access from whoever they hire. Ask how subcontractors are chosen as well. Part of our pre-construction work is subcontractor qualification, because the electrician and the plumber on your job matter as much as the general contractor's name on the sign.

Who handles permits, and what happens when the city pushes back?

Some contractors expect the owner and the architect to get the permit and hand it over. Others manage the whole process: submitting, tracking review comments, coordinating responses with the design team and keeping you informed. Either can work, but you need to know which one you are getting, because permitting is where many commercial schedules slip.

Ask what the contractor expects the permit path to look like in your city, whether a health department plan review or an accessibility review applies, and who pays if the drawings need revisions. A contractor who has worked in your jurisdiction recently will answer without hesitation. If the answer is vague, assume the schedule they gave you does not include the permit.

Ask also how inspections are scheduled and who attends them. Building, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, fire and health inspections all have to happen in the right order, and a failed inspection can hold up every trade behind it. A good superintendent walks the work before the inspector arrives, so problems are fixed the day before rather than discovered in front of the city.

Can I see proof of bonding and insurance?

Ask for certificates, not assurances. A general contractor should be able to provide current certificates of insurance quickly, and your landlord will almost certainly require them before anyone sets foot in the space, often with the landlord named as an additional insured. If your lender, landlord or franchisor requires a bond, ask whether the contractor can provide one and how long it takes to issue.

We are fully bonded and insured, and we expect owners to ask. If you are unsure what coverage your lease or loan requires, read the insurance section of the lease with your agent or attorney before the contractor's paperwork arrives. It is far easier to match coverage at the start than to hold up a mobilization because a certificate is missing a name.

Ask, too, who carries builder's risk coverage on the work while it is under construction, and when responsibility for the space shifts back to you. Those answers belong in the contract, and settling them now avoids an argument later if a storm or a break-in damages work in progress.

What is in your number, and what is not?

Two bids for the same drawings can be far apart for one simple reason: they are not pricing the same work. Ask every contractor to list exclusions and allowances in writing. Common exclusions include permit fees, utility upgrades, low-voltage wiring, kitchen equipment installation, signage and anything not clearly shown on the drawings. An allowance is a placeholder number for something not yet selected, and a low allowance makes a bid look cheaper than it is.

Then ask how changes are priced and approved. A good answer is specific: a written change order with cost and schedule impact, signed before the work is done. If you want the contractor involved earlier so the number is built with you rather than handed to you, read my guide on whether to hire the architect or the contractor first.

• A written list of exclusions and allowances
• How the contingency is held and who can spend it
• How change orders are priced, documented and approved
• Which permit and inspection fees are included
• Whether long-lead items are already priced and scheduled

How will I know where the project stands?

Ask how often you will meet and what you will receive in writing. Regular progress meetings and written project reports covering schedule, budget and open issues are what we provide, and I think any owner should expect the same. The reports matter most when news is bad. You want to hear about a problem the day it is found, with a plan attached, not weeks later when it has become a delay.

Ask, too, what the contractor needs from you and how fast. Commercial jobs stall when owner decisions sit unanswered. A contractor who tells you up front which selections and approvals they need, and by when, is protecting your opening date. Much of that list is set during pre-construction, which I explain in what pre-construction really involves.

How do you build the schedule, and what happens when it slips?

Ask to see a sample schedule from a similar job. It should show permitting, long-lead equipment, each trade, each inspection and the final walk-throughs, not just a start date and a finish date. Ask which items on it are the most likely to move and what the contractor does to protect them. On a restaurant, that usually means ordering the hood, rooftop units and walk-in coolers as soon as the drawings allow.

Then ask a harder question: tell me about a job where the schedule slipped and what you did. Our motto is Adapt and Overcome, and it exists because every space hides something until the walls open. What matters is whether the contractor re-sequences the work, adds crews where it helps and tells you plainly what the new date is, or simply hopes you will not notice.

Answers that should make you walk away

Some warning signs are obvious, like a contractor who cannot produce an insurance certificate. Others are quieter and only show up when you listen closely to how questions are answered. These are the ones I would take seriously.

None of these on its own proves a contractor is bad, but two or three together usually tell you how the job will go. Trust the pattern you see in the first meetings. The way a contractor handles your questions before you sign is the best preview you will get of how they will handle your problems after you do.

• A price given before anyone has seen the space or the drawings
• No written exclusions, or exclusions buried in fine print
• A schedule that leaves out permitting and inspections
• Reluctance to name who will manage the job
• No recent clients you can call
• Pressure to sign before the lease or design is settled
• A large deposit requested before any work or materials are on site

Check the answers before you sign

Call the last few clients the contractor finished for and ask one question first: did the space open on the date they promised? Then ask whether the budget held, how changes were handled and whether they would hire the same contractor again. A franchise sales professional we have worked with credited me with bringing in project after project on time and under budget, and that is the kind of answer you are listening for from anyone's references.

Finally, ask what you will receive when the job is done: inspections passed, the certificate of occupancy, warranties, manuals and lien releases. A contractor who can describe close-out clearly will usually finish strong, and I list what to expect in what you should have in hand when a build-out is finished. If you are planning a finish-out anywhere in Dallas–Fort Worth, we are glad to sit across the table and answer every question on this page.

Questions people ask me