GC - Payment Terms + Schedules/Penalties?

I believe in incentives instead of penalties. Dangle a good GC extra money and you will take priority and get extra care. The MOST important thing is to ask for 5 references and to actually call them and ask questions. Ask how they clean up, if they damaged the property, if everything is still screwed in, etc. etc. Also the best GCs do a 5 approx equal payment schedule, not a 2 or 3 payment schedule--depending on job first payment might be higher to cover lux materials. You want 5 payments so you can withhold money if work is not done or not done right. You need to be there. If you don't know anything about construction, though, some guys will take advantage of you--kinda like auto mechanics. You want to find guys who love this stuff so much, and have pride in their work. Best of luck to you.

Homesweethome,

I am not sure who Flutistic is referring to as far as 5 payments. Your project is only 7 weeks long so three 30% payments and 10% at the end is fair.

Penalties are tough. Most projects have problems that will cause delays ( wrong deliveries, water shutdowns, etc). You should call the contractors past clients and find out if they finish on time and if not why. Out of curiosity what is your scope of work that will only take 7 weeks? That is not a lot of time for a nyc project.

@primer05 it should really be 8 but he said he can get it done in 7. my problem is that i need to get out of my old place sooner than i had hoped, so need to get everything done as efficiently as possible so i'm not there when the work is being done. They're saying a week to demo, framing/roughing/elec/plumbing 2 weeks, 1 week patching/sheetrock, 1 week painting and floors and the final week for fixtures/hardware. It's not a large unit; does this seem out of line?

It's not out of line (I do think 1 week for both painting and floors is tight) but it doesn't appear to allow any contingency time for whatever will inevitably be delayed. Might be fixtures, might be unexpected 'field conditions', might be an injury to a key worker, plumber is busy with something else, vacation plans, whatever. Something will extend the job beyond the minimum number of days required by the actual work.

It is very much out of line based on a weeks worth of demo. Anything in the bathroom? Kitchen?

We generally demo a complete apartment in a week, if that is the case, no way 7 weeks

The kitchen (crazy small) is a complete re-do. The bathroom is keeping tub but changing pretty much everything else (inc tiling etc). Now you guys are making me nervous....

Homesweethome101,

You will really need to keep on top of things. Quick decision making is very important. Where are the kitchen cabinets coming from? 7 weeks seems way to short to me. If I was you I would look to see if you can rent an apt for a month longer. I have seen this happen too many times. Did you ask all the contractors that you had bid on it give you a estimated time frame for the work? If they all said 7 weeks than you should be fine

@primer05 the others said 8. Originally this one said 8 too, but changed it to 7 (on his own, not from my asking). Kitchen cabinets is Ikea. There is some other custom millwork for other parts of the unit.

I agree with primer in that you need to be fast to decide. When there is a faucet or door handle to be chosen, it's important to get it ASAP. sounds silly to get stressed over that stuff, that's how renovations get delayed.

Using Ikea does help on the timing. If I was you I would assume it will take 9 weeks. It will probably be substantially complete in 7