Not getting along w GC - can I hire my own flooring sub during the project?

Contractor tried to bully me with that same line. The contract stated otherwise but I also got fed up and fired them. I should have done it a lot earlier. In my opinion a good contractor who cares about their clients would have no issue with letting others do work since most subs all have their own insurance.

Guest User | 4 years and 3 months ago

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hkapstein | 4 years and 4 months ago

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And you probably can bring in your own floor guy, there is a point with the insurance, and you should check what your contract says, but if he comes in Monday morning and it’s done, what can he really do? But anything that goes wrong on the job going forward, I’m sure he will blame on your floor contractor and take no responsibility for fixing. Trim doesn’t fit, something was scratched, etc.

Guest User | 4 years and 4 months ago

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@Urbandad, great advice. @Squibsie, In order to negotiate a fair price with the contractor I would recommend getting ballpark numbers from two flooring contractors. If you give them the square footage they should be able to give you some numbers on the phone. Painful but only way to avoid getting fleeced at this point.

andriywww1990 | 4 years and 4 months ago

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urbandad, you are late to the game again. op is way down the road on this-

cobblehillhome | 4 years and 4 months ago

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@squibsie I would at least take your architect aside pre meeting with GC and talk to them about him/her ganging up on you with the GC. Be stern and say you are feeling disrespected and would appreciate them having your back especially since you’ve done your research and the masonite doesn’t feel like the standard for subflooring (masonite may be an acceptable solution, but that you’re not comfortable with it and it’s your home after all.) Explain that they are hired by you (assuming they are) and you expect them to back you up on decisions unless they go against code.

As a side note, you probably already know that the cost of wood (2x4s, plywood, etc.) has gone up significantly(3x) so it’s very likely the GC used a cheaper substitute to not affect his profit margins. I’m sorry but I don’t have a good solution for you other than you throw money at the problem (pay for the change order) or fire your GC, like others are recommending. Both seem costly options so it may depend on you which is the lesser of the two evils.

With regards to wanting to stop work for 2 weeks and getting your own subflooring contractor — the only red flag I see is from a relationship perspective. Your GC will return to see things changed and it will continue the tension between the two of you. I’d recommend you talking to your GC and stating the elephant in the room — acknowledge that things have been tense and that you want to figure out how the two of you can work better together. This will require an uncomfortable, but hopefully a productive conversation — during which you could try to negotiate the price of the CO, or suggest you pay your own subcontractors, or you decide in the end it’s best to part ways.

Guest User | 4 years and 4 months ago

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Thank you JP, very good advice…

hkapstein | 4 years and 4 months ago

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Let me offer a suggestion.

I would not try to stop your job for 2 weeks. I think that is a recipe for trouble. If your GC sends his guys to another site, with the construction industry busy, you may end up incurring serious delays and headaches when you want them back.

Unless your permits are closed, and perhaps even if they are, it will be a difficult to change GCs. The new contractor will say the old one did everything wrong, and new strategies will have to be developed to finish the job, not to mention most good GCs are busy right now, and this would probably be an odd and annoying job to take over.

Perhaps call the architect and say, “I don’t think this floor is being installed correctly, here’s my evidence. If you’re telling me that you are insisting on specifying masonite for this floor, I need you to provide a memo for my records in case there is a problem that needs to be repaired later. I’d prefer that you tell the contractor that he needs to use plywood as per the manufacturers instructions.”

If that doesn’t work, call the contractor and say, look, let’s g et this job finished and get you paid and onto the next gig. I’ll give you 1000 bucks (or whatever you think is appropriate) to demo this masonite and put down plywood, or I’m going to have to shop it around and waste both our time.

Guest User | 4 years and 4 months ago

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Changing the GC is time consuming but not hard. Everyone advised against it but I am really happy I decided to proceed. If you can keep the subs and feel strongly that GC relationship is unsalvageable then consider parting ways. Especially if you think he’s made other poor decisions. If you think you are so close to completion that you can live with the GC then try to finish quickly. We are on the outside giving advice so only you know best.

cobblehillhome | 4 years and 3 months ago

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OP, I’m curious what you decided on and how your renovation is going. Been keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Guest User | 4 years and 3 months ago

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@squibsie this sounds exactly like my contractor. Did you receive any advice regarding having other vendors complete work on the weekends so that insurance isn’t an issue? Would love to hear how you are navigating your renovation.