Help us help our neighbors with their contractors

July 20, 2009 12:02 PM

Our neighbor wants to hire my husband to act as a sort of general contractor to oversee some repairs on our neighbor's house. Before we say yes to this, what questions should we ask?

Our next-door neighbors, who have been friends of my husband's family for decades, are moving out of state soon, and they have not sold their house yet. Before they do, they'd like to have a number of repairs done -- some electrical and plumbing work, as well has some floor refinishing -- to raise the value. They're ready to move into their new house, though, and don't want to wait around for all this work to be done. (We're in Arlington, Va.; new house is in the Florida Keys -- go figure.) So, they're offering to hire my husband to oversee the work for them.

My husband has the summer off from grad school, and the money would be a help. But he's never done any kind of general contracting work before. We imagine this would be a matter of calling contractors and hiring them, being around while they're working on the house, and calling our neighbors to ask them about the inevitable cost overruns. But, what details aren't occurring to us? Before we officially say yes, what questions should we ask?

posted by Ladybug Parade to home & garden (14 comments total)

Ask how much they are willing to spend, and what is a priority for them.

The last thing you want to find out is that they only wanted to spend X amount of money...but they wanted to do Y things...which cost way more than X.

WRITE IT DOWN. Even if you don't want to get a contract...take notes of everything...xerox it, and give a copy to the neighbor so you BOTH know exactly what is being discussed and done. Be as specific as possible, and there will be no surprises for anybody.

Good luck.
posted by hal_c_on at 12:09 PM on July 20

Ask yourself, where is the contract which puts in plain english is who is liable for what.

Say you hire a contractor and he does a bad job and you can't get him to come back, that would be one situation where your neighbors could say, "Hey you hired him, you're liable, I want you to pay for the fix"
posted by Groovytimes at 12:13 PM on July 20 [1 favorite]

Does your husband know anything about these trades, or do the neighbors just want to hire him because he's a smart, trustworthy guy with time on his hands?

It seems doubtful that your husband is licensed as a GC, so that may not be what you want to call him.

How will your husband be paid -- hourly? Percentage of work done?

What liability might your husband be exposed to in the event of an accident?
posted by jon1270 at 12:15 PM on July 20

Find out what permits will be necessary, and what your husband's role/responsibility is with respect to obtaining them.

Find out what Virginia's laws are regarding acting as a general contractor. Would your husband need to be bonded? Insured?

Would your husband be able to sign off on subcontractor invoices and pay them from an account set up for that purpose, or would the bill paying be a run-around with having checks mailed, etc?
posted by contessa at 12:17 PM on July 20

No, husband is definitely not a licensed GC (sorry if that was misleading) -- just a handy, smart, trustworthy guy with time on his hands. Part of the suggested deal was he'd see what he might be able to do himself -- maybe some of the floor refinishing, but definitely not the plumbing or electricity.

These are great suggestions so far -- thanks!
posted by Ladybug Parade at 12:18 PM on July 20

Get a detailed list of the work to be done from the neighbor. EVERYTHING, no matter how small it is, as no one will do the work for you guys for free. Small items might incur hourly rates on them, etc.

Get bids for all of the work from multiple sub contractors. You are the contractor, you hire subs. That easy.

Inspect everything that needs to be done. Before, during, and after work is completed.

Coordinate with the home owners to pull permits where applicable. The electrician would need a permit only he can get, plumber, etc.

Family friend or not, clearly write down the expectations and how much liability you and your husband will be held accountable for.

How much work is your husband willing to do, what are his responsibilities going to be above coordinating sub contractors to come in to perform work.

It's not really hard to do but there will be a bunch of details you need to stay on top of. The biggest tip I can give is for you to remain in constant contact with the owners so that they know where they stand at any given moment. Even if this is an email every day or a nightly phone call.
posted by Gravitus at 12:18 PM on July 20

I'm not an expert, but I think a general contractor is responsible to the owner for the quality of the work performed, whether by him or by his subs. Is that what your husband wants? That seems like a big responsibility, a lot of which is out of his control.

Also, what if someone gets injured -- your husband, or a sub, or some kids who wander into the empty house some night? I dunno, it seems like this is why GC's are bonded and insured and draw up big long contracts with their clients, and that's probably quite a process.

It seems to me that what you want is for your husband to act in place of the owner, not as a GC.
posted by palliser at 1:28 PM on July 20

He better have a iron solid contract to protect him from liabilities. While it may run smoothly and be a piece of cake it does have the potential to turn into a very expensive and painful legal battle. I'd say unless he is familiar with writing contracts he should either hire a lawyer to help him or bow out of this.
posted by JJ86 at 1:30 PM on July 20

I worked in a capacity much like this on a substantial remodel lasting more than two years. However, in my case, there was a foundation contractor and a general contractor hired to do the work, who were responsible for bringing in crews to do various tasks, as well all liabilities. I essentially served as the owner's agent, and was paid hourly for my suggestions, advice, and inspections. Having managed an apartment for over 30 years, and being experienced in wiring, plumbing, roofing, and other repairs, I bring a certain skill set to the task, and caught several serious mistakes before they became disasters. Your husband does not sound qualified to be an actual general contractor, and this job is likely to go well over his head even as agent. There is a reason general contractors mark up a job about 200% over their costs. It sounds like a recipe for a destroyed friendship to me.
On the other hand, I have a few friends I would trust at this level. Ask yourself: is this soon-to-be-ex-neighbor one of your husband's most trusted friends? Would he, for instance, loan this person $50,000 on signature alone? Because if not, huh-uh, I would pass. Many real estate agents have connections to contractors they have used happily for tasks like this.
posted by sugarbx19 at 1:59 PM on July 20 [1 favorite]

Yeah, you need an agreement about liability. What if there's a gas leak, and the house burns down. Your friends might not sue you for everything you own, but their insurance company will.
posted by theora55 at 2:13 PM on July 20

Well, I'm definitely feeling a lot more cautious about this than I was earlier today. Thank you for the thoughtful answers, everybody -- you've given us a lot to think about.
posted by Ladybug Parade at 4:15 PM on July 20

sugarbx19 gave you what might be a magic phrase -- "owner's agent," rather than general contractor. If you're doing research on what you might need to think about, whether there are form contracts available, etc., that phrase could be helpful.
posted by palliser at 5:42 PM on July 20

Another vote for proceeding with extreme caution here. My father-in-law is a general contractor on high-end custom homes, with over 30 years experience, and he still gets into more sticky situations than you would think. Bills not getting paid, on time or at all, materials stolen from the job site. Also, be aware of bills for the job being put in your husband's name, not a good idea.
posted by shinynewnick at 8:31 PM on July 20

Following up: Those who pointed out that we wanted the phrase "owner's agent," not "general contractor" were right on. We're still working this out (husband has since developed tennis elbow from yard work, so we're a bit delayed), but it looks like that will be the level of his involvement, partly because of the advice we got here. Thank you to all!
posted by Ladybug Parade at 12:31 PM on August 19