What Does a Commercial General Contractor Actually Do?

Somebody asked me the other day what a general contractor actually does. Fair question. The title gets thrown around a lot, and if you have never run a construction project, it is not obvious where the GC fits in. So let me lay it out plain.

A commercial general contractor is the one company responsible for turning a set of drawings into a finished building. You hand us the plans and the goal. We handle everything between the empty space and the day you walk in and go to work.

Lining up the trades

A commercial buildout has a lot of hands on it. Framers, electricians, plumbers, the heating and cooling crew, drywall, flooring, paint, and a dozen more. Those are the subcontractors, each one an expert in a single trade. The general contractor hires them, schedules them, and makes sure the electrician is not showing up before the framing is done. When it runs right, you never think about it. That is the point.

Owning the budget and the schedule

Somebody has to hold the whole thing together, price it honestly, and answer for it when a wall costs more than expected or a truck shows up late. That somebody is the GC. We track the money, we run the calendar, and we tell you the truth about both.

Handling permits, code, and inspections

Every commercial job runs on permits and inspections. Miss one and the work stops. We pull the permits, we build to code, and we get the inspector out at the right time so the job keeps moving.

One point of contact

The difference between a general contractor and a subcontractor is simple. A subcontractor does one trade. The general contractor is responsible for all of it, and for the way it all comes together. If the job is more than a single trade, you want a GC. One number to call, one company that answers for the result.

The way I see it, a good general contractor earns their keep by making a complicated thing feel simple to the person paying for it. That is the job. That is the whole job.