Honestly good luck. If you’re market is as busy as most places they will probably keep ignoring you or overbid the job.

GCs are babysitters with big contact lists. I learned to accept the cost added for a GC because I do not have a contact list and I can;t stand babysitting adults. Good Luck

I have the time to babysit….and I trust my babysitting more since I’ll be living in the house.

Thank you. Things seem to be slowing down so I’m optimistic. But you have to be to try and contract you own house😀

Lie and tell them you're paying twice the going rate.

Then watch all of them leave once they see the contract.

He just said the best way to get their attention! LOL.

It’s going to be a struggle. The subs that are working for the home builders have a food chain with them. You’re just a one off potential problem for them.

Try to ask around and get a connection to someone. Then see if they’ll make a call for you to their buddies at other trades they work with.

Find a house being built nearby and find out who the subs are .

You plan to live in a house under construction ?

I’m guessing in a rv in the property ?

No. I live a mile away, and work from home. Can easily do my job in my truck.

Awesome

Touché

You are technically correct, the best kind of correct!

That someone will probably have the initials GC

2 ways to go about it.

First just poach and find other trades on your own job sites. All the places Ive worked, always people boasting about their weekend gigs and side jobs.

2nd, dont open saying you are self-contracting. Dealing with the homeowner sucks and everyone knows it. So just say your wife\whoever is the client and you are the GC on the job.

Bidding in itself is tedious work so sometimes its easier to just hire per day\week rate. I got some hired guns I bring in on my jobs when things need a push.

All lumber yards should have a sales office that will give you quotes all day long. Have you lists and calcs ready to go.

This is great advice, thank you

Not sure there's a magic bullet you're looking for. Those trades usually prioritize people who give them lots of work, and you'll just be giving them one job. Of course it will be harder to get their attention.

It's going to be hard every step of the way, too - from getting them to come back to fix problems, to getting them to bill you reasonable amounts.

Good luck!

[deleted]

I’ve been here 20 years, been out of the construction game for 7.

Thank you!

One thing you will need is prints and spec sheets. No one is going to work without those Then you will need permits. Then you will have to hire some one to do site prep. Then you will have to hire someone to pour a foundation, As each step is completed you should already have someone on tap for the next. Ideally, your foundation contractor would know some framers, etc.

Yeah, but a GC will have lists of contractors to use and to avoid, and good GC will backup their work and fix issues that arise out of their own pocket.

I found the guy who did my bathrooms at my health club…he was doing the tile work around the spa and I started small talking with him because I had the same issue trying to find subs, and his work was beautiful. I asked about the jobs they do, who owns the company, etc. Turns out it’s his company, and he’s a Ukrainian immigrant. He said he’d be tied up on the current job for a few weeks, but he could drop by and give me a bid. He ended up getting me on his schedule between 2 jobs and I couldn’t have been happier with the results. The downside is that he was expensive, but the trade off in quality and timeliness of the work was amazing, and I still had hair on my head at the end of the project.

Not sure this is repeatable, but when we bought a home that needed a major rehab, what happened to us is we got a GC to bid the job, and then when it was 2x our budget we (first had a heart attack) then timidly asked if they could refer us to some roofers who could help us get the roof fixed before it rained, and this extremely kind person gave us their list of go-to subs, and as we saved up enough for that phase, we called them saying So and So gave us their number. (How we ended up short by half is a longer story.)

I found the guy who built my screened porch at Home Depot. We were both waiting to get paint mixed and struck up a conversation. I took his card and checked him out online. Discovered that we had friends in common. He did my porch, beautifully, and a few other jobs on that house. Several years later, when I was building a new house, I had him stop by the construction site at various points to make sure things were being done right. (He doesn't do full house construction, otherwise I would have hired him)

Hang out where the subs hang out

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Oh also forgot to mention tradsies.

Im a framer, ur a roofer, ill frame ur shit, you roof my shit. No taxes or permits naturally so everybody wins. Only works with the people you trust obviously but I have seen plenty off the books work, just nobody get hurt lol.

Thanks for the advice!