| What Do You Pay A Contractor For? |

When people hire contractors, most of them believe they are merely paying for labor and materials. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Contractors (professionals, not the “fly-by-nighters”) offer much more than just labor and materials. This is the reason you hire contractors and not just someone you just met online or a friend of a friend. When you hire us, when you pay us, the following is what you pay for:

1. Equipment Procurement and / or Maintenance

Labor and materials are useless without the right tools to turn the materials into your dream home. Whether the company possesses the equipment outright or not, you as the client will still have to pay for either the purchase price of the equipment itself, its maintenance cost, or its renting cost, depending on the contractor. Some may argue that the contractor must shoulder the costs of these equipment. Whether or not the equipment was bought from the initial capital raised, the clients will still be the ones to pay for it.

2. Project Management

Probably the most important part of the project, expert project management will see a project which is executed on time, on budget, and at par with the desired quality. Poor project management will always lead to project failure. A foreman is not enough to manage a project as big as a whole house efficiently. The project manager must not do the construction work himself as he will need to see the big picture.

3. Accounting

Have you ever had to deal with a “contractor” who does not keep track of the project finances? I have heard several construction horror stories from my clients that the previous contractor they hired had no idea when to bill the client, they did not track the financial status of the project. The client was asking for some details regarding previous expenditures, and the contractor did not know how to answer. If you will give your life savings to your contractor, you better make sure they know what to do with it.

4. Customer Service

The public’s qualms about contractors usually stem from poor customer service. That’s because most contractors still think that materials and labor are all there is to it. When you hire our company especially, you can always count on constant updates, assurance, professional communication, and punctuality.

5. Shop Drawings

Fabrication, installation, and assembly methods are important factors in construction. There is always more than one way to do things, and the methods that the workers know may not always be the best ones. These shop drawings are created by the contractor, approved by the architect, and executed by the workers. These drawings act as a bridge between the architect’s drawings (which almost always lack the most minute details) and the construction workers.

6. Skills (Know-how)

When construction materials are bought, it is useless as is. It just collects dust on site. When construction workers are hired, they are paid for their time. If they sit around on-site doing nothing, they are still paid their daily rate. What you pay the contractor for is their know-how, their skill that has been honed through education and experience. You pay the contractor, not for the one-year duration of the project, but for the ability to complete the project in just 1 year. That is why the more experienced the contractor, the more they accumulate a track record of successful projects, the more expensive they are to hire.

Of course, you pay the contractor their profit; after all, construction contracting is a business. Some people forget that. You pay in excess of the direct cost of materials, labor, and everything on this list because the contractor has employees to pay and a business to run, just like the rest of the economy. The next time you hire a contractor, remember, it’s more than just materials and labor.

Archadius Construction Corporation specializes in residential construction and remodeling as well as condominium and commercial fit-outs. For your construction needs, you may reach us through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archadiusconstruction. You may also email us at contact@archadiusconstruction.com or call/text us at 0916-321-6094 / 0969-277-4634.