6 Tips for Building Better Subcontractor Relationships

How You Can Build Better Subcontractor Relationships

As a general contractor, one of the most critical keys to success is maintaining collaborative, fruitful working relationships with subcontractors. After all, you likely work with anywhere from hundreds to potentially thousands of them each year. They are the fuel powering your projects, wielding the carpentry hammer, plumbing the pipework, or wiring the electrical fixtures.

These days, tasked with managing projects that are larger, more complex and data-driven than ever before, it’s even more important to build solid subcontractor relationships. It can be a balancing act. On one hand, you need to effectively tracking their progress — holding them accountable for quality, safety and timelines. On the other, respecting their expertise and seeking their input and innovation while also providing them with the resources, timely communications and information they need to highly perform.

On top of that, construction remains one of the most heavily-regulated industries with a need to maintain compliance at all times. Beyond the contractual agreements with the project owner and subcontractors, general contractors need to consistently keep tabs on building codes, insurance and bonding requirements, credit and background checks, prevailing wage and union payroll requirements, lien requirements, a plethora of safety regulations and much more. This often means that reigning in multiple subcontractors on every job requires full-time attention.

With a healthy mix of industry best practices and modern technologies, today’s leading general contractors are able to not just maintain healthy working relationships with their subcontractor, but consistently improve them. Here are six tips these leading firms put into practice every day:

1) Pre-Qualify

This might go without saying, but you need to make sure subcontractors are capable of doing the work you need them to. That means both physically and financially. Before soliciting bids from subcontractors, review prequalified subcontractors and remove those that do not have the right amount of experience or resources for the size and scope of your project. You might have 30 electrical subcontractors that you’ve regularly done work with, but perhaps only 10 of them have the expertise you need on your next project. Target those 10 and invite them to bid.

Additionally, keeping consistent tabs on subcontractors recent productivity and quality metrics will help you determine which ones are best suited. And, of course, new subcontractors are emerging every day — especially if you’re doing work in a new region, market or vertical. Look for subcontractors that are using modern technologies and up-to-date software rather than relying on manual processes, as many of your clients are demanding modern approaches and real-time data that some contractors may not be able to easily provide.

3) Keep Subs in the Loop and Communicate Often

Collaboration is the glue for any successful construction project. Keeping your subcontractors consistently in the loop with project changes, working with real-time data and systems and delivering information ahead of schedule will go a long way toward ensuring that all team members are working from the same page. Consider implementing an integrated, cloud-based construction management solution that expands access to the entire project team, including subs. Allowing them to access and enter their own data, see real-time project information and automate workflows for processes like time collection, invoices, change orders, purchase orders and more will help deliver more productive, higher-quality work.

In addition to delivering project information on a timely basis, make sure lines of communication are always open and that you’re attainable for your subs. Listen to their concerns and quickly address questions. Being open, honest and transparent will build trust and respect with skilled subs, and increase the odds of them wanting to work with you again.

5) Continually Track Progress

A subcontractor is only as good as the work it is measured by. At the end of the day, the job might get done, but at what cost? Keep close tabs on how productive your subcontractors are, how quickly they processes data like progress reports and invoices, how they approach safety and jobsite processes and how well they work with other team members. Of course, that means a lot of data points to track.

Integrated, cloud construction software gives you the best vehicle to streamline subcontractor tracking — from compliance and safety to progress and costs. Real-time information means more in-depth data and reporting, which can also help spot problems before they occur. Consider using advanced metrics and data analytics to measure performance of particular subs and teams against others or outlining specific regional or project-based challenges. This can go a long way toward establishing benchmarks of your highest performing subs.