r/GeneralContractor

Hey everyone. I’m validating a productized service aimed at mid-sized commercial GCs and want some brutal honesty on whether this solves a real headache.

The Problem: Chasing sub-contractors for updated COIs (General Liability & Workers' Comp) before the Friday check run is a massive time sink. Worse, if an expired policy slips through and you pay an uninsured sub, your own insurance company hits you with massive penalty premiums during your year-end audit.

The Solution: I’m building an outsourced, "invisible" compliance desk. You don't buy or learn any new software. I handle the manual work; you just get the final result.

Here is exactly how it works:

1. The Hand-Off: You tell your subs to email all their insurance renewals to a dedicated inbox that I manage. You step out of the middleman role completely.
2. I Do The Chasing: I extract the dates, verify them against state registries, and handle 100% of the follow-up. My system automatically emails and texts your subs 30, 15, and 1 day before their policies expire demanding the new paperwork.
3. The End Result (What You Get): Your bookkeeper gets a single, live Google Sheet that I keep updated in real-time. On Friday mornings, they open it. If the sub's row is GREEN, cut the check. If it's RED, hold the check.
4. Audit Time: At the end of the year, I hand you a clean zip file of every verified COI perfectly organized for your auditor.

I’m planning to charge a flat $400/month for this service.

To the GCs and bookkeepers out there: Does this save you enough time, friction, and audit risk to justify $400 a month? Let me know why this would or wouldn't work in the real world. Appreciate the feedback. Please know im not looking for cutomers here just curious if this would be helpful. I hope this dosent break any rule mods if it does pls let me know i will instantly take it down.

Hello everyone, I just recently opened a handyman company sole proprietor. I’m in the Chicago area, and I’m looking for some advice on starting out. I’m currently using Angi services and Google ads for leads. I charge 75$ an hour, and I have a good system on running my business, processing machine to accept payments, digital invoices, website, work number, etc. is there anything else you guys recommend I integrate to help me become more successful. Thanks!

I am a claims adjuster here in Las Vegas looking for a building contractor to partner up. I do the water mitigation and you do the rebuilds. I have great relationships with plumbers in the area that would refer me the mitigation work and dealing with the insurance companies. Insurance claims are steady through the good times and slow times.

Please contact me for any additional questions

Thank you!

I am a GC bidding to convert a commercial office building into Residential. Approximately 15,000 square ft and 14 Units. Basically all demo is done we have just kept the plywood for the 3 floors. Beams stays.

Needs everything new including MEP, framing , kitchen , flooring , drywall , paint , hookups for washer / dryer in each unit, new HVAC units , separate utilities each apartment , sprinkler , fire alarm etc and provide turn key to owner. In addition we have to provide all appliances, kitchen cabinets and provide turn key.

Tentative costing i am providing is about $ 190 sqft + $ 30 sqft ( overhead and profit). This is again in MW ( Ohio)

Any feedback or suggestions. Is this costing on lower end , mid range , high. There are 3 more GC bidding and I know cost is a big factor.

Only thing excluded:

No roof replacement

No windows replacement

No stucko/ outside work

No parking lot work

I didn’t expect this to take up as much of my time as it does. Mid-size residential job right now, three subs on the same site (fence, concrete, irrigation), all overlapping. And somehow I’ve ended up tracking every 811 ticket tied to the whole thing. Which ticket belongs to who. What’s still valid. What’s expiring. Who’s actually scheduled when. It’s constant small checks all day. If I don’t stay on top of it, things slip. If I do, I’m basically doing admin work instead of running the job. I’ve thought about handing it off to the subs, but I’ve already seen how that ends, someone assumes someone else handled it and it comes back to me anyway. So I’m stuck in that middle ground where I don’t really want the responsibility, but I can’t ignore it either.

Running a small catering operation out of a leased space near Jamaica Ave and a grease fire did some real damage to the walls, ceiling, and ventilation setup. Landlord is on our case and we need a team that knows facility maintenance in NYC commercial properties. Looking for a company that can handle smoke damage, deodorizing, and some structural cleanup. Anyone dealt with something like this and have a crew they'd reco͏mmend?