How to choose a commercial general contractor in Birmingham
Hiring a builder · The short answer
Choose a commercial contractor on evidence, not on the lowest number. Ask who will run your job day to day, how they price work before the drawings are finished, how they buy subcontractors, how they handle changes, and which recent projects like yours you can walk through.
Who will actually run my project?
You are hiring a project manager and a superintendent as much as a company. Ask for their names, what they are building now, and when they come free. A strong firm with an overloaded team will build your project slowly.
Ask to meet the superintendent before you sign. That person will make hundreds of decisions on your site, and you should know how they think.
Have you built this kind of building?
A restaurant, a lab, a historic renovation and a tilt-up warehouse each fail in different ways. Ask for two or three recent projects of your type, then go and stand in them. Call the owners and ask what went wrong and how it was handled.
Finished photographs show taste. A walk-through shows how the corners, ceilings and mechanical rooms were built.
How do you price before the drawings are done?
Most owners need a number long before the design is complete. A contractor who can only bid finished drawings cannot help you then. Ask to see a conceptual estimate from a past job next to its final cost, and ask how the gap was managed.
Ask whether the books are open. Under an open-book contract you see the subcontractor bids and the invoices behind every line.
How are changes and the schedule handled?
Changes happen on every project. What matters is whether the markup on changes is agreed in the contract, whether you approve the price before the work is done, and how quickly pricing comes back.
Ask for a sample schedule and a sample monthly report. You want a contractor who reports against a baseline and tells you early when a date is at risk.
Are you licensed, bonded and insured for this work?
Alabama licenses commercial contractors through the Alabama Licensing Board for General Contractors. Ask for the license number and look it up, then ask for a certificate of insurance and the firm’s bonding capacity if your lender requires a bond.
Finally, ask what happens after you move in: who handles warranty calls, what closeout documents you receive, and whether there is a walk-through before the first year ends.
Common questions
Should I pick the lowest bid?
Only if the bids cover the same scope. Compare the exclusions, allowances and schedule first. The lowest number often leaves out work that returns later as change orders.
How many contractors should I talk to?
Two or three is enough for a negotiated project. Past that, the interviews stop telling you anything new and good firms put in less effort.
When should I bring a contractor on?
As soon as you have a site and a rough program. Early pricing and schedule advice costs little, and it is most useful before the design hardens.
The project behind this post
1905 Adaptive Reuse — Mixed-Use Residential & Commercial
