Experienced builders, you had to start somewhere. What did you do when you first got started?

My guess and correct me if I'm wrong is that the experienced builders started out learning the building process and worked with a lot of different trades. They learned who was good and who wasn't and when it came time for them to go out on their own, they were able to hire the same subs?

Talk to as many people as possible when looking for subs. Go to previous job sites if you can to inspect work. Make friends with your lumber supply company. We've gotten lots of great referrals from our lumber yard rep. As far as encouraging your subs to do good/timely work, be as specific as possible (even if seems stupid to say some things) - do not leave anything up for assumption. Be as present as possible. Work starts slipping when we aren't at our build site. We also find that the people we hire who actually come to do the work themselves (either with a crew or not) do better work versus people who just send someone(s) to do the work and only show up at the end to collect payment.

I used a few subs building our house. I learned a few things: If you keep calling without response, they don't want your work; watch them like a hawk, and make sure they're doing it right and the way you want it; be prepared to do a lot of waiting.

I don't know how many subs I've called that simply don't show up. You call and leave messages- nothing. Or they say they'll come out to give you a quote, and they never show. Or they come out, but never get back to you with a quote. I only had one sub that gave me a prompt quote, adhered to an agreed-upon schedule, and did everything we discussed properly. I got his number from a contractor.

I make sure that they understand that they will be paid the minute the job is done- cash, if they like. I also offer to buy the materials up-front so they don't have to lay out the cash. I can't imagine having enough patience to GC every phase of a build.

In our area, the building industry is booming, and the good subs are all booked up working for area contractors. You can't expect them to give up their meal ticket for a one-off. I got most of my subs through a local contractor that I hired to do site work, and was lucky enough to develop a good working relationship with him throughout the project. That being said, he hasn't returned my various phone calls- for a year now! I know he's still alive, as he sent me a Christmas card.

Thanks for the helpful feedback. It's nice to get actual SOLUTIONS to the problems with managing subs. I know it's a real challenge, but too often, the problems are repeated over and over and OVER again, as if solutions don't exist. Thanks for taking the time to help us.

And then there's the guy who shows up 20 minutes late and gets out of his truck with a nice piping hot cup of Starbucks coffee!

Well if he brought you one too, he might be forgiven. :)

We had a ton of trouble with managing subs. The best things I did were:

1) Knowing how the job should be done before the sub shows up, including consulting with the next sub about how he needs the previous guy to leave the site for the next stage of work to happen without a hitch. Before I wised up to that, a lot of subs did their work in a way that technically completed their part of the job, but that also complicated or hindered the next round of work. In general, independent subs value getting their jobs done as easily and quickly as possible. They do not think about your next sub's work (they're not a team) or particularly care about your job as a whole.

2) Being present nearly constantly to make sure the job is done the right way. Particularly being present for when the guys arrive and start work, so you can make sure everything they are intending to install and where/how is right before they can get very far. SO much easier to catch problems before the work is done vs. arguing with people to redo/fix stuff.

3) Getting referrals to subs from a wonderful GC who is so good that we couldn't afford him. His guys almost never gave us problems.

4) Avoid hiring large companies that send a competent, great communicator out to talk over the job and give you a quote and then send random, way less detail-oriented and way less communicative people out to actually do your work.

The worst was an asbestos abatement company. Our job was complicated because we were trying to save a lot of items that they were supposed to clean/remove/save for us. Their competent, detail-oriented quoter came out and carefully wrote down all my instructions about what to keep and then left. The day of, some random other guys showed up to do the work, followed none of the instructions, and threw out half our stuff that we wanted to save instead of calling me with questions. We got a $3,000 credit from the company to cover the loss, but it was a HUGE pain in the neck.

I now always always look for businesses where the guy giving the quote is the guy who does the work (sometimes with helpers).

This is a very timely topic for me. We're GC'ing our build near Charleston SC (on an island so the assumption is that we're rich - but we're not), and it's been way worse than I expected to get sub-contractors. And I had read much here and elsewhere about what to expect and I thought I was prepared for how bad it would be, but its been worse.

Everything mushcreek said about subs not showing up and not being interested apply to me. Ugh. All the companies that are doing a lot of work here are as busy as they want to be which makes it harder than it would be during a housing downturn.

Tomorrow my foundation people are supposedly going to show up - two weeks after they were initially supposed to start. They had materials delivered today, so I'm a little hopeful that it will happen.

The framing subs are literally the only company that gave a bid. Several others said they were interested - asked for me to send the plans, which I did, and I never heard back, even after several follow up emails. Several companies sent someone out here, and in the case of a couple of smaller companies it was the owner who came out, but afterwards it was like they dropped off the face of the earth. I don't even have that much confidence in the framers we've hired, but at least my husband and I know how it's supposed to be done and we'll be here every day, all day long, making sure it is done right.

We've recently retired and were planning on building some houses here but I'm pretty sure now that I'm not ready to deal with the headache of working with subs.

We survived being our own GC's last year. I second the statement above about subs who won't return your calls. I spent way too much time trying to get people to call me back. My husband's dad was an old school bricklayer who ran his own company--my husband knew the game. Especially with smaller companies, they will talk with you to keep you on the hook in case they need the work, but if they get a bigger offer, they stop returning your calls. They don't really ever decline the job that way, but eventually you either 1) wait them out until they finish their bigger job or 2) wise up and move on.

Definitely talk with your lumberyard and other suppliers to get references, they saved us when others backed out. We ordered all our own materials, so that way if a sub flaked out, it was only the cost of labor (if they had even started the work) that we owed them. It made it a lot easier if I had to switch subs at the last minute to not have the materials tied up in that transaction.

We used a very flexible title company for all the payment draws, and I handled those personally. Most of our jobs were fixed bids for the labor, so I could have the check ready to hand to them as soon as the job was finished to my satisfaction. Especially for the smaller companies, they appreciated knowing they would be paid immediately rather than have to wait for a weekly or monthly draw to be processed, and I was sure to make that clear before they started. I literally paid our roofer as he came down off the ladder for the final time. So you can bet when the plumbers installed our vent pipes and didn't get something sealed up good, that roofer made a special trip to fix it right away.

You all have been very helpful. No pressure, but if any of you owner-builders would like to tell your story on my podcast, my audience and I would love to learn from your experiences. You can hear what the show is like and contact me by going over to www.BYHYU.com. If not, NP. Thanks for all you have taught us in your comments here.