For Builders guide
How to vet a finish crew before you put them on a job
Most of what goes wrong with a finish sub is visible in the first ten minutes, if you know which questions do the work.
Anybody can look good in photos. Photos are the best five minutes of somebody else's job, taken in the right light, after the punch list was done. They tell you almost nothing about whether a crew will still be showing up in week three.
Here is what actually predicts the outcome.
Ask who is on the crew, and whether it is the same people
This is the single best predictor of finish quality holding up across a job. A crew that turns over week to week produces work that does not match itself. The base in the hall was cut by one person and the base in the bedrooms by another, and you will see the difference in the miters long before your client does.
Ask it directly. How many are on your crew, how long have they been with you, and will the same people be here Thursday. A sub who has to think about the answer is telling you something.
Ask what else they are running this month
A crew that says they have nothing on is either brand new or not being straight with you. A crew that names two jobs, says where each one is, and tells you when they close is running a real schedule and can tell you honestly whether yours fits.
The answer you want is a specific one. Vague is the warning.
Watch how they handle a gap in the scope
Send a scope with something missing from it on purpose. It does not have to be a trap, it happens naturally on most jobs anyway.
The sub you want says, before anybody starts, that the item is not in what you sent and asks whether you want it priced. The sub you do not want either eats it quietly and resents it later, or does it and hands you a number at the end. The second one is how a finish scope turns into an argument in month two.
Ask for a job you can drive past
Not photos. An address, or a builder who will let you walk one. If they cannot produce a single job in the area you can look at, that is worth knowing before you schedule them and not after.
Call another builder, and ask one question
Not a homeowner. Another builder, who has actually had them on a schedule.
The question is: did they finish, and did the last ten percent take as long as the first ninety. Almost every finish crew can start well. The ones worth keeping are the ones who close out at the same pace they opened, instead of drifting off to the next job with your punch list still open.
Talk about money before you talk about dates
A sub who asks about your pay cycle on the first call is running a business rather than chasing work, and that is a good sign, not a pushy one. A sub who never asks is either not paying attention or is desperate, and both of those show up on your job eventually.
Be straight about your terms. Retainage, when invoices go in, when they actually clear. A crew that knows what it is walking into does not go quiet on you in week four.
On credentials and insurance. Run whatever checks your job and your own agreements call for, and get the certificate in your hands rather than taking anybody's word for it. That is your process and your call, and a sub worth having will hand the paperwork over without being chased twice.
The short version
- Same crew, every day, is worth more than a better price.
- Specific answers about current work beat enthusiastic ones.
- Raising a scope gap before starting is the behaviour you are actually buying.
- One builder reference beats ten photos.
- A sub who talks terms early will still be talking in week four.