What's the function of a general contractor in a home building or remodeling project?

A General Contractor is not only an integral part of a team, he or she is the leader of the team and must have experience in all aspects of construction. A good General Contractor (or firm) usually specializes in one field - e.g. Residential renovations, commercial renovations, new home construction and so on. Each field is unique and experience is critical to success.

The General Contractor is responsible for taking your project from initial design and permits through to completion and wrapping up with occupancy permits if required (and all inspections and permits in between)

A good General Contractor is not only skilled in his trades and those sub-trades that work under him, he must have excellent people skills and able to motivate everyone involved in the job, coordinate sub-trades and materials, and making sure these are scheduled accurately so no trade is delayed by another. It is a skill that takes years of on the job experience to master.

A good General Contractor will likely have good sub-trades since everyone on the job is there to make money - a General Contractor that is good at scheduling trades and estimating time allotments will allow subtrades to make money - this in turn makes the General Contractor a preferred customer and likely to get priority... and help in crunches when needed.

Good contractors do not come cheap, if they use good sub-trades, they will not be cheap either and all these costs contribute to the total project price. In the end though, trades paid a fair price where they can make money will be on the job when needed and do a good job (in most case, but the GC's job is to make sure everyone does a good job). This keeps jobs moving along and completed on time.

General Contractors are paid well and rightfully so (if they are good that is). They are responsible for the whole project and if something goes wrong, they are on the hook. When everything comes together as it should, everyone is happy!