ACCOUNTABILITY AND COMPANY CULTURE Getting people to do a job to an owner’s standards may ultimately be what pushes owners in either the direction of subs or employees. “Our employees are invested in their work,” Fisher says. And because of that “they will return to a site to answer questions. They know who they are working with every day and they prep for and support one another. … They’ve developed a shorthand you only get when you’ve worked with people for a long time who are all invested in the outcome. And the clients are happier.”
Many remodelers who were interviewed for this story, who are using subcontractors, don’t see company culture as much of an issue but do spend a lot of time developing relationships, bringing people in early, and investigating to make sure the subs they choose are the kind of people who take pride in their work. Communication is important. “Subs are people too,” Weiss says. “They respond to professional management the way everyone else does. They’re such an important part of what we do as GCs that it’s absurd not to cultivate them.”
Wadlington reviews The Journal of Light Construction (a sister publication of REMODELING) best practices guide as well as an adapted version of the National Association of Home Builders’ subcontractor guidelines with his subcontractors. “This way we have a common understanding,” which helps keep people accountable, he says. Plus, says Wadlington, whose business is near Penn State University, “We’re in a small town. We see these people all the time; there is some honor involved.”
The key to accountability, Floramo says, is “being fair to [subs] and paying them in a timely manner. And then, I get some priority for my work. When I need them, I’m put to the top of the ladder.”
Company culture is both a catalyst for and a watchdog of accountability. Perry doesn’t have an issue with company culture with his subs and says that having employees who are a good fit maintains company culture. Subs who don’t make the grade don’t get asked back.
Says Fisher of the few times her company has used subs, many of whom in her area don’t speak English, “We’ve taken to posting some of the basic jobsite etiquette in Spanish, things like ‘Don’t throw cigarette butts in the yard,’ even if we have had a discussion with the owner of a subcontracting company. If we can use our own employees we have better buy-in and understanding that we don’t park on the owner’s azalea bushes or pour paint buckets in their garden.”
Whether you choose to use subcontractors or to hire employees — or see yourself as a management company or a trade company —the choice is one you must feel comfortable with. Some people don’t want the pressures of a large payroll, while others, such as Adams, say that they feel less stress supporting employees than they do searching for subcontractors.
The important thing is communication — letting people know what’s expected of them and giving them feedback during and after a project. Client satisfaction and your bottom line depend on it.
Defense — the Best Offense In the late 1980s, Tom Peters (not his real name) owned a framing contractor business in Georgia. He had four employees — three project supervisors and one forklift operator whom he treated like a subcontractor. “I knew it was stupid,” he admits now, but at the time he wanted to save money. That employee complained to the IRS. Not long after, the agency came knocking at Peters’ door.
Often, a worker complaint such as this one is “a hot-button issue that can trigger an audit,” says Washington, D.C., attorney D.S. Berenson, who previously served in the IRS’ Office of Chief Council.