Unsure if this is kind of an obvious answer to the question. But is there a clear difference between Commercial GCs and Residential GCs? Is the flow from Owner -> GC -> to working with subs the same? I’d imagine that commercial jobs have more pressure put on them compared to residential unless it’s multi family home job.
I’ve been doing a lot of research into the construction industry lately and one thing keeps coming up in every conversation I have with GCs and PMs — tracking subcontractor certificates of insurance and collecting lien waivers seems to still be almost entirely manual at most mid-size shops. Spreadsheets, calendar reminders, email chains.
I’m not a GC myself so I genuinely don’t know if I’m talking to outliers or if that’s just how it is. A few things I keep wondering about:
Is a lapsed COI actually a regular problem or more of a rare worst-case scenario people worry about theoretically? Same question for lien waivers — does anyone actually get burned by a sub filing a lien after already being paid, or is it more of a “it could happen” fear?
And what does your actual day-to-day look like? Is there one person at the company who owns this stuff and it just lives in their head, or do most shops have something more structured?
genuinely just trying to understand the reality before I make any assumptions. Would love to hear from anyone who’s dealt with either of these going wrong.