Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Commercial Contractor

Most owners choose a builder on three things: a number, a referral and a feeling in the room. Two of those are useful. The number is the least reliable of the three, because at the time you are choosing, nobody yet knows what the project will actually cost.

What follows is the interview I would run before I hire a commercial contractor. It is not a trick list. Every question has a reason, and the reason matters more than the answer.

You are buying a team and a process. The number is the part most likely to change.

Questions about the company

1. Who will actually be on my project? Names, not roles. Ask to meet the project manager and the site superintendent, because those two people determine your experience far more than whoever is sitting across the table selling.

2. How many projects will that superintendent be running at the same time as mine? One is ideal. Two is common. Four means you will be the one that waits.

3. What is your bonding capacity, and how much of it is committed right now? This tells you whether your project is a comfortable size for them or a stretch.

4. Who are your insurers and what are the limits? Ask for certificates. Check that the coverage matches what your contract requires, not what they usually carry.

5. What work do you self-perform? A contractor who self-performs concrete or carpentry controls more of the schedule. One who subcontracts everything is a coordinator, which is fine, as long as you know that is what you are buying.

Questions about your project specifically

1. What worries you about this project? This is the single most revealing question you can ask. A contractor who has genuinely studied your drawings will have a real answer. One who says "nothing, it is straightforward" has not read them.

2. What have you excluded, and what have you assumed? Ask for the list in writing. Exclusions and assumptions are where two prices that look identical turn out to be very different.

3. What are the long-lead items and when do they have to be ordered? If they cannot name them and give dates, the schedule is not real yet.

4. How much contingency is in this number, and who controls it? You want to know whether it is in the price, outside the price, or nowhere.

5. What would you change about the design to save money without losing function? Good builders have ideas. This is free value if you ask early.

Questions about how they run work

1. How do you handle changes? Ask for the actual process and the typical turnaround for pricing a change. Slow change pricing is the most common cause of schedule damage.

2. How often will I get a schedule update, and in what format? Monthly, with the baseline shown, is the answer you want.

3. How do you pay your subtrades, and how quickly? Under Ontario's prompt payment rules there are fixed timelines. A contractor who is vague about paying down the chain is a risk to you.

4. What does your deficiency and closeout process look like? Ask when warranties, as-builts and training are delivered. "At the end" is not an answer.

5. How do you communicate bad news? Ask for an example from a recent project. Everyone has one. The ones who cannot produce one are either new or not being straight with you.

What to check before you hire a commercial contractor

• Call two references from projects that went badly, not just the showcase ones. Ask the owner what the contractor did when things went wrong.

• Visit an active site. Look at housekeeping, safety, signage and how the trades are working. A tidy, calm site is not cosmetic — it correlates strongly with how the work is run.

• Confirm bonding and insurance directly with the surety and broker, not just from a certificate emailed to you.

• Read the exclusions list beside the drawings. Most of the disputes I see were visible in that list before anyone signed.

The honest summary

When you hire a commercial contractor, you are buying a team and a process, not a number. Ask who will be on your job and how busy they are, ask what worries them about your project, get exclusions and assumptions in writing, and check how they behave when something goes wrong. The price will change. The team and the process will not.

Common questions about hiring a commercial contractor

How many references should I ask a commercial contractor for?

Two is enough if you choose them well. Ask for one showcase project and one that went badly, and speak to the owner rather than the consultant. What you are listening for is what the contractor did when things went wrong, not whether the job eventually finished.

Should I hire the lowest bidder?

Not on price alone, because two prices that look identical rarely cover the same scope. Read the exclusions and assumptions beside the drawings before you compare the numbers. Most of the disputes I see were visible in that list before anyone signed.

What should I confirm before I sign with a contractor?

Bonding and insurance confirmed directly with the surety and the broker rather than from an emailed certificate, the named project manager and site superintendent, the written exclusions list, and the long-lead items with order dates. With those four in place, most of the avoidable risk is behind you.

What is the most useful question to ask a contractor?

What worries you about this project. A contractor who has genuinely studied your drawings will have a real answer. One who says it is straightforward has not read them.

If you want a second set of eyes on a shortlist or on the bids in front of you, that is a short conversation worth having. You can see how I work with owners and project partners on project solutions.

This article is general information about commercial construction practice in Canada, not legal advice. Have your own counsel review your contract.

Connect with Carolee on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/carolee-w-turner-2002417

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