Question about General Contractor - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Clover · 11-03-2009, 11:57 AM

Hi there- just wanted to point somethings out really quick. I am not a licensed contractor, I am a safety manager (which may be worse than most things out there

) but I am in a real bind and having to deal with OSHA and have some questions regarding general contractors and was hoping to be able to turn to the experts. We are a storage company and have many facilities which as you know requires a lot of up keep. So we have a "construction manager" as an employee (he does not do any of the work himself). This construction manager will be the lead on remodeling and new building projects. My question is when are we considered to be the general contractor? I understand if the construction manager runs the ins and outs of a new building project we are the general contractor. But what about when we hire a racking company to come in a repair racking? Or if we hire a drywall company and a painting company because we decide to put up a wall in our conference room and make it two smaller rooms, are we still the general contractor? I am trying to find that line of how to determine when we are and when we are not. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

mics_54 · 11-03-2009, 12:08 PM

A general contractor is a group or individual that contracts with another organization or individual (the owner) for the construction, renovation or demolition of a building, road or other structure. A general contractor is defined as such if it is the signatory as the builder of the prime construction contract for the project.

You are not a "general contractor" unless you, by contract, enter into an agreement with another separate entity (the owner) to perform general contracting work.

You are an employee..not a contractor.

The company you work for is not contracting to work on their own site unless of course through some complicated corporate entity loop hole legalities which is a different topic.

SC sawdaddy · 11-03-2009, 12:10 PM

Hi Clover welcome to Contractor Talk.
First, to answer your question, we would need to know a little more info from you. Try filling out your location info in your profile. And folks around here kind of like to see you make an introduction in the intro thread also.
Hope this helps.

ChainsawCharlie · 11-03-2009, 12:46 PM

When it's all going according to plan, you are not the GC.

But when the

hits the fan...