As a project owner planning a construction project in the multi-family construction space  you will find no shortage of General Contractors and Construction managers willing to bid on your construction project. Assuming that your project is of a certain minimum size, most of them will be professional outfits with solid business practices and reasonably well developed project management skills. If they have a professional estimating department their bids will likely be close as well, or at least in the same ballpark. So with all thing being equal, how do you choose the best contractor to whom you will award your multi-family construction project.

These 3 qualifications are essential.

Some builders view every project as if it were cut from the same template. While it’s true that every project has common core elements (managing a schedule, a budget and delivering a successful project),  there are aspects to multi-family construction that are unique to the market. Look for a General Contractor who has fully internalizes these differences and has a deep level of experience specifically with multi-family residential construction.

As mentioned above, a firm’s direct experience in the multi-family construction matters greatly but it should go without saying that the actual team to be assigned to the project is where the rubber meets the road. Be sure that the Project Executive, Project Manager and Construction Superintendent that will be working on your project have a proven track record building similar projects in multi-family construction along with the specialized experience required to deliver a successful project. A truly qualified construction manager will have no trouble providing the resumés of the team at bid time.

When evaluating a General Contractor or Construction Manager for your independent or assisted living construction project, be sure to tap the valuable information to be found in their past client list. Construction managers should be eager to put you in touch with clients who can give candid feedback about working with them on related independent and assisted living construction projects.