Masonry Magazine June 2000 Page. 16
By Steve Saucerman
Getting Done and Getting Paid
Closing Out the Commercial Construction Project for the Mason Contractor
There are arguably no greater words that a masonry contractor can hear than "you're done" - really done. The job is really finished, the punchlist is really satisfied, and you really have fulfilled your end of the bargain - the one you struck low those many months ago. Unfortunately, in the construction industry, determining when you're really done can be a frustrating exercise as the definition of finished can vary greatly, depending on who's doing the defining: the owner, architect, general contractor, or masonry contractor. What do I mean by "frustrating"? Well, see if this sounds familiar.
A Story
Take one of your recent jobs, for example. A week after you satisfy the first (and you thought only) punchlist for the project you recently completed - you mail out your final billing to the general contractor. On that very same day, an unannounced (and unanticipated) second punchlist arrives in the mail. In it are new items; items "that must be remedied before final payment will be released."
The items on the new list describe missing weeps, bad mortar joints, and reservations over the sealing job. In addition, there are other larger more involved items that will clearly require a bit more time, attention and money; money you didn't have in your bid.
Now, you really do feel that the second punchlist is unfair, but you don't want to risk alienating the general or owner (and for that matter the architect) with whom you'd like to conduct more work in the future, so you bite your lip - count slowly to ten (to bring your blood pressure down), accept the injustice and go to the phone to let your job foreman know he isn't finished. You then call the suppliers who are impacted by the items on the new list to get the ball rolling.
It takes two more weeks to complete list number two. When it's finished, it just so happens the architect is out of town, so "it'll be another week before he he can get together with the owner to do a walk-through." Your final billing is now a month old. So are your sub and supplier bills that you received in the final month of the project. Your invoice sits unpaid on the general's desk. The general's invoice sits unread-on the architect's desk. The walk-through happens, but it's two more weeks (he's a busy man you know) before the architect musters up the energy to finally and reluctantly approve payment (except, of course, for the money he's withheld for a few "concerns" that he still harbors) for the general contractor. He then sends it out by regular mail to the owner for his OK, processing and payment.
But, wouldn't you know it, the board (that approves the payment for the owner) meets only on the second Monday of every month and your request just missed getting on this month's meet-
Continued on page 19