Architects and general contractors in Long Beach pass around client referrals quite frequently. It’s not uncommon for an architect to have a small list of general contractors who they know to be skilled and reliable, and to whom they will happily refer their clients. General contractors will also refer their clients to architects who have provided them with great design plans in the past.
Just like any industry, there’s bound to be some contractors or architects who offer referrals in exchange for kickbacks, but for the most part, you can trust an architect to refer you to a great general contractor and vice versa. This is because the two professions are so intertwined. It’s highly unlikely that your architect would refer you to a general contractor who they know to be incompetent, because when the finished product doesn’t turn out well, it can reflect poorly on the architect. A general contractor would never refer you to an architect who will then draw up poorly designed plans because it will make his or her job much more difficult and time consuming.
In other words, you can likely trust a referral from one to the other. So, if your architect says, “Hire this general contractor—he’s the best in Long Beach,” you would be wise to take your architect’s advice. At the very least, you should add your architect’s preferred general contractor to your list of contractors from whom you will get a project bid.
What if I Select a General Contractor my Long Beach Architect Has Never Worked with Before?
If your architect and your general contractor are not people who have worked together in the past, it’s especially important that your general contractor be provided a detailed set of plans by your Long Beach architect. You don’t want to leave anything up to “interpretation” or you may be disappointed with the end result. So, look for an architect with a reputation for drawing up detailed plans that meet all code requirements.
Mark Grisafe, owner and lead architect at Grisafe Architecture in Long Beach had this to say, “The general contractors we’ve worked with appreciate the fact that they don’t have to spend a lot of their valuable time waiting to get answers from us or the engineers to fill in any missing information. Instead, they can just follow the plans, knowing that they include all the necessary details. Poorly drawn up plans, on the other hand, can bring a project to a standstill because the general contractor is unable to keep things moving until he or she gets the needed information.”
You also want to make sure that your architect and your general contractor are both good communicators. At some point, your general contractor will likely have to contact your architect for clarification on something. You want both parties to be able to communicate effectively, without their egos getting in the way, so they can come to a decision that will be in the best interest of your project.
