32.5 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a General Contractor

Contractor prequalification isn’t about asking every possible question. It’s about finding the risks that matter to your project before you award the work.

Originally published April 2012. Updated October 2026 to reflect current owner-side contractor prequalification and selection practices.

Choosing a general contractor should involve more than reviewing a proposal, checking a few references and comparing numbers.

The contractor may be responsible for millions of dollars of work, manage dozens of subcontractors, control much of the day-to-day activity on the site and have a significant influence on cost, schedule and quality.

The owner should know who is being hired.

That does not mean sending every contractor an exhaustive questionnaire simply because you can.

Ask the questions that are relevant to the project.

A contractor that is well suited for one project may not be the right choice for another. Project type, size, complexity, location, schedule, occupied conditions, procurement strategy and available resources all affect what matters during prequalification.

The objective is not to make the process burdensome. It is to identify issues that could matter after award—while you still have the ability to evaluate them.

Here are 32.5 questions I would consider.

Company & Financial Capacity

1. How long have you been in business?

2. Have you or your partners operated under any other company names?

3. Are you willing to negotiate the project on an open-book basis?

4. What is your current workload, and how does this project fit within it?

5. How many projects of comparable size and complexity are you currently managing?

6. What percentage of your work is performed by your own forces versus subcontractors?

Understanding the company is only the beginning. An owner’s real exposure is often determined by whether the contractor has the capacity to take on this project at this time.

Relevant Project Experience

7. Describe your experience with this type of construction.

8. What comparable projects have you completed recently?

9. Can you provide references for projects similar in size, complexity and delivery method?

10. What challenges arose on those projects, and how were they resolved?

11. Have you ever failed to complete a project? If so, what happened?

12. Have you had legal claims or significant disputes arising from work you performed? What were the circumstances?

A long project list isn’t necessarily evidence of relevant experience. I want to understand whether the contractor has dealt with the conditions that are likely to matter on the owner’s project.

Project Team & Staffing

13. Who would be assigned to this project?

14. Who would be the project executive?

15. Who would be the project manager?

16. Who would be the superintendent?

17. How long have those individuals worked for your company?

18. Have the proposed project manager and superintendent worked together before?

19. What experience does the proposed superintendent have with projects like this one?

20. Will the superintendent be dedicated to this project for its duration?

21. What other responsibilities will the proposed project team have while our project is underway?

22. If one of the key team members becomes unavailable, how will that person be replaced?

This is an area owners can easily overlook.

You may select a contractor because of the company’s reputation and interview its senior leadership. But the people actually assigned to the project will have far more influence on the daily outcome.

Know the team you are buying.

Cost, Schedule & Commercial Terms

23. How do you develop and validate your estimates?

24. How do you calculate general conditions?

25. What markups do you apply to change orders, subcontractor work and other project costs?

26. How do you manage subcontractor bidding and procurement?

27. How do you evaluate subcontractor qualifications before award?

28. How do you develop the project schedule, and who is responsible for maintaining it?

29. How do you identify and communicate emerging cost or schedule issues?

30. What opportunities do you see for improving constructability, cost or schedule without compromising the owner’s requirements?

The lowest initial number does not necessarily produce the lowest final project cost.

The owner should understand how the contractor estimates, buys, staffs and manages the work—not just the amount at the bottom of the proposal.

Risk, Safety & Performance History

31. What is your safety record, and how will safety be managed on this project?

32. What insurance, bonding or other project-specific risk requirements can you satisfy?

And the half-question:

32.5. What haven’t I asked that you think I should know before awarding you this project?

That last question is intentionally open-ended.

A contractor’s answer may reveal an issue you hadn’t considered. It may also tell you something about how the contractor communicates, what risks they see and whether they are willing to raise difficult subjects before they become problems.

Prequalification Is Due Diligence

There are endless questions an owner could ask a general contractor. The point is not to create the longest questionnaire.

The questions should reflect the risks and requirements of the particular project.

A technically difficult renovation may require deeper questioning about logistics and occupied construction. A fast-track project may make staffing, procurement and schedule management more important. A large capital project may require greater scrutiny of financial capacity, bonding and subcontractor management.

The prequalification process should help the owner understand those differences.

It also shouldn’t end with the questionnaire.

References should be checked. Proposed team members should be interviewed. Claims or performance issues that surface should be understood. Information provided during prequalification should be compared with what the contractor ultimately proposes.

By the time an owner awards the work, the decision should not simply be:

“Who gave us the best number?”

It should be:

“Which contractor has demonstrated that they can successfully deliver this project?”

That is the result good prequalification and due diligence should produce.