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What is a general contractor?

A general contractor is the business that takes charge of a building job as a whole: it plans and supervises the work and the crews, and often hands parts of the job to specialty trade contractors.

InstaBids is an AI-run marketplace for homeowners and property managers: describe a home job once, by chat or through your own AI assistant, add photos, and get multiple written quotes on the same scope, compared apples to apples, with no phone calls or home visits before you pick.

By InstaBids editorial team with AI research agents. Updated

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What does a general contractor do?

Day to day, a general contractor plans the job, keeps the budget and schedule, supervises the people on site and lines up the trades. BLS describes the work this way: “Construction managers plan, coordinate, budget, and supervise construction projects from start to finish.” Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, read 2026-10-28. “Either a general contractor or a construction manager oversees the construction phase of a project, including personnel, but a construction manager may also consult with the client during the design phase to help refine construction plans and control costs.” Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, read 2026-10-28. “Construction managers work closely with other building specialists, such as architects, civil engineers, and tradesworkers, including stonemasons, electricians, and carpenters.” Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, read 2026-10-28.

How does the Bureau of Labor Statistics define a general contractor?

A general contractor is the firm responsible for a construction job from start to finish, whether that job is a new building, an addition or a repair. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics treats the title as another name for a construction manager: “Construction managers, often called general contractors or project managers, coordinate and supervise a variety of projects, including building public, residential, commercial, and industrial structures as well as roads and bridges.” Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, read 2026-10-28. Of the building firms in its industry group, BLS adds: “The work performed may include new work, additions, alterations, or maintenance and repairs.” Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, read 2026-10-28.

What is a residential general contractor?

A residential general contractor works on homes rather than offices, factories or roads. The industry codes in OSHA's SIC manual split residential general contractors into two groups, single-family houses (code 1521) and other residential buildings such as apartments (code 1522): Code 1521 covers “General contractors primarily engaged in construction (including new work, additions, alterations, remodeling, and repair) of single-family houses.” Source: U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, read 2026-10-29. Code 1522 covers “General contractors primarily engaged in construction (including new work, additions, alterations, remodeling, and repair) of residential buildings other than single-family houses.” Source: U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, read 2026-10-29.

What is a general contractor agreement?

A general contractor agreement is the written contract between the property owner and the contractor that sets out the work, the agreed price, who else will work on the job, and the schedule of stages and payments. Fannie Mae's rule for its HomeStyle Renovation loans lists what that contract must cover: “The renovation contract must itemize the specific work that the contractor agrees to perform for the borrower; state the agreed-upon cost of the renovation; identify all subcontractors and suppliers; and include an itemized description that establishes the schedule for completing each stage of the work and the corresponding payments to be made to the contractor.” Source: Fannie Mae, read 2026-10-29. “Fannie Mae has developed a model Renovation Contract ( Form 3730 ) to document the renovation contract between the borrower and the contractor.” Source: Fannie Mae, read 2026-10-29.

Do general contractors hire subcontractors?

They can: federal industry data describe building firms handing part or all of a job to specialty trade contractors, and Washington state's contractor rules draw the line between general and specialty contractors on exactly this point. “Part or all of the production work for which the establishments in this subsector have responsibility may be subcontracted to other construction establishments—usually specialty trade contractors.” Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, read 2026-10-28. In Washington, “General contractors can perform most types of construction work.” Source: Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, read 2026-10-29. “They can hire subcontractors in multiple specialties.” Source: Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, read 2026-10-29. “Specialty contractors can only perform work in the specialty they are registered in.” Source: Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, read 2026-10-29. “They cannot hire subcontractors.” Source: Washington State Department of Labor & Industries, read 2026-10-29.

What is a general contractor responsible for?

Beyond the work itself, a general contractor that runs a site can answer for safety across every crew on it, not only its own. Federal OSHA's Multi-Employer Citation Policy (CPL 02-00-124, effective December 10, 1999) calls this role the controlling employer: OSHA defines a controlling employer as “An employer who has general supervisory authority over the worksite, including the power to correct safety and health violations itself or require others to correct them.” Source: U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, read 2026-10-29. “Control can be established by contract or, in the absence of explicit contractual provisions, by the exercise of control in practice.” Source: U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, read 2026-10-29. “A controlling employer must exercise reasonable care to prevent and detect violations on the site.” Source: U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, read 2026-10-29. In the policy's own example of a general contractor that hired a painting firm, OSHA concludes: “GC is a controlling employer since it has general supervisory authority over the site, including a contractual right of control over P.” Source: U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, read 2026-10-29.

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