B1317 - Commercial construction and renovations such as apartment buildings, office buildings, etc.

Operational Details
A Contractor, whose primary activity is constructing commercial buildings, usually operates as a general contractor, either having all the necessary skills direct hired, or subcontracts a portion of the required skillcrafts. A general contractor also oversees the project and is responsible for administration, materials management and scheduling throughout the entire project.

A commercial construction company generally offers a “turnkey” package, by taking total responsibility from the site preparation, to the point when a key can be given to the customer, who only needs to open the door when the project is complete.

Commercial contractors often have their own in-house design engineering capability. Blueprints can be drawn up for the customer’s approval, or they will carry out the plans of an independent engineer. The hiring of subcontractors is also the responsibility of the builder. That is: unless the owner acts as their own general contractor.

A typical contract would entail the general contractor hiring an excavation company, classified in R11-06, to do site reparation, hiring a pile driving contractor, classified in B13-10, to install pilings for the foundation and then contracting a crane operator, classified in R11-23 to hoist materials onto the different elevations. Many suppliers would be used to supply everything from concrete, gravel, steel, drywall, lumber and steel studs, insulation, electrical and plumbing supplies, scaffolding, etc.
Trades supplied by the commercial contractor often includes: cement workers, drywallers, stuccoing and stippling workers, plumbers, electricians, sheet metal workers, cabinet installers and carpenters, etc.

One tradecraft hiring another to complete a contract does not qualify the tradecraft as a general contractor or a commercial builder.If an excavation company subcontracts a gravel hauler to assist in site preparation there would be no change in their classification.

Commercial building renovators may be contracted to construct, replace, or remove walls, ceilings, rooms, fixtures etc. In this case they are not operating as a general contractor, but are able to supply a variety of tradecrafts to the customer to the point where only one firm has to be hired to do all the necessary work to complete a renovation. The difference between a building contract and renovations is that a building is constructed only once, however, the changes made to the existing structure are known as renovations. The time involvement is much shorter and is usually restricted to renovating a portion of the entire building.

When an entire building is gutted and refurbished on the inside, the job may be undertaken by a general contractor or a large renovation firm. For the most part, renovators are able to supply the same range and scope of tradecrafts as the larger firms who are in the construction business.

Some commercial builder contractors also renovate, particularly buildings they have erected and have been able to market their skills to the building owner. In other cases, during slow times the builder will activity compete with the renovator for smaller jobs they normally would not undertake..

SIC Codes
000000125 - Commercial const./renovations