GC Requesting Us To Attend Weekly Meetings?

You could try talking to the GC about it. Chances are the weekly meetings thing in the contract is a standard thing they put in all their contracts. Have a nice conversation with them, just stating hey look our scope on this project is pretty small, do you really want us to attend the meeting every week?

If your GC is a nice person, he should understand your scope in the project is pretty small compared to others, and maybe he/she will be able to just call you into the meetings that are relevant to your scope.

I have not worked directly for a GC much, most of the time the company I worked for got contracts direct with the customer, so we weren't a sub of the GC. The last time I was a sub, it was a large project and we were on site for months anyway, so attending a weekly meeting would have been no big deal.

The GC should be accommodating.  I would get any deviance from this requirement in writing though.  You never know how the project is going to shake out and business is business.  A suggestion would be to ask the GC to waive your attendance unless your tasks are on the schedule for that week and you will attend anytime the project foreman/super requests.

I have seen this requirement many times and it is usually enforced for the problem contractors and not ones that are part of the team.  Just get it in writing.....good luck and congrats on securing the project.   

Hi Jay, 

i would say say that weekly meetings are fairly accurate, but that the fines associated are not quite so. 

If I were in your shoes, I would go have a candid conversation with the GC’s PM and confirm that your small portion of there overall scope is really necessary at every weekly meeting.  They are likely willing to allow you to call in, or even miss a few that would truly be a waste of your time. 

If they are sticklers about it, I would leave a note in your “customer records” folder and build that time into your next proposal to them. 

Good luck! 

Was attendance for weekly meetings in the contract docs you signed?

It is in the contract which was presented, and we have NOT signed. See good thing I read that 40-page beast... LOL

I am a small company with a service tech and couple lead techs running solo on projects. I am struggling to find qualified techs/helpers (that's another topic). A meeting on the other side of town at 10 AM kills the work day and costs me regardless of who goes.

I have reached out and asked for a modification and am waiting for a phone call.

Not only is there a fine that starts at $150, but it doubles for every missed meeting. So you can see why I am not just going to take someone's word. Like said, business is business, and signed docs trump a verbal "Don't worry about it"

Smart man. If they're going to insist, you'll have to decide what's it worth to you and maybe raise your labor or profit on the job to make it worth while.

40 pages? Hrmmph. If you start doing more of these, 40 pages will start looking small.

We have a government entity contract that requires us to be at bi-weekly contractor meetings, but we do a enough volume of business that we're able to chalk it up as "cost of doing business".  So it's not uncommon.

You can try striking out the "weekly meetings" portion and just write in how ever many number of weeks you think your portion will be and initial it. If they counter sign, then they accept. All contracts are negotiable.

I run in to this all the time, minus the fines portion.  80 - 90% of our work is government (primarily in corrections) and these projects always have a ton of meetings scheduled.  I usually end up having to go to a couple of startup meetings, and then don't have to attend again until our actual scope of work begins. 

I've always had meetings broken down by area, so I usually have to attend IT meetings, electrical meetings, but not meetings on trades that are more unrelated to our work.  For a project where you have 8 doors, it does feel ridiculous to require you to put more hours into meetings than you are going to put into the actual work.  

Like other people have said, I would recommend talking to the GC before signing the contract.  Most GC's will understand, my guess is the weekly meeting requirement is boiler plate, but I have also worked with contractors who are going to be pretty inflexible on that.  Do you have a bid bond you will lose if you walk away from this contract? My gut feeling is if the GC wont work with you on this, it probably isnt worth it for a project that size.

In addition to the weekly meetings there is going to be other required meetings for safety and coordination. 

As others have mentioned talk with the GC. But more them that let them know that you are going to coordinate with the other contractors well ahead of the schedule. They want to make sure that the project is progressing and that you won't hole anyone up. 

Regularly check in with them to see if certain things have been done that you need or if the schedule has changed. For example, did the electricians rough in the boxes you need for the cameras. 

And oh yeah the paper work. There is going to be mountains of it. Check the contract to see what's required and start early. 

Track your time and write it down so you can use that as a template for the next project. Minimize what it cost you but the rest you will have to chalk up to education for next time.