Even the most seasoned executives or facility managers have limited experience vetting construction companies. Consequently, more than a few people have been taken in by companies that can talk the talk, but lack something in the execution. That can be particularly costly for a senior living center, hospital, university where you can't completely close off a construction area until the project is finished.

Here are some examples of questions that any executive or facility manager in the position of vetting a construction company for a project should ask:

• Who will be the point of contact on site?

• What percentage of workers on the job are your staff versus that of one of your subs?

• Do you prequalify your subs in writing and vet their references?

• In what condition will the job site be left at the end of the day?

• What's your protocol for changes in the project schedule?

• How often will your site manager meet with our staff for project updates?

• Have you done similar projects in the past? Can you provide references from those projects?

• Can you give us some idea of how you will work around our schedule and operations?

In almost all cases, you should ask a construction company about their process and how they go about a job. At South Coast Improvement Company, our process is something we live and die by. So we ask ourselves a lot of questions as well. Those include:

• How do we mitigate the disruptions?

• What are the best safety practices for this job?

• Egress for the project, staging for the project?

• Who are the right subs-not just from a technical standpoint but given the environment?

Now the final process is something that is typically worked out after a job is won. But to ease the mind of the executive or facility manager conducting the interview, you should be prepared to demonstrate how you go about things during the interview. In essence, you should vet yourself for the person interviewing by answering questions they should be asking but often don't.

These steps are part of why South Coast Improvement has a very strong track record of finishing projects on time and on budget. We follow the process, it reaps positive results and satisfied customers who are happy to hire us again or provide a referral.