Service contracts (Facilities)
Introduction
A contractor is the person or company that is hired by another organization or individual to carry out a work or service, usually in the field of construction and civil works, although not only. Thus, contractors are used in the construction of buildings, roads, facilities or some special works, such as refineries or oil platforms, for example. These works may represent the entire work, or parts of it, divided according to their specialty, territoriality, schedule or other causes.
The term used to designate the contractor refers to the type of contract entered into with the developer "Promoter (building agent)") or client for said construction works in accordance with the contract documents, which generally include the general and special conditions, the plans "Plan (mapping)") and specifications of the architectural project prepared by the designer "Projector (building agent)"), who depending on the type of project may be an architect, a civil engineer, an industrial designer or another specialist.
A contractor is responsible for providing all materials, equipment (vehicles and tools), and labor necessary for the construction of the project; although if necessary it may provide, for example, only human resources. To do this, it is common for the contractor to rely on other people or organizations to carry out certain types of specialized work; They are called subcontractors and he is called general contractor.
The difference between a contractor and a subcontractor does not lie specifically in their capacity, experience or field, but rather refers especially to the type of relationship they have with the end client, that is, if they were directly hired by them to carry out the work, or if they are hired by an intermediary. Therefore, it is common that in practice, an individual subcontracts a construction company to carry out the project, or otherwise that a construction company subcontracts several individuals to carry out the same work, and that in all cases they all occupy different seats in the organizational chart from one project to another.
When the contractor is external
When an organization wants to construct a building, it contacts an established general contractor who will handle all the work. In most cases, the client organization never deals directly with subcontractors nor does it have to worry about the construction process.