[Soundy]

Working in a specialized trade and having to deal with GCs regularly, I can tell you, it's not just a job where you get to boss people around. You have to keep track of everything that's going on, and if you have multiple overlapping trades, you should know how everyone's job affects everyone else, especially if one trade relies on another.

For us, for example, we usually rely on the electricians to put in any necessary conduit for our camera runs - that means the GC needs to be aware of this fact, ensure that the electricians do it, and he needs to have at least a rough idea of where the runs end up. If it doesn't get done (as happened on a recent job, where neither GC nor electricians were made aware that there even WERE cameras), that means a lot more work for us, and an extra bill for that time to the PM.

On some jobs, we also have to coordinate with drywallers, millworkers, and painters on the locations for our cameras and when they can be mounted... this is something that the GC should also be aware of, and ideally should be the contact point for letting us know when things are ready for us, so we're not having to constantly track down six different people from four different trades.