How to Clear a Punch List Faster: The Multi-Trade Approach

Every general contractor knows the feeling. The project is 95% complete, the client is eager to move in, and you’re staring at a punch list with 50+ items across half a dozen trades. Your drywall sub says they can come back next Tuesday. Your painter is on another job. The hardware installer doesn’t pick up the phone.

Sound familiar?

The traditional approach to punch list completion is broken. Here’s why, and how the multi-trade approach fixes it.

The Problem with the Traditional Approach

The conventional method for handling punch lists goes something like this:

1. Walk the project with the client
2. Document all deficiencies
3. Categorize items by trade
4. Call each trade individually
5. Schedule each trade separately
6. Hope they all show up
7. Follow up when they don’t
8. Repeat until done

This process can take weeks. Sometimes months. Every day that punch list remains open is a day you’re not collecting your final payment, and a day your client is getting more frustrated.

Why Trades Don’t Come Back

Let’s be honest about why your regular subcontractors are hard to get back for punch list work:

• Small jobs don’t pay: Coming back for 2 hours of touch-ups isn’t profitable when you factor in travel time
• They’re already on the next project: Your timeline isn’t their priority anymore
• Blame games: If multiple trades need to coordinate, nobody wants to go first
• Scheduling complexity: Finding a window that works is increasingly difficult

The Multi-Trade Solution

A multi-trade finishing contractor solves these problems by consolidating what would be 5-6 separate trade calls into one.

What is a Multi-Trade Contractor?

A multi-trade finishing contractor is a team skilled across multiple disciplines: carpentry, drywall, painting, trim work, flooring repairs, and hardware installation. Instead of being specialists in one area, they’re experts in finishing work across the board.

Why It Works

One call, one team, one visit. When you call a multi-trade contractor for punch list completion, here’s what happens:

1. They assess the full punch list
2. They provide a single quote for all items
3. They schedule one visit (or a coordinated series of visits for larger lists)
4. They complete everything themselves
5. You get one invoice

No coordination nightmare. No waiting for six different trades to align their schedules. No blame games about whose work caused what problem.

Real-World Time Savings

Let’s compare two scenarios for a typical townhome punch list with 40 items across 5 trades:

Traditional Approach

Step	Time
Categorize and contact 5 trades	2-3 hours
Schedule each trade (over 2-3 weeks)	10-15 hours
On-site time (5 separate visits)	10-15 hours
Follow-up on incomplete items	3-5 hours
Total calendar time	3-4 weeks

Multi-Trade Approach

Step	Time
Contact one contractor	15 minutes
Schedule one assessment	30 minutes
On-site completion	1-2 days
Total calendar time	3-5 days

That’s not a marginal improvement. That’s a fundamental shift in how efficiently you can close out projects.

When to Use a Multi-Trade Contractor

The multi-trade approach makes the most sense when:

• Your punch list spans multiple trades: If it’s just paint touch-ups, call your painter. But if you’ve got drywall patches, paint, trim, and hardware? Multi-trade wins.
• Timeline is critical: Occupancy deadlines, client walkthroughs, or inspection dates don’t wait for your sub to have an opening.
• Your regular trades aren’t responsive: If you’ve already tried getting your subs back and hit dead ends, it’s time for a different approach.
• You want one point of accountability: No more trade A blaming trade B. One team, one responsibility.

Questions to Ask a Multi-Trade Contractor

Before you hire, make sure they’re actually multi-trade capable:

1. What trades do you cover in-house? (Not “who do you sub to,” but what do your own people do?)
2. How quickly can you assess and quote a punch list?
3. What’s your typical turnaround time for a punch list of [X] items?
4. How do you handle items that reveal additional issues?
5. Can you show me examples of similar projects?

The Bottom Line

The construction industry has gotten more specialized over the decades, and that specialization has made punch list completion harder than it needs to be. The multi-trade approach is a return to practical efficiency: skilled craftspeople who can handle the variety of finishing work that every project requires.

If you’re a GC or builder in Greater Vancouver and you’re tired of the punch list runaround, let’s talk. We’ve helped dozens of builders close out projects faster with our multi-trade approach, and we’d be happy to show you how it works.

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