I found an up and coming architect so my design fees were substantially less than my GC fees... by about 8-10x.
> I know people who GC the projects themselves to save a great deal of money.
Do not do this unless you know what you're doing. One bad contractor (and you will be hiring many) can trash the whole project. The value of the GC is that he brings a stable of quality contractors that he knows and works with.
I've gone both ways, it really depends on the situation.
I live in the pacific NW where there are a lot of old craftsman style homes. High quality woodwork details is the theme.
I started by calling high end custom furniture shops and asked them if they could do built in cabinetry work. They did not, but they recommended a number of woodworkers that moved on from furniture into contracting (carpentry, custom window sashes, storm windows, etc...).
Then, I asked them what GCs they have worked with in the past and which they would recommend.
A few names came up often, I spoke with them, picked one, and was really happy with the work.
I guess the tl;dr is, good GCs use highly skilled subs, so find the subs then ask which GCs they recommend.
2. If you've run out of people to chat up, try going to your city's build permits department and see which builders have been getting permits in the last few years. Not a guarantee of quality, but gives you a list to interview.
3. Ask for referrals from your architect or engineer. And then ask the referrals for references.
But even if you do this, finding a good GC in Silicon Valley is very hard right now.
I tried getting contractors to bid almost a year ago. From 25 calls/emails, I got replies from about 8. Of those, half said some variant of "sorry, too busy to take on new projects right now."
I can't imagine how much crazier it'll be this year with the hotter housing market and the added demand for rebuilding after the fires.