Facade Contractor vs General Contractor: Why You Need a Specialist

The Mistake Most Developers Make on Their First Project

We get calls regularly that start with: 'Our GC did the facade and now it's leaking. Can you come look at it?' The GC took on the facade, subcontracted it to a local fabricator, and 2 monsoons later the building owner is dealing with water damage and no one is taking responsibility. This is the predictable result of treating facade as 'just cladding' rather than the precision-engineered building envelope it is.

What a General Contractor Does vs What You Need

What Goes Wrong When GCs Handle Facade

The failures we see most often:

• 1.Leakage at year 2-3 — site-applied sealant by untrained labour, no drainage design, blocked weep holes.
• 2.Glass breakage from wrong specification — standard annealed glass instead of toughened.
• 3.Aluminium corrosion by year 5 — standard anodising instead of marine-grade near the coast.
• 4.Delayed handover — GC underestimated glass lead time (3-4 weeks), didn't allow for drawing approval cycle.

When a General Contractor Can Handle It

GC-led facade work is appropriate when:

• 1.Building is 2-3 floors max with simple windows only — no structural glazing.
• 2.The GC has a dedicated in-house facade division (rare).
• 3.Budget is the absolute primary constraint and some performance compromise is accepted.

How Fine Glaze Works With Your GC

We don't compete with general contractors — we work alongside them as the specialist facade subcontractor. We coordinate with the architect for shop drawings, manage our own fabrication timeline, and provide independent testing and certification at handover. Call +91 8369233566 to discuss how we can integrate with your project team.