A General Contractor is a organization  or individual that contracts with another organization or individual  for the construction, remodelation or  demolition of  a residential or commercial building  , road or other structure. A general contractor is defined as such if it is the signatory as the builder of the prime construction contract for the project.

A general contractor is responsible for the means and methods to be used in the construction execution of the project in accordance with the contract documents. The  contract documents usually include the contract agreement , budget, the general and special conditions , plans and specification of the project that are prepared by a design professional such as an architect or engineering structural.

A general contractor usually is responsible for many services necesssary for construcction  of the project, included  supplying of all material, labor, equipment, (engineering vehicles and tools) . To do this  is common for the general contractor to subcontract part of the work to other  companies that specialize in these types of work. These are called subcontractors.

General contractors conducting work for government agencies are typically referred to as prime contractors. The responsibilities of a prime contractors working under a contract are essentially identical to those outlined above. In many cases, prime contractors will delegate portions of the contract work to subcontractors.