General Conditions

General conditions are project costs not tied to any one trade or material: supervision, site office, temporary utilities, dumpsters, permits, cleanup, and similar job-site overhead.

They are usually carried as a percentage of the work or as separate line items, and they are easy to under-budget when the schedule stretches or site logistics get more complex.

Owners and GCs often scrutinize general conditions during bid leveling because they can vary widely between proposers even when trade pricing looks similar.