<Stupid dumbshit contractors will always be the low bidder. If
<they go out of business, from underbidding, there is another dozen <waiting in line to fill the gap. If they get the low bid, well, then, <they have the job and they go around shopping to all the skilled folks <to see which ones are so damned hungry that they will prostrate <themselves, their reputation, and their margins in order to survive.

There is so much truth to this it's scary.  I'm a general contractor in a fairly large mid-west city and bidding municipal work here is a nightmare.  I can't even *begin* to imagine what it's like to bid municipal work in a city like New York.  I'd probably quit the business and get into doing something else.  I don't particularly care to bid municipal work but when my negotiated work is down it's nice to have a shot at something.

I don't know how bids play out in other parts of the country but around here projects like this are put up on the builders exchange, Dodge reports and other similar construction reporting agencies.  This gives anyone with a truck, shovel, and a cell phone free license to put a quote to subcontracting the job.  The same afore mentioned subcontractors will then fax that quote to every general contractor listed on the builders exchange.  Now on bid day when I sit down with all of my quotes that I have solicited from my favorite subcontractors my fax machine will start going nuts with blanket quotes that are faxed to me all of my competitors.  Now I may not have any idea who the hell that sub is but the number is very important to me because I know that there are certain generals in this area that will use that number no matter what to win the bid and then beat down their favorite sub later.  The problem is that most of the numbers will come in close but there are always the few oddball blanket bids that are ridiculously low.  Usually it's because in their tally they've forgotten something, most often their profit or forgot to account for prevailing wages. (you wouldn't believe how many times I get bids that fall into one of those two categories).

It really makes me wonder when I get outbid by a general with an off the mark bid, how he's going to manage to do the project when I'd have to drop two or three trades off of my bid to even come close to his number.

I used to work for a municipal engineering department near Detroit.  When we would bid a project we always stipulated; low bid, best qualified.  It gave us the leeway we needed to skirt bids that we knew were junk.  Maybe more bids should be done this way.

It's a disservice to a client to bid a project so low that you nit pick and fight for every little change order just to hope that you make a buck off of the project.  I'd much rather go in comfortable and eat a couple change orders as a value added service to my client.

This is a tough business, if it were easy everyone would do it, and frankly, there are a few that shouldn't be doing it.

Lord, please give me negotiated projects all day long!

Nate Gillette
Grand Rapids, MI

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>