[Pelican]

I'm in the process of bidding a large job by my standards, it's a commercial building new construction. I've never bid anything even close to this in size, it could be an opportunity to put my company at a higher level......or......it could put me out of business if I miss the mark.

My plan is to break this job down in to blocks of the size I'm accustomed to and estimate them, then total them up for the final quote. The job has a set of architectural plans, basically I'm working to the plans. There's a materials list published as well. Will my system get me in trouble or should it work out? Anything I should be careful of when figuring this job?

Thanks!

[Dale Wiley]

Ok Pelican.... its going to be a heck of a lot easier to have this destroy your business than take it to a new level. If your competing against other contractors, be prepared to accept lower margins. Don't look at one job as your ship coming in, because in reality it is not.

Your concept of breaking it down is good. Make sure the take off's match the print for plant counts. That's a favorite trick, to vary one from the other.

Get solid, written quotes from everyone supplying you materials. Anything over
$ 300 is a written quote with a clear expiration date.

Look closely at the GC's, they could have all kinds of site requirements that can impact your cost.

Good Luck..

[Paul]

Remember economy of scale. Larger sites means more room to work and faster production. A couple of thing that will help is plan on starting on the site, this removes window time and give you a better work day and break the job apart, but grade the site with your rake before you start planting, this gets grades set so you don't have lots of machine time after you plant and have tighter work areas. If you have large ground cover beds amend the soil before you have brought in the larger plants. Think bulk have the material delivered to the site by other trucks not yours, what would have been window time can mean a lot of plants in the ground and turns to $$.

[agla]

List everything you are going to do and provide in detail. Add that anything not listed is an extra and will be billed as such.

[Pelican]

So far I'm on track. Dale, I've already done what you suggest, thanks! I toured the site with the owner (GC) and asked what condition I would find the areas to work in and how many other contractors I'd be trying to work around.

Thanks for the install tips Paul. I've already looked in to my materials being drop shipped, the place is plenty big to store bulk materials. I think I'll add a clause in the contract that they must provide security for the materials, that I won't be held responsible for stolen materials.

I'm bidding against two other firms. If I don't get the job, I won't be too upset. I'm not going to bid it just so I can say I got it, I want to make a few bucks at it.

Thanks Agla, that's part of my contract procedure.

[Pelican]

I've been working on this bid and thought of a potential problem. If the sequence of construction is not done in the proper order, it's possible some of the work I've already done could be ripped up for a step that had been forgotten. Is it common to put a clause in the contract to protect against this, so that if work must be done twice I'd be compensated each time? I toured the site again today with the owner and pointed out several items that are required for my work that had been forgotten to this point.

[Raj Venugopal]

Is a bid bond required? Is it going to tender?

That's one of our challenges.

While small commercial work is great, we're too small a company to front a 10% bid bond yet.

It's a lot to lose if you're already taking a leaner margin to get the contract and things go south.

[HardDaysKnight]

Most GCs we've done bids for are shopping for the lowest price
period. Also is there a deposit up front or payment on completion only? They tend to take forever to pay, if at all. Be careful!
Good Luck.

[Paul]

Pelican Just wondering how you did on this bid?

[Pelican]

I submitted the bid on Friday 6/16 and haven't heard anything yet. I plan to call on Monday and ask about the status. I appreciate all the tips here, it made me much more confident in putting the bid together.

[GLAN]

Good Luck !!!

[Pelican]

It appears that my bid wasn't sharp enough. I called the GC/owner and left a message but it has yet to be returned. I drove by the facility the other day and the landscape work is underway. I'd have liked to have learned how far off my bid was so I could decide whether it is worth my time bidding another job of this type.

Thanks everyone for all the help here!!

[Dale Wiley]

That means you were way underbid by a contractor who had very little work and bid the job to "keep the help busy".

It has been my experience that when it happens that fast, the GC wants them on the job ASAP beofre they have time to figure out that they screwed up on the bid.

Consider yourself lucky, file the contractors number under "A" for and go get some higher margin work.

I'd have liked to have learned how far off my bid was so I could decide whether it is worth my time bidding another job of this type.

Pelican:

If did your best in the bid, and set the profit at the lowest acceptable profit margin for YOUR BUSINESS, then you will find that it probably will not be worth your time to look at similar jobs.

[Paul]

If you would like to see how others might have bid the job why not post it here? It might open a few eyes up.

[site]

If you want answers ask questions. I would stop by and ask the GC where you fell in the bidding, and if he had any other feedback. Sometimes they shoo you away, and other times they politely answer every question.