I've been noticing a trend lately in the change orders during a project. When I ask for documentation or itemized costs to verify the Owner is not being over charged it seems the Contractors are still managing to over charge by over itemizing the bills. Instead of a price for 920' of 3/4" EMT I see:
Item_________________QTY__Price__U_Total Mat.__Total Hours
3/4" EMT_____________920___$X.xx_C_$X.xx_______46.00
3/4" EMT STL SS CON__64____$X.xx_C_$X.xx________6.40
3/4" EMT STL SS CPLG_105____$X.xx_C_$X.xx_______2.63
3/4" EMT SUPPORT____131____$X.xx_C_$X.xx_______19.65
I look at this and see 74.68 hours to install 920' of 3/4" EMT. Averaging 48.7 minutes per 10' section of EMT. I understand there's some time involved in ordering and setting up but this looks ridiculous. Even if you send someone to a big box store to purchase everything I can't see this work taking someone almost 2 weeks to perform. I've never worked in the field but this looks high to me. Plus another 15% OH&P tacked onto it. So I feel the number as a whole is too large but I can't point to any one item on the list and say 'take 5 minutes off of this per item and 1.3 minutes off of this item.'
The Contractor just sticks to their number saying they won't work for a loss. The CM is no help since their fee goes up as a percentage of the cost. I know hiring a second Contractor is almost never done but I'm getting tempted to seriously suggest this when I see numbers like this.
Looking for any suggestions on how to control this cost on the Owner's behalf. Or am I just too comfortable at my desk and these numbers are completely reasonable?
Item_________________QTY__Price__U_Total Mat.__Total Hours
3/4" EMT_____________920___$X.xx_C_$X.xx_______46.00
3/4" EMT STL SS CON__64____$X.xx_C_$X.xx________6.40
3/4" EMT STL SS CPLG_105____$X.xx_C_$X.xx_______2.63
3/4" EMT SUPPORT____131____$X.xx_C_$X.xx_______19.65
I look at this and see 74.68 hours to install 920' of 3/4" EMT. Averaging 48.7 minutes per 10' section of EMT. I understand there's some time involved in ordering and setting up but this looks ridiculous. Even if you send someone to a big box store to purchase everything I can't see this work taking someone almost 2 weeks to perform. I've never worked in the field but this looks high to me. Plus another 15% OH&P tacked onto it. So I feel the number as a whole is too large but I can't point to any one item on the list and say 'take 5 minutes off of this per item and 1.3 minutes off of this item.'
The Contractor just sticks to their number saying they won't work for a loss. The CM is no help since their fee goes up as a percentage of the cost. I know hiring a second Contractor is almost never done but I'm getting tempted to seriously suggest this when I see numbers like this.
Looking for any suggestions on how to control this cost on the Owner's behalf. Or am I just too comfortable at my desk and these numbers are completely reasonable?