I bid the job too low. I have spent $950,000.00 on a $865,000.00 contract. The GC told me that my number was good; that they wanted my technical expertise to execute the project.
This is probably one of the most common mistakes on a project. Why do you even need to ask the GC if your number was good? You should always know what your project costs are. What if you were $5,000 lower than the next EC only he did not know his true costs also.
Another thing, you have spent $950,000 but does that include overhead? If you were at $865,000 then your real base costs should have been around $675,000. Did you not check your quotes, feeders, branch materials, subcontractor costs and figure in an amount for labor to come up with this $675,000?
Here is how I come to that number. Take the $675,000 and put the O/H at 10% this would be 675,000 x 10% = 67,500 + 675,000 = 742,500. Then figure in at least a 15% profit on that would be 742,500 x 15% = 111,375 + 742,500 = $ 853,875. This would be pretty close to your original bid. These are just basic figures and each EC could be different.
Many times I have taken projects too low myself and promise I will never do it again, until the next time. What helps me quite a bit is breaking down my costs in sections, then at figuring in my labor. A lot of times I will look at my costs on a project and bump the price. Sometimes this puts me out but the object here is to make money, not to see how low you can build a project.
If you don't have an estimating program then look into one. They will help you on your labor costs. They may sound expensive at first but look at where you are at now. Then how pricey is an estimating program that tells you the real costs of a project.
I would do everything I could to try and finish. If you do finish then you could stay in business and hopefully recoup the costs down the road. Keep us posted and good luck with this.