Bad Job

[Alwayslearningelec]

Not sure how many of you do $5+ million a year but for those of you that do how many times in your career has an estimate been bad where you lost a few hundred thousand on a $3-10M dollar job?

So I've been an estimator going on about 12 years now, and have pumped out roughly 40-50 estimates a year(can vary +/-) all usually $800K to $10M with about a 10% hit ratio.

I've had losing job dues to estimate in the neighborhood of $200-400k about 3 times. All other times my jobs have made 15-25%

 

[infinity]

If your jobs are making 15-25% then a few loses over 12 years are nothing. Our company has dipped to the point where there is almost 0 profit. Contractors are cutting each others throats taking jobs with tiny or zero margins and hoping that they'll make it up on the extras and change orders. It seems like the really big jobs are the ones that make the most profit. For us those are the ones we do in the 60-70 million dollar range.

 

[letgomywago]

If your jobs are making 15-25% then a few loses over 12 years are nothing. Our company has dipped to the point where there is almost 0 profit. Contractors are cutting each others throats taking jobs with tiny or zero margins and hoping that they'll make it up on the extras and change orders. It seems like the really big jobs are the ones that make the most profit. For us those are the ones we do in the 60-70 million dollar range.

I'm happy to say I've never been pigeon holed on a job of anywhere near that magnitude. I know they happen but man that'd suck to manage and work on unless they cycled you through from ground work to trim out 3 or 4 years later.

 

[TwoBlocked]

As I understand it, we recently won a $186,000 bid on verbal approval. A couple days later were told a competitor beat us by $2,000. I don't care for the company and the job wasn't a very good fit, anyway. We didn't engage in this race to the bottom.

 

[petersonra]

Not sure how many of you do $5+ million a year but for those of you that do how many times in your career has an estimate been bad where you lost a few hundred thousand on a $3-10M dollar job?

So I've been an estimator going on about 12 years now, and have pumped out roughly 40-50 estimates a year(can vary +/-) all usually $800K to $10M with about a 10% hit ratio.

I've had losing job dues to estimate in the neighborhood of $200-400k about 3 times. All other times my jobs have made 15-25%

I would guess my hit rate for jobs I quote is in the 20% range. Having said that a large number of the jobs I quote are for things that have no funding (yet) so presumably management knows going into the game that the chances of getting an order is remote and if it happens on those type of jobs it might be years down the road.

 

[infinity]

I'm happy to say I've never been pigeon holed on a job of anywhere near that magnitude. I know they happen but man that'd suck to manage and work on unless they cycled you through from ground work to trim out 3 or 4 years later.

One advantage of the really big jobs is that the number of firms that can actually do them is limited so the pool of contractors that you're bidding against is very small. Developers and contractors are more likely to go with a contractor with a proven track record than just give the job to the lowest bidder.

 

[letgomywago]

One advantage of the really big jobs is that the number of firms that can actually do them is limited so the pool of contractors that you're bidding against is very small. Developers and contractors are more likely to go with a contractor with a proven track record than just give the job to the lowest bidder.

That's good helps you build a reputation.

 

[Alwayslearningelec]

If your jobs are making 15-25% then a few loses over 12 years are nothing. Our company has dipped to the point where there is almost 0 profit. Contractors are cutting each others throats taking jobs with tiny or zero margins and hoping that they'll make it up on the extras and change orders. It seems like the really big jobs are the ones that make the most profit. For us those are the ones we do in the 60-70 million dollar range.

Yea it's really bad out there right now. It's a chase to the bottom. Your absolutely right.

 

[Alwayslearningelec]

One advantage of the really big jobs is that the number of firms that can actually do them is limited so the pool of contractors that you're bidding against is very small. Developers and contractors are more likely to go with a contractor with a proven track record than just give the job to the lowest bidder.

Correct again. Bonding capacity needed on the very big job weeds out to usually 3-4 bidders. I'm bidding jobs now with 6-10 electricals against me on every job.