Estimate lost

[aline]

could be the customer dumb enough to take such a low bid, and wind up with shoddy work, which cant get past inspection

In my area plenty of shoddy work gets past inspections.

I was called out a few weeks ago to rewire a home that wasn't up to code.
The home was only a few years old when the plumbing started leaking. The sheetrock was removed and it was obvious the plumbing did not meet code and was poorly done. At that point they could see the electrical wasn't done properly either.

There were so many code violations and problems with this home I couldn't begin to describe them here. No way was this home wired by an electrician. Yet this home passed all inspections. The contractor who built the home told me he and the city are both responsible for the costs of making the repairs.

I believe the city failed to verify that licensed sub contractors where being used in the construction of the home and also failed to do a proper inspection of the home. I believe the contractor didn't want to pay subs for the work and completed the plumbing and electrical himself. I've seen this before and I believe it's fairly common especially when they finish basements for homeowners.

I think the inspectors get so busy they don't always take the time to do a proper inspection. No way should this home have passed a rough inspection or a final inspection.

If it wasn't for the plumbing leaking this would never have been caught.

 

[Jljohnson]

I agree with some of the others, don't let a low ball bid get you down. I do understand the frustration though and can sympathize. I bid a log home a couple of weeks ago in the mountains for 25K. GC got 2 other bids, one was 27K, the other was 16.5K. Job was bid to a pre-layed out print and this GC's contracts reference the drawings when he sends back a sub-contract. Whoever the 16.5 guy is is going to lose money, since I had the materials cost at 15K for the job. Now THIS guy, I do not sympathize with, he will either learn an important leasson or be out of business soon.

 

[LarryFine]

When I find out that I got grossly under-bid, I'm relieved. I also politely welcome them to call me if things don't work out.

 

[growler]

There is no way a legitimate contractor could bid a job I bided for $450.

the job required you to run 2 circuit's in conduit 85 feet away.

If you go back out there you will probably see UF cable ( maybe even Romex ) stapled to the side of the house. What difference does it make it's not your house and doesn't sound like it was enough money to worry about.

Now did you charge a fee for the estimate or was this a "Free Estimate"?

Bided?

 

[bbaumer]

Tiny job like that, material may have come off his already paid for "scrap pile" at half price......

 

[Jljohnson]

Just for grins, I ran the estimate in my software to see where it would come out. I came up with roughly $185.00 in materrial and 10 man-hours. figuring a reasonable mark-up on materials and using my standard labor rate for bid work, I would have charged $635.00 for the job. That should make you feel better

 

[Jljohnson]

Just for grins, I ran the estimate in my software to see where it would come out. I came up with roughly $185.00 in materrial and 10 man-hours. figuring a reasonable mark-up on materials and using my standard labor rate for bid work, I would have charged $635.00 for the job. That should make you feel better

I should clarify that I made some assumptions in order to fill in the blank spots in the scope of work. Assumptions made were as follows:
EMT Conduit and size- 3/4"
Wire and Circuit size- # 12 THHN on 20 amp QO Breakers
# of wires in conduit- 5 ( 2-hot, 2-N, 1-Grd) I hate handle ties
Circuit use- One GFI w/ WP cover installed in Bell box for each circuit
Also assumed the use of one LB in the run of conduit

 

[growler]

Just for grins, I ran the estimate in my software to see where it would come out. I came up with roughly $185.00 in materrial and 10 man hours. figuring a reasonable mark-up on materials and using my standard labor rate for bid work, I would have charged $635.00 for the job. That should make you feel better

What is your hourly rate? $635.00 - $185 = $450.00 That's with no materials mark-up. $450.00/10 man hours is only $45 pr hour. That's not really very good for service work and someone still needs to pay for the permit.

Ten hours of work doesn't really call for a bid rate but rather an estimated job cost at service rates. Think about it. You can give some discount for a full day but to go down to $45.00 an hour is not good.

 

[Jljohnson]

What is your hourly rate? $635.00 - $185 = $450.00 That's with no materials mark-up. $450.00/10 man hours is only $45 pr hour. That's not really very good for service work and someone still needs to pay for the permit.

Ten hours of work doesn't really call for a bid rate but rather an estimated job cost at service rates. Think about it. You can give some discount for a full day but to go down to $45.00 an hour is not good.

My bid labor rate is based upon the average of 1 Jman and one Apprentice. In all likelyhood, I would send one Jman out to do the job by himself and he would beat the MH's by 40-50%.
Like I said, I ran this for grins and didn't put a ton of thought into it. Trust me when I say I was not going make less than a full 30% true profit on this little job.

 

[bradleyelectric]

Trust me when I say I was not going make less than a full 30% true profit on this little job.

Do you normally do this type of work?

How many billable hours for this technician per year do you have doing this type of work? Are all his hours per year doing this type of work?

Did you include hours to look at the job and develope the proposal? This is normally figured in the service labor rate which is normally much higher than 45/hr.

 

[macmikeman]

Just for grins, I ran the estimate in my software to see where it would come out. I came up with roughly $185.00 in materrial and 10 man-hours. figuring a reasonable mark-up on materials and using my standard labor rate for bid work, I would have charged $635.00 for the job. That should make you feel better

I don't know about him, but that doesn't make me feel any better at all. I just cannot understand this need to shave prices down to as little as possible to just get by all for the sake of the customer. I would have charged $1,635 for the job. That would have made me feel better when I sent the proposal in. You do not have to be working every single minute of every single day in your life. Charge large and work less often if the economy is down in your area. The money works out the same.

 

[powerslave]

I don't know about him, but that doesn't make me feel any better at all. I just cannot understand this need to shave prices down to as little as possible to just get by all for the sake of the customer. I would have charged $1,635 for the job. That would have made me feel better when I sent the proposal in. You do not have to be working every single minute of every single day in your life. Charge large and work less often if the economy is down in your area. The money works out the same.

One j-man and an apprentice at four hours plus $250.00 materials plus mark up. I come in around $ 1,500.00.

If someone bid the same job for $ 450.00 I would tell the HO it sounds like side jobbers or a handyman. If they are still OK with that I walk away knowing I would never want them as a customer anyway.

 

[powerslave]

You do not have to be working every single minute of every single day in your life. Charge large and work less often if the economy is down in your area. The money works out the same.

Exactly.


Do you want to be busy or do you want to make money? The two are not necessarily the same.:grin:

 

[brian john]

I have lost many jobs to other contractors and could not believe the price the customer received. What can you do, let someone else go broke.

 

[LarryFine]

In other words, it's better to be complaining about how cheap someone else is willing to work, than to be that someone else.