Estimating advice for taking over an incomplete project

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titan1021

titan1021

Senior Member
Location
Northern California
I have been asked to provide a bid on finishing a commercial project that is approx. 10,000 sqft. The building will be mixed use, restaurant and offices. The GC was fired by the investors half way through the job, and the electrician being loyal to the GC also walked off the job.

The rough electrical appears to be about 60% finished. I am considering two different approaches here.

1. I would provide the owner with an hourly rate and go T&M. The owner should have an idea of the electrical cost, provided in the original bid.

2. I would charge them at an hourly rate to spend several days going through the Job to verify the installed wiring and device locations with the plans, what still has to be installed, and basically determine where the other EC left off. Once finished I would be able to provide a bid to finish the project.

This is a big project and I think we all hate to come behind someone else, the potential for it to become a nightmare is pretty high.
My main concern is that I come out on top and cover my own as_!

Any advice about doing a job like this would be greatly appreciated.

THANK YOU.
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
I would ask to see the original paperwork, and "go with option 2, kick your *butt* and collect the $200." ~ My Cousin Vinny
 
growler

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
titan1021 said:
The GC was fired by the investors half way through the job, and the electrician being loyal to the GC also walked off the job.

1. I would provide the owner with an hourly rate and go T&M.
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Is the owner going to try to finish this job? I don't know how things work on the west coast but here the owner would need to hire another GC to permit this job as it's commercial. I would want to know who the GC is going to be before making a decision to work with them.

I would try to find out as much information as I could on the GC and EC that left the job to see if they are reputable, if they are I would begin to question why they were fired off the job.

Changing contractors in the middle of a job can be an expensive decision so I would find out why that decision was made.

First you figure out if there is any money there and then you figure out how to get it. :smile:
 
N

nakulak

Senior Member
growler said:
Is the owner going to try to finish this job? I don't know how things work on the west coast but here the owner would need to hire another GC to permit this job as it's commercial. I would want to know who the GC is going to be before making a decision to work with them.

I would try to find out as much information as I could on the GC and EC that left the job to see if they are reputable, if they are I would begin to question why they were fired off the job.

Changing contractors in the middle of a job can be an expensive decision so I would find out why that decision was made.

First you figure out if there is any money there and then you figure out how to get it. :smile:
Click to expand...


amen, especially to finding out what happened. maybe they walked off because they weren't paid, it would be a shame to find that out the hard way. plus, it would be good to see how well the owner's and the gc's and ec's stories match up to see how honest they are (or not)
 
C

charlietuna

Senior Member
Many years ago my boss took over a juior high school job that the GC went "bottoms up" on! Luckily, he had a T&M agreement with a GC who we used to work with. The original EC had drawn his full draw for being completely roughed. The school looked in good shape--Until we opened the ceilings!!! None of the rough was completed -- all the fixtures were installed in the ceiling--not the first lighting circuit ran -- and the receptacles installed without the wire being pulled--panel interiors installed without subfeeds! So the recommendations of T&M is a must on jobs like this. Apparently the original GC on this job continued to hold the sub contractor's draws until nothing was done!
 
Fulthrotl

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
Location
HB, CA (19 Hrs. 22 Min. from Winged Horses)
Occupation
E
titan1021 said:
I have been asked to provide a bid on finishing a commercial project that is approx. 10,000 sqft. The building will be mixed use, restaurant and offices. The GC was fired by the investors half way through the job, and the electrician being loyal to the GC also walked off the job.

The rough electrical appears to be about 60% finished. I am considering two different approaches here.

1. I would provide the owner with an hourly rate and go T&M. The owner should have an idea of the electrical cost, provided in the original bid.

2. I would charge them at an hourly rate to spend several days going through the Job to verify the installed wiring and device locations with the plans, what still has to be installed, and basically determine where the other EC left off. Once finished I would be able to provide a bid to finish the project.

This is a big project and I think we all hate to come behind someone else, the potential for it to become a nightmare is pretty high.
My main concern is that I come out on top and cover my own as_!

Any advice about doing a job like this would be greatly appreciated.

THANK YOU.
Click to expand...

t&m.

make sure you get paid directly from the owner.

if he has a performance bond with the previous sparky, let HIM deal with
collecting on it.

make sure your preliminary notices are filed, served, etc.

is work area secure? you don't want to have sparky #1 playing around there
with a bad attitude, and wire cutters.

keep it on a short leash. weekly draw, pay in full as you go.

if it's really icky, just sell labor only. have the owner set up an account
in his name with a wholesale house, and have material delivered directly.

the last thing you need to find out is that you just spent eleventeen thousand
dollars on material, and the REAL reason the last guy left is he wasn't paid.
:mad::mad::mad:
 
C

CopperTone

Senior Member
Location
MetroWest, MA
no matter what your bid is there will be someone willing to do it for 1/2 your bid these days.

I also would go at this at T & M only with a weekly draw. Don't let the payments get behind. If you do go the route of the labor only deal - which may be a great way to go on this job, just up your hourly rate a bit to compensate for lack of material mark up.

Many variables here and you would put too much time into a bid just to get underbid. let some other guy lose his shirt on this - not you. T&M labor only - I guess that would be T only sounds good on this one.

Oh, and make sure you have a clear cut signed contract.
 
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