Lost job

Status
Not open for further replies.
jmsbrush

jmsbrush

Senior Member
Location
Central Florida
Around a month ago, I bid a small commercial job in my town. Not to many of them popping up now days.

So anyways I bid the job tight because that is what you have to do now days and I found out today I did not get the bid.

The thing that erks me, is that the EC who got the job is 1.5 hours away.
Now I rebid the job on another estimating program to check my numbers. On that bid I was $3000.00 more than what my original bid.

I just don't see how this EC got the job when he has to account for gas and drive time.

Maybe he bought the job. My dad said that happened allot in the 70's when he was an EC.:confused:
 
2 Maybes, One, his labor pool is at a much lower scale, Two, he did the same thing you did and he's just that much tighter. It's tough now, I've taken jobs at or only a fraction above cost if I know I can dig up extras. It's kind of depressing when going a day over on a 15 day job kills all your profit. If all else fails just ask Uncle Sam for 700 billion.
 
jmsbrush said:
Around a month ago, I bid a small commercial job in my town. Not to many of them popping up now days.

So anyways I bid the job tight because that is what you have to do now days and I found out today I did not get the bid.

The thing that erks me, is that the EC who got the job is 1.5 hours away.
Now I rebid the job on another estimating program to check my numbers. On that bid I was $3000.00 more than what my original bid.

I just don't see how this EC got the job when he has to account for gas and drive time.

Maybe he bought the job. My dad said that happened allot in the 70's when he was an EC.:confused:
Click to expand...
Do you know for sure if he got the job because he was the lowest price or did he get the job for some other reason?

I think we often assume we didn't get a job because we weren't the lowest price. Sometimes a job can be lost because you're too low. They're afraid that you'll either do a crappy job or you won't finish the job.

I think we would all do better if we could put less emphases on being the lowest price and more emphases on being the best choice for doing the job even if we're not the lowest price.

Although for some people the lowest price is all that matters to them. Then they love to complain about how the job was done and the service they recieved. They just assume all contractors do crappy work and provide lousy service. Some just charge more than others. They've never hired a contractor based on anything but getting the lowest possible price.

Sometimes buying cheap is the most expensive thing someone can do.
 
I bid a 200amp service upgrade awhile back and got the job.
My price was $3,500.

Two other contractors bid the job.
One was $4,000 and the other was $2,000.

If the guy who bid $2,000 didn't follow up and find out what the other bids were he may assume he didn't get the job because his price wasn't low enough. So he may bid the next one at $1,900. You can see where this is headed.

Instead of finding out what the other bids were and why he lost the job even though he was the lowest price he just assumes he wasn't low enough and lowers his price on the next one.

Although I was happy to get the job at $3,500 I would have been happier to get the job at $4,100. Maybe on the next one. :)
 
aline said:
Do you know for sure if he got the job because he was the lowest price or did he get the job for some other reason?

I think we often assume we didn't get a job because we weren't the lowest price. Sometimes a job can be lost because you're too low. They're afraid that you'll either do a crappy job or you won't finish the job.

I think we would all do better if we could put less emphases on being the lowest price and more emphases on being the best choice for doing the job even if we're not the lowest price.

Although for some people the lowest price is all that matters to them. Then they love to complain about how the job was done and the service they recieved. They just assume all contractors do crappy work and provide lousy service. Some just charge more than others. They've never hired a contractor based on anything but getting the lowest possible price.

Sometimes buying cheap is the most expensive thing someone can do.
Click to expand...

When i was a site contractor for the fortune 500 companies, i learned a valuable lesson, 90% of the time they went with the EC that hac the best on time schedule and completion record, not the best price, low bidder quotes went in the round file.
 
aline said:
I bid a 200amp service upgrade awhile back and got the job.
My price was $3,500.

Two other contractors bid the job.
One was $4,000 and the other was $2,000.

If the guy who bid $2,000 didn't follow up and find out what the other bids were he may assume he didn't get the job because his price wasn't low enough. So he may bid the next one at $1,900. You can see where this is headed.

Instead of finding out what the other bids were and why he lost the job even though he was the lowest price he just assumes he wasn't low enough and lowers his price on the next one.

Although I was happy to get the job at $3,500 I would have been happier to get the job at $4,100. Maybe on the next one. :)
Click to expand...

That's very good advice;) .
I agree with you in everything you say.

Unfortunately this contractor is well know to take the lowest bidder. I still would have made money on it, just not what I would normally like to make.
The sacrifice of having such a bad economy right now, which also is stressing me out. With most people I assume
 
satcom said:
When i was a site contractor for the fortune 500 companies, i learned a valuable lesson, 90% of the time they went with the EC that hac the best on time schedule and completion record, not the best price, low bidder quotes went in the round file.
Click to expand...
Hey Satcom, how is that information obtained? That kinda sucks for me since I've only been open for a year and most of my jobs consisted of Residential and service
 
Don't get stuck on price only.

Don't get stuck on price only.

I lost a job where I was too high. The job was awarded to a guy who was lower. He then lost the same job to a guy who was twice as high as me. The customer thought we were both too low and had the GC use his contractor.
 
jmsbrush said:
Around a month ago, I bid a small commercial job in my town. Not to many of them popping up now days.

So anyways I bid the job tight because that is what you have to do now days and I found out today I did not get the bid.

The thing that erks me, is that the EC who got the job is 1.5 hours away.
Now I rebid the job on another estimating program to check my numbers. On that bid I was $3000.00 more than what my original bid.

I just don't see how this EC got the job when he has to account for gas and drive time.

Maybe he bought the job. My dad said that happened allot in the 70's when he was an EC.:confused:
Click to expand...
Yes, I have seen that happen and had it happen to me.
Most of our work is in the industrial sector and the bidding process can be convoluted. You are aware of that going in.
So you quote for a project.
You know that you have offered a fair price, a specification compliant bid, that you have the track record to demonstrate your capabilities, and your offer was submitted on time.
Non-technical buyers get involved at the final stage and you get the legs kicked from under you by a competitor doesn't understand the requirements because the non-technical buyer can show that he/she did their job by getting the price down by 2%.
Of course the real costs come later when the customer doesn't get what he expected and has to pay for extras and remedial work.
Bad news. For you because you didn't get the project and for the customer because he didn't get the project he expected at the price he expected to pay.
Stuff happens.........
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top