My first hack bid.

[Chamuit]

Okay, I got my first hack-underbid yesterday. I had bid a TI for an animal hospital. $52K for the whole job. Found out from the guy who will be the supervisor for the GC that the guy who got the job bid $32K. My cost for just the lights (material only, no mark up) was $20K.

aaaaaaaaagh! Hope the guy gets handed his aft section.

 

[Buck Parrish]

Yeah, that commercial is tricky. you can loose your tail.
Do you know how much 350 mcm is these days.
Or a ten foot stick of 3 1/2' Rigid.

 

[brian john]

I have had customers call me back and say look you're 52,000.00 he's 33,000.00, I really want you to do this job can you at least match his price, I say yeah If I want to go bankrupt. Try to explain why my price is what it is. In most cases I hear later how the job was botched, or the EC lost money on the job.

 

[growler]

Okay, I got my first hack-underbid yesterday. I had bid a TI for an animal hospital. $52K for the whole job. Found out from the guy who will be the supervisor for the GC that the guy who got the job bid $32K. My cost for just the lights (material only, no mark up) was $20K.

Tell them to keep your number because they may need you to bid on finishing this job. There really are many jobs that are bid so cheap by the original EC that they can't possibly finish ( I guess they are just looking for cash flow) and in the end the job has to be re-bid to find someone that can actually do the work for the price quoted.

I have worked on a couple of jobs that were on their third contractor before the found someone that could actually do the work.

If this is a large contractor they may be able to absorb the loss on this little job but if it's a small contractor looking for cash flow then he will go broke trying to do the work at his price.

 

[LarryFine]

Do you know how much 350 mcm is these days.
Or a ten foot stick of 3 1/2' Rigid.

Hmmm. How many 350's are permitted in a 3.5' conduit? A couple of hundred?

 

[LawnGuyLandSparky]

Hmmm. How many 350's are permitted in a 3.5' conduit? A couple of hundred?

Not to mention the cost of the dies...

 

[ptonsparky]

Yeah, that commercial is tricky. you can loose your tail.
Do you know how much 350 mcm is these days.
Or a ten foot stick of 3 1/2' Rigid.

No problem here, not a wholesaler in the area stocks either.

 

[petersonra]

I have two takes on this.

A place i used to work was always a little nervous when they were the low bidder. they always figured that they had left something out.

OTOH, a competitor of ours was able to underbid us by 20% on every job we went up against them on. Years later their chief engineer came to work for a successor company of the one I had worked for and we used to chat now and then. I am not real sure to this day how they pulled it off, but the projects they underbid us on made them money, and he got some really nice bonuses for the projects.

At the time, none of us could figure out just how they pulled it off, and even now I am not real sure how they managed it.

Of course their last project was a real corker. I think the owner died in the middle of it, and it was real downhill from there. the employees bought the company but just didn't have the skills to make a go of it with the owner gone.

 

[emahler]

labor is the x-factor...on a typical open job, there is no requirement for any particular rate...if you are paying your guy $30/hr +benefits, and the other guy is paying $10/hr with no benefits...there is a big difference...

 

[petersonra]

labor is the x-factor...on a typical open job, there is no requirement for any particular rate...if you are paying your guy $30/hr +benefits, and the other guy is paying $10/hr with no benefits...there is a big difference...

Is it illegal to pay $10 an hour versus $30 an hour? I would not be surprised if part of the difference is using less skilled and lower paid people to do parts of the job that don't require a highly skilled person.

Place I used to work had welding crews they sent out all over the place. It turned out it was economical to send a laborer with virtually no skills with them to run errands, chase parts, get coffee, or whatever else the actual welders needed getting done so they could concentrate on welding. By their calculations, the $15 an hour guy they sent to help the two $35 an hour guys was saving them a net $1000 a week on labor costs. On top of that the projects were finishing a lot faster. Win-win for everyone including the $15 an hour guy who eventually became a shop foreman.

I know some of you are constrained from using this tactic as a cost saving measure, but not everyone is in the same boat.

 

[Rewire]

labor is the x-factor...on a typical open job, there is no requirement for any particular rate...if you are paying your guy $30/hr +benefits, and the other guy is paying $10/hr with no benefits...there is a big difference...

The only way to work this is your $30/hr guy has to be three times faster than the $10/hr guy.

 

[hardworkingstiff]

My cost for just the lights (material only, no mark up) was $20K.

Maybe he was able to buy better?

I've been amazed at some of the price differences that can be found through "contacts".

 

[Chamuit]

The bottom line for me is I do know what my costs are and my bid will cover them and give me profit. So, I'd rather not get it than go cheaper. Always get handed my aft-section when I do.

I do know that the last job that this contractor bid on has been dragging. (He's cost at least two weeks of delay.) I know he is going to use this as a filler job.

The number of complaints to the ROC here has sky-rocketed over the last year. Plus, the number of jobs that contractors have walked away from has done the same.

It's like we've discussed many times here about EC's underbidding just to keep the guys going and not trully covering their costs. Eventually it hurts everyone to some degree or another.

 

[cadpoint]

Why does it matter what the Cost of A item might be to a job?

Did someone miss that price difference ? I never under stood that statement that the cost of A Item degrades or hinders a complete service!!! wow, now where not going to do something correct due to the price, WOW ... I can't go there ...

If a correct Bid price goes in, that should be the price.

 

[Pullnwire]

Is it possible that a residential contractor hurt by the housing market is trying to move toward commercial with his $15 house ropers? Thats whats happening here in so california, alot of guys are moving commercial, and lowballing everything.

 

[Chamuit]

Was cleaning up my desk.

Was cleaning up my desk.

Okay, my cost on the lights was 22K and the miscellaneous materials was 9K for a grand total of 31K. Only 1K short of this guys total bid. Who knows!?! Oh well.

 

[jrannis]

The only way to work this is your $30/hr guy has to be three times faster than the $10/hr guy.

The 30/hr guy does it once without your help or supervision.
The 10/hr guy does it wrong twice and you spend the day fixing it

 

[HighWirey]

I have had customers call me back and say look you're 52,000.00 he's 33,000.00, I really want you to do this job can you at least match his price, I say yeah If I want to go bankrupt. Try to explain why my price is what it is. In most cases I hear later how the job was botched, or the EC lost money on the job.

Oldest ploy in the book. It only takes a time-or-two falling for that 'ego pumper' line to smarten us up!

Best Wishes Everyone

 

[bradleyelectric]

The 30/hr guy does it once without your help or supervision.
The 10/hr guy does it wrong twice and you spend the day fixing it

I hear ya brother

 

[petersonra]

Okay, my cost on the lights was 22K and the miscellaneous materials was 9K for a grand total of 31K. Only 1K short of this guys total bid. Who knows!?! Oh well.

It is not uncommon for the same part to sell for ten different prices at the supply house. If you are a big enough fish in a supply house's pond you can get some serious price breaks.