[Gordon Doull]

Hey everyone!

I know some of you (especially Dave and Tom) were expecting something juicy from this thread given the title. Unfortunately, the gist of this thread is a somber one. A large renovation project ($20M) was just bid out at a military base here the Southland (CA) and the winning countertop bid, gentlemen, was at $25 per square foot INCLUDING material. The fabrication was low end (white material, matte finish) but I still cannot get my mind around how one could produce, deliver and install SS for around $13-$14 per square foot in labor costs.

Thoughts?

[David Gerard]

I love seeing the govmnt saving $$$ money for a change.

[KCWOOD]

Well, Gordon… I got out bid on a state contract a while back. I was underbid by $2700 on a 22k job. Well, after everything was done, I found out the “change orders” was almost $4000…. Wonder how many change orders will be allowed on the military job????

[Rudy Gonzales]

Guy fabbin in his garage ??

[Gordon Doull]

Kelsey –

I fear that I, too, have seen the ugly head of “falsified quotation” on this.

I really would have thought that a talented bid collector would have seen the difference and forced equal bidding scope onto all the submitting companies.

Problem is, they ALL jump on the change order bandwagon when it comes through.

Those types of practices make me sick .

[Steve Lefebvre]

Winning a bid does not mean that you won anything. That is why I quit public work 10 years ago.

[Wags]

The material cost on a job that size should be about $6 a foot.. you can fabricate and install for $18 – $19 a foot, we have good fabricators doing that here in Az on a consistant basis.

[Andy Graves]

The bid should say exactly what is included. Our quote states that the fabrication and installation is certified.

Lowest bidder probably is just counting on a few change orders. I guess it keeps the guys busy if that is all your looking to do.

[KCWOOD]

Could be a job with lots of free standing applications. Carry a top in, attach it, move to the next one. Wham,Bam,Thank You Ma’am

[Tom M]

A.
They probably submitted the proposal in a reduced form.

B.
Change order abuse may be apparent

I had a mill house whose method of bidding is “Take the low bid, drop five percent, that’s my bid”.

[Len Smith]

We do a lot of government work, and we passed on that project. The job isn’t really as it appeared. E-mail me off-line if you want more info, and in this case, thank your lucky stars you weren’t the low bidder. That’s all I want to say here 🙂

[Author]

Posts