The blind bid

[rbh]

Have an opportunity to bid on some work, but instead of breaking down all the movements seperatly, they want a bundle price, one of those take the good with the bad????
anyone else done this and not get hung out to dry???

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: The blind bid

what kind of work? most of the time when i bid a job, it is the complete job. you take the good with the bad.

 

[rbh]

Re: The blind bid

Placing telecom cable, most of the time its right off the truck and lashed up, but occasionaly its back pull above other cables and you can add about 2/3 labour.
as well you could add wrecking out of old cable at the same time, add another 50% labour on top.
underground placement is a "seperate number", but could be in conjunction with aerial placement.
as was said "take the good with bad"

 

[Jeep Man]

Re: The blind bid

Been there, done that. Just don't short yourself. Nothing more frustrating than getting the job and then realizing your going to loose money on the deal. Sometimes it helps to give a COMPLETE price because the customer wants to know what to budget for, but at the same time, list what your going to do and what the breakdown is.

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: The blind bid

Not familiar with your field, but I would definitely price it to make it worth your while, looking at the worse case scenario. No sense getting the job based on a low quote only to loose money in the end. If you don't get the job then, well, you don't get the job.

Good luck.

 

[ezbtr]

Re: The blind bid

Bid it for worst case, outline that on line items, let the customer know how much he will pay or NOT, customers want to see worst case, broken down.

 

[rjlipscomb]

Re: The blind bid

I've been a General Contractor for a long time. I always give complete bids. BUT... after I have broken the job down, priced each component, added a contingency for any issues that my analysis has revealed, required permits,..., added overhead & profit and then summed it all up to one price. And, like Jeepman said, list all qualifications and assumptions that you used to compile your bid. State that anything not shown in the documents will be an extra. Use labor rates for the conditions. Get detailed in your analysis. Understand the work. I'm sure you know all this.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: The blind bid

^^^ my take on it, also^^^ glad i don't have to do that anymore.

 

[rbh]

Re: The blind bid

I should also ask about dealing with companys that will not compensate you when there is a change of scope for the project.
This last week we were on the job site, had to shut the job down due to an old rotten pole, new pole had to be guyed, so had to order in anchors plus travel time in and out.
Is that not chargeable?????

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: The blind bid

if you were not allowed to inspect the work before bid, i would consider it chargeable.

 

[rbh]

Re: The blind bid

The work we do is twenty plus feet in the air, the poles rotted out 2-12 inches below ground level.