# Blue Book



## jegolopolli (Aug 24, 2010)

Does anyone use this for leads?

I spend a few hours a week going through these for the company I work for and it doesnt ever amount to anything. 

The owner has told me he has gotten a few jobs from it so that is why we keep submitting bids. We get a ton of them every week but only bid on a few here or there if they seem like it may amount to something.

A lot of the work we do is through a few of the same repeat contractors and a lot of those jobs are for their same customers, they use us because they know us and our work. This makes me wonder if the companies/contractors paying to use the blue book searching for subs are trying to look for different cheaper subs instead of their norm and dont care so much about the quality of work or if they are a new(er) company who doesnt yet have relationships with other companies yet that they can just send out ITB's to everyone.


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## ESSaustin (Mar 27, 2010)

Good post. I have recently been contacted by BB to advertize with them and am not sure if I should/will. With the economy as it is now and work so slow, I feel that I need to watch hold back. The flip side of course it that you need to spend money to make money...


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## RH-Electric (Jan 16, 2010)

Don't advertise in the Blue Book. Biggest waste of money ever. You'll only get calls from sales people and out-of-state contractors looking for subs to rip off.


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## Staging (Aug 22, 2008)

I submit bids to other general contractors for framing or concrete. I have not recieved one job yet. I feel like I am wasting my time.


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## ajbackhoe (Nov 26, 2006)

In the last two years I've landed over 500,000.00 due to leads from the thebluebook.com


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## Staging (Aug 22, 2008)

Thats really good ajbackhoe. I guess I will keep trying. How long were you doing bids before you started seeing some work?


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## ajbackhoe (Nov 26, 2006)

Took about 2 months to land the first one. It was all the site work for the Wickford Package store.


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## CA Contractor (Nov 29, 2007)

We're in northern ca & never rec'd one job, will not advertise w/them again. Just our 2 cents......


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## USERER (Mar 18, 2011)

*The Blue Book*

Don't join the Blue Book. I am a subcontractor who joined a year ago.
I do get a lot of bid invitations through the Blue Book, but they are of no use to me for one main reason. They do not show me all of the general contractors who are bidding a project. The only name you will see is the G.C who sent you the invitation. What are the chances of landing a project if you only send your bid to one G.C. who is bidding? Also, the G.C. is responsible for loading the plans and specs to the site for you to view. However, most of the time they do not load them or do not load everything that you need to complete a bid. When I go to other plan centers, I am always able to get a complete list of general contractors who I can send my bid to, and a complete set of plans and specs.
If you want bid invitations sent to you, call, fax or visit the general contractors in your area and ask them to put you on their bid invitation list. Join one or two plan centers and they will provide you with new projects and plans and specs. You will never see all of the jobs available to bid unless you join every plan center in your area, and that can be very expensive. But you will still get more for your money than if you sign on with the Blue Book.


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## SuperiorHIP (Aug 15, 2010)

I totally blew up on them yesterday morning and threatened them with legal action if they ever call me again. I have been getting phone calls from "914", just that, nothing else shows up on caller id. This has been every weekday without fail for just over 2 weeks sometimes multiple times a day and when I answer the call would end. Finally last time someone was on the other end and after weeks of stopping what I am doing to pull my phone out of my pocket I flipped out. I not so calmly explained why I was so agitated, havent received a call from them again. In general I wont use anyone for anything that cold calls me on my cell.


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## carpsteve (Mar 19, 2011)

I use it when I have an out of state project that I have to buy out, but I am not looking to rip people off. Different areas of the country do business differently so you have to be diligent rather than expect everyone does business the way it is done in your area. I have found it to be a good resource at least better than the phone book. I don't know what they charge but I don't think I would count on this for the bulk of your business. By the same token we do not advertise with them.


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## Rebecca (Jan 6, 2005)

We belong to The Bluebook, and I have to say that we get more leads than we can handle for bids. It has given us the opportunity to pick and choose the jobs we want to bid on. 

In regards to seeing who else is bidding the project - it depends on if it is a private or public bid.

Also, I absolutely love that I can order a set of plans and have them sent to my preferred printer - me. They come via email in a zip file that I can download easily. It also makes it easier for me to send to our rebar fabricator for his quote - I just forward the email. Bluebook can be a little slow getting the plans posted from the GC, but I just check back later to get them.

And, I do like their on screen takeoff.

Just my 2 cents...


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## Fachovec (Feb 12, 2011)

I 100%agree with Userer. Waste of money,really ,what chance you have?I got really tired of biding ,so I submitted couple of bids at $0.00 for demo and nothing.every time I complained ,they told me to call insurance adjusters and introduce my self,tried that too.good luck with them.


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## J.M. (Nov 25, 2010)

I have been in Blue book for about 8 years now and I get a least two job a year. All I have is my name in the book and it is free. you are not going to make big money but it helps me stay busy and I made a lot of connections that come in handy at times. You bid with a lot of guys so for what it is worth. I got a couple good residential jobs with them.


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## Nac (Apr 16, 2006)

I just got listed for 2011 and 2012. I got over a 100 diffrent leads and have landed a couple jobs and it is only March so this years Blue book has been only out a few months.


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