# Bid dropped in my lap.



## user49169 (Jun 20, 2009)

I have not posted much on here. I am a member and have researched this site in the past. I am here now looking for some advice....once again. 

I have a friend that called me to come and bid a job. Problem is, the bid is due Friday by noon and has to be mailed. I am not starving for work right now, but this is a pretty good sized gig. Kinda ticks me off to have it just shoved in front of me at the last minute.

150' 6" pressurized sewer, 36" deep, 1 Bore 350' - 4 lane highway and 4 connections. Total length 500'. I provide materials. 

I have to sub out the bore. I have an 863 Skidsteer and a 430ZHS Trackho. Pretty sure my equipment can handle it. What I need help with;

Bid per foot.
Cost for the bore. 

He is looking for a, "deal" because he works for the city and this is a city project. I am bidding against 2 other companies that have had a lot more time to pour over the prints. I just got handed the prints at 3pm today and have to have a bid mailed by noon tomorrow. Hence why I am on here looking for some insight. 

I have never worked for a municipality before. What should I watch out for? What should I look for in regards to performing the job and requests from the city? 

I am so sorry to just throw this out there, I totally understand everyone being tight lipped in regards to pricing. I am located in Oklahoma.

Thanks for all of your help.

Regards, 

John Lowry


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## Upchuck (Apr 7, 2009)

If he was a good friend you would've gotten heads up earlier & he wouldn't be looking for a deal because it's a city job & noy his money. 

Municipal work & residential work differ. Higher ins. requirements, prevailing wage & other paperwork needed. The actual job isn't very big so it shouldn't take to long to come up with a bid but since it's due tommorrow I wouldn't bid it. 

Good luck.


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## rino1494 (Jan 31, 2006)

Figure up a price and...........double it.


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## PipeGuy (Oct 8, 2004)

avex said:


> 150' 6" pressurized sewer, 36" deep, 1 Bore 350' - 4 lane highway and 4 connections. Total length 500'. I provide materials.
> I have to sub out the bore. I have an 863 Skidsteer and a 430ZHS Trackho. Pretty sure my equipment can handle it. What I need help with;
> 
> Bid per foot.
> Cost for the bore.


If you're silly enough to take a bid price from the internet i'm silly enough to give it to you. What kinda' bore? Directional drilling? Auger bore? Casing or no casing? Any utility locates required in the freeway right-of-way?

$43,215.00 no bond, no permits.


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## user49169 (Jun 20, 2009)

PipeGuy said:


> If you're silly enough to take a bid price from the internet i'm silly enough to give it to you. What kinda' bore? Directional drilling? Auger bore? Casing or no casing? Any utility locates required in the freeway right-of-way?
> 
> $43,215.00 no bond, no permits.


Silly, well I didn't think so but ok. The only reason I came here was to get an idea of what this would cost. I have been on the phone constantly today talking to various different contractors and getting bids. Such a short notice is the only reason I came on here. I do realize that some bores are 4000 dollars and the same bore in another area may be 30000 dollars. Sorry I asked. Like I said, it was just dropped in my lap and I thought I would take a stab at it. I did call some boring contractors today and got 2 different quotes. One was for 78/foot worse case scenario, the other contractor was 8000 dollars. Directional 350' 6" slick bore by the way. I guess I just need to figure out how to ask for assistance on this site.

Yes there is a bond or a certified check of 5% of the total bid price. 

John


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## rselectric1 (Sep 20, 2009)

avex said:


> I do realize that some bores are 4000 dollars and the same bore in another area may be 30000 dollars.
> 
> I guess I just need to figure out how to ask for assistance on this site.
> 
> John


Don't sweat it. You just got a little dose of why pricing questions just don't work here and usually get shut down quickly. There is simply no way to answer these questions here.

Hang around here! All is well. I hope you get the job and keep us posted!!!!


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## PipeGuy (Oct 8, 2004)

avex said:


> The only reason I came here was to get an idea of what this would cost. Directional 350' 6" slick bore by the way.there is a bond or a certified check of 5% of the total bid price.


REVISED $30,323.28 includes bond, no permits.


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## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

You sound a little over your head on this job. Your "friend" isn't doing you any favors. Have you done a site inspection, are you familiar the substrate, do you know what the insurance requirements are?, do you know the job specs?, material specs? compaction requirements?, Testing? Inspections? Are you prepared to wait 60-90 days for payment? What are the bond requirements? The amount you mention sounds like a bid bond and not a material & performance bond. If your busy this would be a good one for you to pass on. In my opinion.


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## PipeGuy (Oct 8, 2004)

griz said:


> The amount you mention sounds like a bid bond and not a material & performance bond.


Oh!! You make a great point - I missed that (MY bad:sad.

RE-REVISED $31,313.41

AVEX - Please post the bid results tomorrow.


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## user49169 (Jun 20, 2009)

I will be more than happy to post the bid results tomorrow. I have a complete book and full set of prints for this project. This project is very large overall. Basically there is almost 5 miles of 6" pipe being ran from the town to the casino and wal-mart distribution center. This project is broken up into a bunch of little projects. Certain projects are going to be done as funding allows. Dealing with this city is very difficult. I have not bid on other projects with them because they are never 100% clear. The only reason I am doing this is because a friend was asking me to help. Quite honestly I think the city has aggravated other contractors to the point that they don't care to bid on their projects anymore. I am so Leary of submitting a bid. I don't have that, "warm and fuzzy". I have just about decided to not bid on this for so many reasons. 

I will let you know what I learn.

John


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## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

Hey Avex, Not implying anything here but sometimes :whistlingthese specs are written in such a way that only one guy will bid them. Maybe with a lot of confusing specs or plans that contradict the specs. Public Works jobs can be very good you just need to know all the rules to play the game. From the info you supplied I think you made a wise decision.


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## user49169 (Jun 20, 2009)

Finally got the results and more information.

I did not bid on this project. The lowest bid was $79,000. There were only two bids turned in. City decided not to accept either of them. They mayor decided that the city would handle the project in-house. They just purchased a new backhoe for $115,000. They are going to hire 2 guys. I was offered $11.00 per hour to operate the new backhoe. I don't think so.


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## bconley (Mar 8, 2009)

What kind of "city" operates like that?


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## MAULEMALL (May 16, 2010)

avex said:


> Finally got the results and more information.
> 
> I did not bid on this project. The lowest bid was $79,000. There were only two bids turned in. City decided not to accept either of them. They mayor decided that the city would handle the project in-house. They just purchased a new backhoe for $115,000. They are going to hire 2 guys.* I was offered $11.00 per hour to operate the new backhoe.* I don't think so.


 Thats funny..:notworthy


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## user49169 (Jun 20, 2009)

I thought 11/hour was funny too. It insulted me as well. I told my, "friend" not to bother with me anymore. This, "city" is a joke. What is happening is the Cherokee Tribe has built a new casino 4 miles north of town on Highway 75. The city annexed it for revenue. The city has a population of maybe 2500. Good Ole boys and bassakwards hillbillies...LMAO. They mayor of this town is a brick mason. The utilities director is a 24 y/o kid fresh out of high school. I am sure this will explain a lot more to you folks.


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## rustyjames (Aug 28, 2008)

bconley said:


> What kind of "city" operates like that?


I have a feeling there's a lot of them :w00t:


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## WC&T (Feb 22, 2010)

avex said:


> I thought 11/hour was funny too. It insulted me as well. I told my, "friend" not to bother with me anymore. This, "city" is a joke. What is happening is the Cherokee Tribe has built a new casino 4 miles north of town on Highway 75. The city annexed it for revenue. The city has a population of maybe 2500. Good Ole boys and bassakwards hillbillies...LMAO. They mayor of this town is a brick mason. The utilities director is a 24 y/o kid fresh out of high school. I am sure this will explain a lot more to you folks.


24 y/o is fresh out of high school? how old do you graduate kids in that town? At 24 years old I had 6 years in service, 2 overseas tours, my own squad and a 2 year old daughter. If you would have called me a kid I would have laughed in your face.


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## user49169 (Jun 20, 2009)

WC&T said:


> 24 y/o is fresh out of high school? how old do you graduate kids in that town? At 24 years old I had 6 years in service, 2 overseas tours, my own squad and a 2 year old daughter. If you would have called me a kid I would have laughed in your face.



I wish I had a picture of him....trust me you would understand..........


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## buildpinnacle (Sep 2, 2008)

I've never in my life had to ask for someone else's assistance to bid a project. If I've needed a price for lifting or replacing rooftop units, gas lines, etc and we are responsible for that portion of the work on the roof, I've simply had two of my qualified subs in that area inspect the job, review the plans and specs, submit their bids to me and I've added it with appropriate markups to my price which I should easily be able to figure since it is what I do for a living. I had a friend of mine call me last week on a roof collapse in OKC from the 500 year rains a few weeks ago. He wanted to get a price to the Owner the next day and was trying to work the claim up on Xactimate. He wanted me to go by and help him with the structural steel since I have a construction management background. I quickly told him that he was silly if he would ever guess on another experts trade. I told him that he needed to have two qualified steel erection companies look at the collapse and provide bids to get the structure ready for roof covering including all appropriate red tape, etc. This would not be done in a day or so. No job is worth hurrying the bid and realizing you lose money when you get the award b/c you didn't do your homework. I know what your intentions where and they were harmless, but if you really sit and think about what you asked there isn't an ounce of business sense in it. You asked 40,000 contractors across the country to give you a number on a job that you gave two sentences of information on b/c you were panicked, rushed, or just too lazy to do the research. You're not going to get three of the same answers from local Tulsa contractors let alone someone in Vancouver, NYC, Connecticut etc with their different tax burdens, labor burdens, overhead structure, margin structure, etc. You should never have to 'verify' your price with someone else's to make the butterflies go away. Your price should come from your job costs, your overhead, and your projected margins. Those numbers are only known by one person.....you.


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## user49169 (Jun 20, 2009)

Well excuse the crap out of me. You can make all the comments in regards to my intelligence all you want. I have had my share of successes, I understand what you are saying and I even stated that I did not even bid on the job. I even re-capped what happened in later posts. Was I rushed, yes. Did I make a mistake coming on here, obviously so. I totally understand that you and most on here are the only contractors that have the, "smarts" to accomplish anything. I came on here looking for help and all I got was ridiculed chastised and put down. I am so proud of you for NEVER having any assistance on ANY bid EVER IN YOUR LIFE! Congrats, glad you were born with it. I have accomplished numerous bids by myself and succeeded. I have helped plenty of other people with their projects and bids as well. I don't mind helping. But apparently that is not something that is accepted or offered here. I have never been too lazy to correctly bid a job. The only reason I came on here in the first place was because of time constraints. I am not lazy either. Trust me I spent plenty of time on the phone and visiting with the Director and Mayor.


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