# You Bid What?????



## Hardscaper (Jun 11, 2014)

For the last three years, the county has had a scenic improvement project going on in phases. I just bid phase 5. I have done all 4 phases so far. I know my cost and margins to the penny. This phase was approx 3 months and 1.2M in total revenue. My material cost was 450k. 
Got the letter today that I LOST the bid. BY 550k 

It was a brand new contractor. How he got bonded, I have no idea. When I called the county engineering and contracts office, they told me "we have already made our decision".

I can't wait to see how this comes out


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## Metro M & L (Jun 3, 2009)

Well, maybe theyll call you when he quits.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

Hardscaper said:


> For the last three years, the county has had a scenic improvement project going on in phases. I just bid phase 5. I have done all 4 phases so far. I know my cost and margins to the penny. This phase was approx 3 months and 1.2M in total revenue. My material cost was 450k.
> Got the letter today that I LOST the bid. BY 550k
> 
> It was a brand new contractor. How he got bonded, I have no idea. When I called the county engineering and contracts office, they told me "we have already made our decision".
> ...


Are sitting back wishing he phucks it up? Kinda like the 2nd string quarterback sits on the bench hoping the offense chokes. :laughing:


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## rselectric1 (Sep 20, 2009)

Californiadecks said:


> Are sitting back wishing he phucks it up?


With that big a difference in quotes, it likely will and if I were in his shoes I probably would be doing the same. Just sayin.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Such is life in the Land of Free Enterprise.

He probably got bonded the same way you did.... or is there a law that says new contractors cannot be bonded? If so, how long must they be in business before they can obtain a bond?

It's amazing how many think the work is rightfully theirs.


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## gastek (Mar 29, 2011)

Government at work. You would think someone would question why there was a huge difference between bids. If it were maybe $10-20K it wouldn't pop the red flag but $550K. Flags should going up all over the place.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

I would let them know the general idea of just the cost of materials and when the new guy bails your estimate is no longer valid.


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## sunkist (Apr 27, 2012)

thank god we do not build on the cheapest bid, if we did, it may well turn to sh*t, keep us posted on this one, we may see this in the wall of shame


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## huggytree (Nov 3, 2013)

ive had this before a few times too 

i used to spend time trying to figure out how they do it......now i laugh and find some more work


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## VinylHanger (Jul 14, 2011)

Yep. I always wonder about it when I get undercut close to my material costs. No matter what, no one gets material so cheap they can cover the labor with the difference.

I too just wish the customer good luck and move on.


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## skillman (Sep 23, 2011)

Good thing your turf Business is blowing up . Did you maybe think they just wanted to spread the wealth out to different company since you did must of other phases . They thinking of bidding war in the future .


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## Golden view (Feb 16, 2012)

Is their first change order going to cost $550,000?


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## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

When applying for a bond in Calif. bonding company looks at all the bids.

That far out of the money they will have some questions for the low bidder.


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## Elyrain (Dec 17, 2007)

griz said:


> When applying for a bond in Calif. bonding company looks at all the bids. That far out of the money they will have some questions for the low bidder.


Not only that, the municipality usually asks for references of previous work. Which means he must have done at least one similar job successfully.


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## Calidecks (Nov 19, 2011)

One of two things had to cause this, either he under bid it by a lot, or you were over bidding by a lot.


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## pappagor (Jan 29, 2008)

his bid is proof that he know more then you for now:laughing:


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## PrmrHomeRmdl (Feb 20, 2012)

Thats happened to me before also, but not on such a big bid. We've been underbid by 150k and the contractor realized he messed up bad. County called and asked if I wanted to finish the job and I told them that my bid is no longer valid for that project and I would have to go in and re-bid the job. They went for it, I bid and got the job. In the end everyone was happy!


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

pappagor said:


> his bid is proof that he drives a 1984 yamaha dirt bike, eats ramen noodles every day, and lives under a bridge.


fify.


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## Steve'sSon (Aug 16, 2014)

480sparky said:


> Such is life in the Land of Free Enterprise.
> 
> He probably got bonded the same way you did.... or is there a law that says new contractors cannot be bonded? If so, how long must they be in business before they can obtain a bond?
> 
> It's amazing how many think the work is rightfully theirs.


I agree with you. 
But I'm getting the impression you're saying this in opposition to the OP. He never said anything that lead me to believe that he was entitled to the work. 

The way I took it was that he was scratching his head wondering how it was possible and curious how things would turn out. 

I think your tone would be appropriate if he said he was going to stand out in front of the work site and protest (like I've seen union crews do a lot around here). 
But he didn't say he planned on making any childish reaction like that. 

I think its likely you misunderstood where the OP was coming from a bit.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Steve'sSon said:


> I agree with you.
> But I'm getting the impression you're saying this in opposition to the OP. He never said anything that lead me to believe that he was entitled to the work.
> 
> The way I took it was that he was scratching his head wondering how it was possible and curious how things would turn out.
> ...



Wow. Where did THIS come from?

I'm 'opposing' the OP? How? 

Where did I infer he was going to through a temper tantrum?

I think I understood him perfectly.


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## MarkJames (Nov 25, 2012)

480sparky said:


> Wow. Where did THIS come from?
> 
> I'm 'opposing' the OP? How?
> 
> ...


I think he's saying that you seemed to imply that the OP demonstrated a sense of entitlement to the contract award, but that he did not interpret the OP's post that way. That's how I read it, anyway.


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## Steve'sSon (Aug 16, 2014)

480sparky said:


> Wow. Where did THIS come from?
> 
> I'm 'opposing' the OP? How?
> 
> ...


Glad I misunderstood you. 
My post was more for clarification and I wasn't accusing you of anything. I got an impression but I left room for the impression being wrong. 

MarkJames did a good job explaining my post.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Steve'sSon said:


> Glad I misunderstood you.
> My post was more for clarification and I wasn't accusing you of anything. I got an impression but I left room for the impression being wrong.
> 
> MarkJames did a good job explaining my post.


OK, so.... what.... exactly.... *is* the OP trying to say?

That he didn't win a job? 

If so, we've _all_ been there. I don't post here every time I lose a bid. This forum would run out of bandwidth if everyone posted a thread when they lost a bid.


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## Seven-Delta-FortyOne (Mar 5, 2011)

480sparky said:


> OK, so.... what.... exactly.... *is* the OP trying to say?
> 
> That he didn't win a job?
> 
> If so, we've _all_ been there. I don't post here every time I lose a bid. This forum would run out of bandwidth if everyone posted a thread when they lost a bid.


Rawr..

Someone's a little cranky this morning. 

Haven't had your coffee yet, Ken??

:laughing:





Delta


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Seven-Delta-FortyOne said:


> Rawr..
> 
> Someone's a little cranky this morning.
> 
> ...



Um........ I don't drink coffee.

Just trying to find out what the OP wants.


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## Steve'sSon (Aug 16, 2014)

480sparky said:


> OK, so.... what.... exactly.... *is* the OP trying to say?
> 
> That he didn't win a job?
> 
> If so, we've _all_ been there. I don't post here every time I lose a bid. This forum would run out of bandwidth if everyone posted a thread when they lost a bid.


I've already answered you:



Steve'sSon said:


> The way I took it was that he was scratching his head wondering how it was possible and curious how things would turn out.


What was difficult to understand about my interpretation of the OP? It was even explained to you by one other member of the forum. 

If you don't agree then post your disagreements but stop playing dense.
Call me touchy but I find rudeness to be a symptom of immaturity - and I do think your posts responding to me could have had the same message with a more polite tone. 

You should consider drinking coffee.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Steve'sSon said:


> I've already answered you:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Um..... OK.


Perhaps the *OP* should answer my question. Let's all not assume *WE* know what he's trying to say. 

And perhaps you should _stop_ drinking coffee. It appears it makes you misintrerpret other's posts, just as it appears I do.


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## youngbuck (Mar 17, 2010)

I would be anxious as well to see how it turns out, especially if you had gotten the first four phases. 
I laugh at the numbers some contractors put out. For example, I bid a small cape cod roof the other day. I came in at $6400, she had another at $6200 and one at $2740. 
She said it was between me and the cheapest guy. I told her the material alone was about $2250. 
She ended up going with me. 

The thing that sucks is that you probably cannot plead your case the same way when it is a govt. job, unless you know someone who knows someone. 

This may end up being good for you and your company because they are more than likely going to regret awarding the contact to this contractor, and when they do the next project, they will remember you.


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## Steve'sSon (Aug 16, 2014)

480sparky said:


> Um..... OK.
> 
> 
> Perhaps the *OP* should answer my question. Let's all not assume *WE* know what he's trying to say.


That would be helpful if he did. I think you're the only person so far thats confused about it though, but its possible the rest of us are just 'misinterpreting' it I suppose. 

That said - you quoted me then posed questions in the same post. Did you not want an answer [from me]? Cause now it sounds like you're frustrated that I keep responding ... or something. 

I honestly have no idea why you seem to be upset by this topic. 



480sparky said:


> And perhaps you should _stop_ drinking coffee. It appears it makes you misintrerpret other's posts, just as it appears I do.


Correlation doesn't equal causation 
If I stopped with the Joe I wouldn't have the energy for petty arguments like this.

hmm... maybe I _should_ stop drinking it.


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## Steve'sSon (Aug 16, 2014)

There's been a couple jobs we've done where our bid came in WAY below the other quotes. Nothing like .5mil though. We don't do jobs that big very often. 

One was a mansard roof on a very complicated landscape and much of it was 3 stories high. 
We did the typical time and materials bid and we came in at about half of the nearest one. We figured for plenty of extra time to carry the torn off shingles around walkboards and dump them into a loader bucket, which was driven to our dump truck. 

Then stocking the shingles was a chore. We had it delivered on skids because a conveyor wouldn't have done us any good. Then we raised it with our loader and carried them everywhere we needed them. It was tedious but the only way to do it. 

It was one crazy project. We made pretty good money on it but when it was done I said I'd only be willing to do it again if we got some sort of per hour raise while on the job for the hazard pay. 
I'm use to working 3 stories high but all that setup and tear down and packing across walkboards didn't seem worth my normal pay rate. 


The other instance was in a food factory. (They do stuff like powdered protein shakes, low-carb candy bars, etc.) We had done a lot of work for the CEO on his home and so when he needed things done on his factory we took care of that as well. (we were drastically cheaper than the other guys who bid it, he doesn't even bother getting bids from other companies now). 
One particular project was just moving, aligning and reassembling machinery into a new line.
I think we came in at about a 1/3 of the price a company who specializes in it's price. 

That job worked out great! It was in the winter and it was nice and warm in the factory. 

We're planning on doing a sizable addition to the factory pretty soon and this winter they're talking about adding more equipment for us to install. 
Not sure why the other bids are so expensive on this job because we're making decent money at a fraction of their price.

So ... our crew has been the "other guy" a few times and its always worked ok for us. Sometimes better than others. 

And plenty of times we've been left scratching our head wondering how someone could possibly out bid us by so much. 

Once a local union outfit (we're scabs ... rats ... whatever-you-wanna-call-us) outbid us on some cabinet work at an apartment complex we've done a TON of work for. 
It didn't hurt our feelings but really made me curious how they could possibly out price us. 

Turns out they bid it really, really, cheap on purpose to get some of their guys off unemployment. Then they did a terrible job. A union plumber we're friends with went behind them doing a little work and said it was horrible workmanship - BUT the complex was thrilled about the price and didn't care about quality so everything worked out fine for all involved. 
We weren't hurting for the job and certainly not willing to do it as cheap as the competition. 


So, in my experience, its just give and take.


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