Masonry Magazine February 1999 Page. 12
building, but some plan rooms let you check out the documents overnight or on the weekend. Many also offer their services on-line, for a fee. Other options include: 1) having the sub/supplier acquire the documents directly from architect (often entailing a deposit), 2) shrinking and fax'ing the plans (requiring office time), 3) leaving a master copy at a local copy service and having the sub/supplier pay for their own copies, or 4) setting aside a plan room in your own office where they can come to do take-offs. Really, you're only limited by your imagination. Choose whatever works best for you and your situation.
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Sub-contractor/Supplier Quotations
If you've been in this business for more than 10 minutes, you've no doubt discovered the importance of getting a proposal in writing. Verbal promises and commitments may often wind up floundering in a sea of "selective memory as a project is being built. It truly is best for all parties to have the agreement spelled out on paper.
Regarding the sub or supplier proposal itself, the most important job the estimator has is determining whether the bidder has provided a complete scope of work for the cost quoted. For instance, does the mechanical quotation include gas piping? Bath exhaust fans? Wall louvers? If you don't see it listed on the proposal (or if it's unclear) call and check!
Some other thoughts regarding sub-contractor/supplier quotations: Never, ever, "shop" a quotation to another sub or supplier. "Shopping" is, of course, where you leak numbers to one of your bidder's competitors. Besides the legal and ethical issues this raises, it's just bad business. People talk way too much in this business, and even if it does work once, you'll eventually be found out. After that, companies will either not bid to you or bid higher to you. Either way, of course, you lose.
Always check to insure that subs & suppliers have seen all addenda, alternates, and unit prices.
If you receive a proposal from someone new, call them and ask about the company and ask for references. Good business people realize you're simply protecting your interests not grilling them!
If you need a breakdown, call and get it. Now, some companies don't like breaking down there numbers, but sometimes, it's necessary and if they really want to work with you, they'll cooperate.
If you have other people in your office taking phone quotations (especially on bid day), besides taking the base bid number, make sure they know to ask: 1) company name, 2) phone number, 3) contact person, 4) pricing on any addenda or alternates, 5) if tax is included, and anything else you consider important. The phone number is particularly relevant. It's often necessary to call a bidder back to check a fact. On a hectic bid day, the last thing you have time for is to dig for someone's phone number!
In-house estimates and "take-offs"
Line items on your summary sheet that are not addressed by a sub-contractor or supplier proposal will likely be filled with your own in-house labor and material estimates. Your situation will likely vary, but in our office, we work up line item estimates on excavating, concrete, carpentry, and anything else that we feel we can handle with our own crews.
I love computers and I've used a lot of (expensive and inexpensive) estimating programs over the years (along with a veritable cornucopia of rolling digital scales, x-y axis digitizer & tables, etc.), but I found it difficult to find one that was suitable for my "real" day-to-day estimating. The programs always seemed to end up being: 1) too cumbersome, 2) too conservative, 3) too time-consuming, particularly when updating and customizing, and 4) too unreliable and unpredictable with the results rendered (i.e. would someone actually do the work for this price?).
So, over time, I've mostly evolved into a hybrid scenario where I use home-made estimating spreadsheets (by trade & discipline), customized to the way I build my estimates. The familiarity of these sheets gives me a comfort level and confidence in compiling my numbers that I just never had with the store-bought programs. Of course, I also use the computer for my estimate summary spreadsheets, word processing/correspondence, scheduling, on-line applications, and much more.
Data Compilation and Summary
Ok, so now that you have all of your in-house takeoffs and sub & supplier quotations accounted for, all you have to do is enter them and add them up right? Well, kinda'. Did I mention that most all of these numbers don't come until the last (bid) day? Sometimes the last hour? Or that many of the numbers you have now will change before the bid is finished? Or that the proposals come in so rapidly and frantically over fax, phone, and in person, that you can HARDLY REMEMBER YOUR OWN Continued on page 12-