Masonry Magazine October 1999 Page. 10
bidders put into their proposals. But, even the open letting has its perils. Being announced low at the letting (although generally a pretty positive sign) doesn't necessarily assure the builder of getting the job. There's almost always some type of jargon in the bid specifications that gives discretionary power to the owner to choose the contractor that best suits the overall needs of the project. Now this is a pretty obtuse directive and was likely included as a tool to "weed out" inexperienced or unqualified contractors. Unfortunately, what it means to the builder is that the owner and architect may choose virtually whomever they please, for whatever reasons deemed appropriate. This rather lop-sided caveat detracts greatly (in the builder's mind) from the oft-expressed fairness doctrine of the open letting scenario. And so, just like that, another bit of trust slips away!
Now, you may say, "C'mon, these are isolated incidents...no system is perfect. CB's still the best game in town. 0After all, the owner's the one with the money on the line he's got to have some control! Besides, CB just provides plain, old, healthy, American competition good everyone... right?"
Well... not exactly. There are other problems, like:
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10 MASONRY- SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER, 1999
The Owner/Builder Relationship
This reason alone if genuinely understood - should be enough to cause sane owners to run screaming from CB. From a relationship standpoint, CB is a nightmare. Why? Because the moment the owner has selected CB as the vehicle for establishing his future contractual relationship with a builder, intrinsically, the following will almost certainly result:
The relationship between the owner, architect, and the builder will become adversarial. No, I don't mean there's going to be screaming and punching (well... maybe). In our context, the term adversarial simply means that the parties are now in competition-financial competition with one another, each protecting his or her stake in the gamble (the building project). Once the gun is sounded, it's "1,2,3, ...grab-your-money" - and whoever grabs the most wins! And, yes, the architect is grabbing right along with everyone else!
Next, the owner and builder now view one another as cold, detached, and uncaring business entities. Since Continued on page 12
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