Masonry Magazine February 2000 Page. 36
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36 MASONRY- JANUARY/FEBRUARY, 2000
genuinely appear to want to work with them.
During the bid period (when the bids are being created), get a copy of the actual GC bid form. The bid form often asks for breakdowns, unit prices, and alternate pricing. Your quotation isn't complete until you've assigned costs to all of the items on the bid form that affect your scope of work. Don't assume this is optional. The GC is normally required to fill in every line on the bid form or face being disqualified. Also, don't assume some other sub-contractor will provide them for him - that's part of the service that you want to perform!
And speaking of alternate pricing, a common mistake is to take the importance of alternates too lightly during the bid process. Alternates are very common in bid packages and many awards are decided on a combination of the base bid and any manner of alternate scenarios that may be concocted. With bid deadlines fast approaching, it can be quite tempting (and human) to focus on the base bid, and pay less attention on the alternates. You may even find yourself taking a "flyer"- otherwise known as a "guestimate" - at the alternate price. The problem, of course, is that this could cost you the job, so stay calm and address all of the bid items as completely as possible or if possible - complete the alternates early on, so they're not distracting you as bid time nears.
Addenda. Addenda are changes in the bid documents that happen after the bid documents have been let out to those quoting the project. Generally, addenda are generated by the architect as the result of questions and clarifications flushed out during the bid process by those firms doing the bidding. If your bid proposal doesn't include all addenda, it may not be complete or accurate. It's not uncommon for addenda to come out deleting/adding an item(s) to your scope of work.
By missing or omitting these (often significant) changes, you can lose coming or going. If you miss something that should have been added, you either A) eat it or B) argue it out with the GC-not fun either way. If you miss something that should have been deleted, you're quote is probably high because your competitors don't have it in their proposals.
At some point in time, the GC may ask you to break down your bid into component numbers and/or submit your bid earlier than the bid day and time. If this happens, don't get defensive or paranoid - as a matter of fact, be as helpful as possible. This is one of those "trust-building" exercises (and you want as many of those as you can get). Don't fall into the trap of becoming overly concerned about being "shopped" (your number leaked to the streets) by the GC. Although popularly espoused, this is small-minded thinking and simply doesn't happen as much as many people think.
In reality (and contrary to what you may have heard), most GC's are quite ethical when it comes to handling and protecting sub and supplier numbers. Now of course, there are some bad apples, but do you really want to construct the way you do business around a minority of GC's?
But there's more. As much as we'd like to think so, it isn't just the ethics that drive our decision to keep these numbers quiet. It's also good business. We're not idiots. We know if word gets out that we've been spreading numbers to competitors, our sub and supplier bids (our life-blood) will dry up. The logic is straight-forward enough:
No bids...
No competitiveness...
No work...
No money...
No GC
Remember, we may employ some of our own trades, but we still need outside help. Lots of it!
Most of you have probably seen, or are familiar with, CSI (Construction Specification Institute) division numbers (and its many sub-divisions) found in the specification manuals that accompany most commercial (and some residential) construction working drawings (blueprints). When preparing your proposal, find the divisions that pertain to your scope of work. This information (along with the plans) gives you the basis for generating your quotation. Only when you've satisfied the requirements of the plans and the specifications, can your proposal really be complete.
Another note: no matter what CSI divisions pertain to you and your