Masonry Magazine January 2010 Page. 23
Standards
Organizations referenced are creating new standards that will equally influence our fates. And, in the rapidly evolving Information Age, these organizations are redefining standards development processes to facilitate faster completion and implementation. The result: too many battle fronts to face, and too few resources to fight the battles. The masonry industry is lucky to have a few dedicated souls feverishly working, both independently and collectively, through the Masonry Alliance for Codes and Standards to affect the outcome. I appeal to the masonry industry to continue to invest in this fight before most of it is over. The progress of the Green Movement waits not for the recession to end.
Evolve
YES, IT IS HARD TO IMPROVE on a system that has proven its worth during the last 10,000 years. However, we need to collectively accept that an evolution of our masonry system, its delivery, and its presentation are needed to remain competitive and viable. Recessions provide both opportunity and incentive to reorganize, refocus and prepare. Innovation in our products, our design and construction methods, our associations, and our approach to the game are all critical to our long-term success. Take some time to consider where your contribution can be. IMAS Robert Thomas is president of the National Concrete Masonry Association.
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How low is too low?
READER SERVICE #165
CONTRACTOR TIP OF THE MONTH
The economy is brutal. Bidding is tight, and you are finally the low bidder on a big job. Life is good, until you find you missed something. Do you take the job anyway?
You get the call from the general contractor (GC), who says you are low on a large project. With your backlog down, this is the break your company has been looking for, so you start high-fiving your staff. Then, the estimator turns around from his desk and says, "We have a problem. I left out the storage building with 10,000 blocks in it. We can still do the project, but it looks like we are going to take a hit if we do."
So the scramble begins. You double-check the numbers on the entire bid, hoping there is extra money in another part of the project to make up the difference. After taking everything you can out of the project, you find you will still show a loss when the job is complete, and that's if everything goes just right. To make matters worse, the GC is pressuring you to take the job. What do you do now? In most cases, walk away.
Now we all know there are other things to consider. Is this a GC who you always work for? And, did he tell you he was using your number and no one else's? Or, is this a GC who shops until he finds the absolute lowest number every time? And ask yourself this: How low is too low? What do you stand to lose, and what do you stand to gain?
My company was recently low bidder on a water treatment plant that was a public opening project. We were at $1.2 million, which was $180,000 below the next bidder. We always figure a margin of 10 percent; so, normally, we would still take the project. However, being that low, we went through the project to insure all the numbers were okay before signing the contract. Guess what? We found a mistake in the estimate that, once included, put us above the next bidder. So we went through all aspects of the project to find money that could be put toward the $180,000 shortfall. Most of the numbers in the bid were hard numbers, so it just wasn't there. I had a decision to make, and quickly: give up the job and suffer the embarrassment of backing out after being low, or take the job and take a hit. Let me tell you, it wasn't an easy call to make.
So, what did I do? I quickly sought the advice of other contractors with whom I network in the industry. In fact, when I presented this situation to one of my contractor friends in the heat of the moment, he replied, "Don't take the hit and wound yourself, what good are you wounded?" Then he paused and said, "Wounded animals are dangerous." (I am not sure why he was comparing me to an animal, but being a hunter, I sure got the point.) So, I made the call to pull the bid.
I think our contractor pride gets in the way sometimes, and we forget that if you blow a bid, you can usually withdraw it. Even if it is a prime bid, you still have a limited time to pull your bid if you find you missed something in good faith. Those rules are there for a reason. Just swallow your pride, pull your bid and go after the next one. Believe me, it's easier to swallow your pride then spend the next several months trying to recover from the grief of a bad project.
Damian Lang is a mason contractor in southeast Ohio, inventor of many laborsaving products, and author of the book "Rewarding and Challenging Employees for Profits in Masonry." To order a copy of his book or to attend one of his seminars held for mason contractors, call Sherry Wittekind at Lang Masonry, 740-749-3512. Provided by Damian Lang, President of Lang Maseary Contractors, Inc., and EZ Greet Corp.
READER SERVICE #314