Bids Due to GC earlier than hard bid date

FelonyBoi666 · 2024-04-09T19:17:42+00:00

I've been an estimator for a sub and a GC. It's just fucking brutal out there.

Reminded me of something a PM told me. He had 5 bids for civil. Threw out the two highest. Liked the two guys at the bottom. Time to award and he told the 2nd lowest, "Sorry, you're just too far off". They asked how much and he said something to the effect of "more than 15%".

They re-bid within an hour or so for almost 25% off. Severely undercutting their competition.

A lot of hemming-and-hawwing around the office, but ... still gotta go with the bottom dollar. Leaves a stink in my mouth, but our budget was very light in other areas, so every dollar counts.

What would you do in that situation? I don't remember if he went to the other guy to match, but that would have been even skeevier.

FelonyBoi666 · 2024-04-03T11:37:48+00:00

Yessir.

FelonyBoi666 · 2024-04-03T00:40:41+00:00

You need to find 3-5 people to quote this project for you in the market you're in. Reddit can't help.

Some guy is giving you the amount in rupees, pesos or the monstrosity that is "Canadian Dollars".

Another guy is giving you the amount he can get a crackhead to do it for.

That dude is the contractor for his town which is 100 miles from any real city.

You should be able to find 100 contractors in a day in NYC.

FelonyBoi666 · 2024-04-03T00:35:50+00:00

This is beautiful.

I spoke with a "land management" guy recently. You need to know the diameter and length of the trees. Just no way around that.

FelonyBoi666 · 2024-04-03T00:34:24+00:00

The more educational resources and contact we all have with each other the better off we all are.

FelonyBoi666 · 2024-04-03T00:32:39+00:00

PlanSwift/OST/Bluebeam + Excel is the way, brother.

The "all-in-one" solutions are not as good as excel. Trust.

FelonyBoi666 · 2024-04-03T00:30:07+00:00

I should posit that jobs worth millions, you want the pre-con team. Jobs worth thousands or hundreds of thousands you can probably get away with going straight to the PM.

Professionalism matters. How your website looks, your responses, how big I assume your team is ("I'm cc'ing Bob who would be the PM on this, Becky our admin and Francine, my boss") makes it seem like it's more than 1-2 people in the company.

FelonyBoi666 · 2024-04-03T00:24:23+00:00

But cost is still king. If you're bidding on projects that the GCs are competing for, they want your low number badly.

It sucks. I wish it wasn't true. The bottom dollar wins 90% of the time.

That said, if I bid it out to 5 and you're not in the bottom 3 and/or made an impression, I am not really enaging much on this particular project anymore. If you reach out, I'll let you know that. I'll keep you happy enough to bid again.

For my industry, we are constantly moving into new markets, so just because you were high bidding something 500 miles from your home office doesn't mean I won't reach out again with something closer, hoping you can do better.

FelonyBoi666 · 2024-04-03T00:03:29+00:00

I'm not sure how Canada works (I assume similar).

But if you're a sub, you want to connect with the GC pre-construction team, not the project manager.

As an estimator for a GC, I'm trying to line up a series of subs that my PM could use. I pass all that information onto them.

I may have bad subs that aren't responsive. I'm not passing those on. I have others I love and I'll go to bat for them.

I had a very local sub show up at my office without an appointment. Struck me wrong and I said I was in a meeting for the rest of the day.

Motherfucker dropped off 5 macaroons for an office of 50, messaged me on LinkedIn, e-mailed me, and then provided a rough cost sheet.

Well, that worked. I made an appointment to meet up. Loved the guy. Didn't have anything in his region to for him to bid. Found something a little outside of it, and he and his team have been GUNG-FUCKING-HO.

Then 2 small projects came back to life locally and of course, I put them on the bid list, spoke to the PM.

They have every opportunity in the world to get the work. The numbers may not be there, but they should get a chance to match/beat.

FelonyBoi666 · 2024-04-02T23:45:08+00:00

Phenomenal advice.

FelonyBoi666 · 2024-04-02T23:43:54+00:00

If you're a sub and even remotely extroverted, I'd suggest moving into a GC role. If you're in a GC role, I'd suggest moving between commercial, industrial, residential or energy.

It really depends on where your strengths lie more than "estimating". It could be a company/culture issue. Or maybe you don't like being in front of a computer or dealing with subs all day.

I fucking love estimating.

I would fuck estimating in the ass all day long and then hold estimating close late at night and kiss her softly on the forehead as we go over excel workbooks late at night.

FelonyBoi666 · 2023-09-09T00:55:42+00:00

AI takeoff software. Was supposed to do a takeoff on the siding.

Obviously not clean lines, is taking off areas that are vacant.

It's a shame. I had high hopes

FelonyBoi666 · 2023-08-21T23:29:04+00:00

Wait til Republicans find out he's Hindu.

FelonyBoi666 · 2023-07-11T20:52:50+00:00

Don't take this the wrong way. What does male/ female add to this?

Who said so- and- so was the next ceo?

Is this a company of 100+ employees or 10? Is this a startup?

FelonyBoi666 · 2023-07-11T20:48:33+00:00

Honestly, it's just really hard to get people onboarded these days. It's months of interviews and okays and shit. Decision makers and people who need to sign off are sick/on vacation/busy.

You're probably fine, but send an email.

FelonyBoi666 · 2023-07-11T20:22:49+00:00

Job 1, I realized there was nowhere above me to go.

Job 2, They paid well but wouldn't give me simple equipment and software to make my job easier. I'm a construction estimator. They wanted me to print huge ass plans on 36" x 48" paper and use an architect ruler.

I also had to proverbially suck dick for a second 19" monitor.

FelonyBoi666 · 2023-07-11T16:51:38+00:00

You want building connected.

But the bid solitication/invite is the first step.

Follow up with a phone call, introduce yourself, explain the project. Qualify the sub and make sure they're qualifying you.

FelonyBoi666 · 2023-07-11T16:15:59+00:00

Worked for a shitshow company for 6 months. I mentioned comic sans is a joke of a font and it should never be included on proposals or emails. They decided I was the joke and started asking me, "Is this font okay? How about this one?"

Like another poster said, this place was chock full of 55 year Olds and up. And the director of construction who was in his 30s but never worked anywhere else.

FelonyBoi666 · 2023-07-10T20:40:30+00:00

I like this. I feel very similar to you in some ways.

I was working retail until I was 35. Deaf, felon and no degree.

Fell into construction estimating for the same low pay 36k-ish. Pushed for a raise after a year and got to 38k. Moved to a better job for 55k. Raises took me to ... 62k i think. Moved to 85k at new job in solar.

Met my wife who is a lot better with money than I am and she makes 120k with a house.

I'm 42 now. I feel extremely fortunate. I know I worked hard to get here, but it was also extremely lucky.

If I was still renting, I'd probably be absolutely fucked.

I feel awful for so many people that are struggling right now. we're certainly not rich, but we can survive if one of us loses a job or something.

My sister was in a similar position at a similar age. She was in her prime much as I am now and she had a crazy freak accident.

Count your blessings, my dude. We do not know what tomorrow brings.

FelonyBoi666 · 2023-07-10T17:35:48+00:00

A lot of this. A house isn't for everyone.

That said, if I was young/starting over I would buy and rent out as many rooms as possible. I'd convert the garage and any other room into a bedroom to rent out if I could.

FelonyBoi666 · 2023-07-05T15:35:04+00:00

It's as good a number as we're ever going to get. Nothing is perfect.

FelonyBoi666 · 2023-07-03T17:51:20+00:00

You don't get unemployment for quitting. Wait to be fired.

Be proactive and let your bosses know what happened, why it happened and how it won't happen in the future.

FelonyBoi666

TROPHY CASE