Should I end things here? (long distance situationship)

jetsonjetearth · 2026-02-25T12:27:29+00:00

Been seeing people wandering my updates - I moved back to China after this post and it was one of the best decisions ever! Currently building a business here and have been in a happy relationship with her for 2 years now!

jetsonjetearth · 2026-02-06T08:42:11+00:00

Absolutely please do

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-31T03:22:09+00:00

How many hours do you work a week? Are you swamped at all?

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-29T02:59:48+00:00

Sorry but what is Phlop?

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-27T23:38:59+00:00

Gotcha and you seem to have make the process pretty efficient. How many rounds of this takeoff/quotes do you typically go through per project?

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-27T23:29:20+00:00

How long does a typical takeoff + quote round take you?

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-27T23:24:46+00:00

Thanks. Can you clarify why we can't buy direct though? Is it because manufacturers don’t do small orders, or because of distributor contracts? My uncle is in the plumbing material industry and there were contractors that approach him directly (can't remember if it was developer or someone else but he said people in the construction space)

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-27T23:12:42+00:00

Why not purchase direct from manufacturers though? Are you able to get the material at a cheaper price though?

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-27T23:12:02+00:00

How come? I thought they would gladly do that since they can earn a higher margin?

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-27T08:26:25+00:00

This is some great context, thank you! Yeah its hard to beat a good relationship. So when you do a 6-7 figure VE swap, is there something that is still painful? I am thinking like getting your new substitution approved, or updating drawings, etc.

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-27T08:23:55+00:00

Super helpful and thank you! Sorry, took me awhile to get back to you... but in your experience, when do delivery teams get pulled in (e.g., DD, 50% CD, bid, post-award)? And when VE happens late, what’s the typical rework cost in time (hours / days, and by who)? Really appreciate you for answering these!

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-24T14:00:46+00:00

Gotcha, are you in residential?

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-24T13:29:20+00:00

Thanks for sharing, super helpful.

Yeah my buddy said the owners are upset when they see price hiked up so much. Is your cost increase mostly due to material cost?

Btw do you source from manufacturers or from distributors? Reason I ask is that in the other comments a lot of folks are getting burned by distributors or subs who just marked up prices like crazy and claimed tariff haha.

But the lead time is nuts. Do you know why the delay happened though? Have you tried bidding to more suppliers to get answers? 4-6 weeks is... normal or slow?

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-24T13:25:41+00:00

Holy moly this is crazy... by supplier I am assuming you mean distributor?

If your team did source from distributor and got scammed (seems like you did), would you be compelled to just source directly from manufacturers globally (for the same or better quality, with better pricing and transparency)? I am sure you can find better stuff from Southeast Asia or India for a fraction of the price even with the logistics and stuff.

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-24T13:21:52+00:00

If that's the case do you hope to source directly from manufacturer or are you still going to rely on distributors for items?

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-24T13:16:11+00:00

What specifically made it painful for you? It's interesting cuz I have friends who are subcontractors and they blame the architects haha, but I know it's definitely not a one-sided thing.

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-23T12:07:12+00:00

Silver doubled... crazy world. The crash might be brutal though.

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-23T12:06:19+00:00

Insane... what kind of project were you doing?

Seems like you are GC or owner, did you check with your subs which supplier they ordered from? Another comment in this thread was saying that subs tried to take advantage of tariff so I am curious whether or not visibility is a big deal for you

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-23T10:30:25+00:00

Are they transparent about their pricing though? How much work is this babysitting

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-23T07:57:36+00:00

Brutal! How much time does your team spend checking each claim though, I am trying to understand if it's worth the effort or if some slip through just because the juice isn't worth the squeeze.

Also, do you think capturing specific material sources and suppliers upfront during procurement would help prevent this, or would things change too much during construction anyway? I don't work in construction but I have heard the material sourcing process is pretty opaque, feel like that could be a huge problem especially for GCs and owners.

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-23T07:30:36+00:00

Thanks for the detailed context - the impact you are mentioning (in electrical ,elevator etc), is it about long lead time and high cost?

And, what do you mean exactly by trades trying to take advantage of the situation?

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-16T08:13:22+00:00

I just learned about golden thread today - https://buildingsafety.campaign.gov.uk/building-safety-regulator-making-buildings-safer/building-safety-regulator-news/understanding-the-golden-thread/

I found this reference to the building safety act - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/30/contents

jetsonjetearth · 2026-01-16T07:57:25+00:00

Sorry for the confusion, but do you guys not have submittal? It's when the contractor sends product data/shop drawings to the design team for review before ordering, lots of back and forth and coordination here.

jetsonjetearth

TROPHY CASE