I get calls from contractors and owners alike that are having problems on a job. One of the first questions I ask is “What documentation do you have?” The most common response is “We did not think that there would be a problem so we did not keep any records.” A simple jobsite journal that [...]
One of our subcontractor clients is back with more work for us. The construction manager, as the prime contractor on the project, overran the time period by six months. Our client submitted a change order request for additional compensation. It was rejected. The interesting thing is, two years ago we cautioned our client about even [...]
The proposed Construction Quality Assurance Act of 2009 (HR 3492) is in the House of Representatives. This act would require contractors to list all major subcontractors on federal projects over $1 million. It would affect subcontractors with values over $100,000. With a few exceptions, it would prohibit substituting subcontractors. Some construction organizations are in favor [...]
Owners do not realize how unfair unit pricing can be for both them and the contractor. The cost of work is not simply a unit price multiplied by the quantity, but a more complex function that considers the size of the project, schedule, and other factors into the formula. Unit prices should be removed from [...]
The best time to get your project bid may be right now! Forget the goofy low bidder, it will only create headaches. Think about what may be happening in the construction market in the next few months. Material prices are now increasing. Copper prices today (October 2009) are back to the yearly highs and appear [...]
When I started in construction it was a common practice to take the “new guy” and pair him with an “old guy” so the job could be learned. This apprenticing or mentoring practice was a method to help the inexperienced get a practical education without learning bad habits or making expensive mistakes. From the 1960’s [...]
It can be easy for a contractor to play favoritism to subcontractors and vendors. If the “preferred” company is not low, it can be justifiable to still use them on the bid because of the relationships that already have been developed on prior projects. This can alleviate some headaches and improve efficiencies for managing the [...]
It seems that some cost cutting decisions in the construction business can be rather short sighted. Why would contractors, architects and engineers and owners eliminate estimating from their cost structure to save money? Contractors and this includes subcontractors, need estimators to bring in revenue. Without having good estimators the contractors are left without the ability [...]
To say the market is tight for bidders today is a tremendous understatement. It is downright poor. One of my friends said the market is so bad that he could not buy a job even if he wanted to! So how do you make it through the market today? As much as I would like [...]
You should always perform a site visit when you plan to bid a job that has any remodel work or work that interfaces with the existing structure. Take lots of pictures and mark up a set of the drawings so you can remember what you saw when you get back and start estimating. You would [...]
