Shortlister

Tips on Bid and Quotation Comparison

The key to obtaining professional bids and quotations is to provide the contractors with as much data as possible. The fuzzier your thoughts, plans and specifications, the more ambiguous your bids will be. In fact, the bids may be higher than they should be, because each contractor is trying to protect themselves from delays you may create while trying to make up your mind. This fact is often overlooked by many homeowners. Remember, contractors are not mind readers!

How many should I get?

I have been asked in the past to bid jobs against five to seven other contractors. In these instances, I refuse to prepare a quotation. Generally speaking, I have determined that a wide majority of these people are merely shopping for price. My suggestion to you is to try to find three contractors who are about the same size and who perform similar levels of quality. Getting prices from three similar individuals will give you an excellent range of pricing. Never, never obtain just one bid!

Exposing yourself

Never tell a contractor what you are prepared to spend on a project. If, by chance, you are dealing with a dishonest contractor, his/her price may be just under your ceiling. However, you may be asked by a contractor what you are willing to spend. I have done this in the past so as not to waste time in preparing an estimate. I have successfully overcome this dilemma. Experienced contractors can generally compute a square foot cost estimate quickly when looking at a job. Ask the contractors to do just that and present these prices to you. Each party realizes that these are tentative numbers. However, they allow you to determine if the project is out of reach early in the bidding process.

Itemized Quotations

Always demand an itemized quotation. These quotations are invaluable. They allow you to see just how each contractor arrived at his/her price. These quotations enable you and the contractors to determine if anything has been overlooked in the bidding process. This eliminates any financial surprises after a project begins.

Itemized quotations also enable you to set up a fair and equitable payment schedule with your contractor. Because you can see what each aspect of the job costs, you can be sure that you only pay for items which have been installed or are on site. This method will afford you great peace of mind.

Insurance Documentation

Be sure that your bids include copies of all insurance documentation. Professionals have readily available copies of their Worker’s Compensation certificates and General Liability policies. Demand that copies of these be included in your bid envelope. Often low bids are low because insurance premiums are not really being paid. Remember, anybody can say that they are insured. Don’t rely on hope. Get copies of these valuable certificates!

The bid is a company’s opportunity to sell its services to a client. While the construction industry continues to recover from the economic downturn, it’s essential to craft an effective submission that allows your company to succeed over your competition. A winning bid is more than a document that breaks down costs and labor; winning a bid for a large or competitive project can add to a company’s portfolio and improve its status within the construction industry. “Beyond the price, it’s differentiating your services from all the other bidders that are offering essentially the same type of service,” says Daryn Reif, Chief Executive Officer of Field Automated Communication System, LLC.

KEY CONSIDERATIONS
The bidding process really begins before the official bid notification is sent. In construction, as in business in general, relationships forged outside of business, through networking or previous work, can give a company an advantage when learning about projects that will come up for bidding. Joining associations and building professional relationships with important players in the construction industry can give contractors and other bidders a glimpse into projects that are coming down the pipeline.

“If you’re not including value-added services as an option that you bring to the table, your competition is,” says Reif. “You need to present in your technical proposal or in your bid proper a reason why you’re going to be able to deliver a service that’s world class and one step above everybody else’s.”

It’s important for companies to determine the nature and extent of the project. With this information, companies can realistically ascertain whether the project is a wise investment for their portfolio and whether they can realistically compete with other companies for the bid. Though the construction industry is still in recovery, companies should remain selective about the projects on which they choose to bid. Though the company is bound to win some contracts, submitting bids to numerous projects for the sake of submitting a bid is not the wisest use of time or energy. Instead, focus on the strengths of the company and the resources available for the project.

ESTIMATING COSTS
An experienced estimator is essential to a winning bid. Using meticulous attention to detail, an estimator relies on guides and field experience to approximate the costs for the project based on drawings and other details. While some companies rely on consultants to estimate costs, others use software to approximate costs. Each has advantages and companies should choose whichever method has produced the best results in the past.
Regardless of whether a company devises estimates based on software or professionals, the results can have serious repercussions. Estimate the cost of man hours and materials too high and it can cost the bidding company the contract; similarly, estimate too low and it can cost the company money if material prices increase or an unforeseeable incident sparks a setback in the project.

Some companies may be tempted to set their costs low in order to win the bid, under the premise that if costs change, they can submit a change order. While change orders allow some wiggle room for fluctuations in costs, companies should not rely on them. Not only to they establish a bad precedent for the project, the company may have to pay some of the costs incurred or have to cut back on aspects of the project, e.g., use cheaper materials, cut back on manpower, etc., which may be a breach of contract.

CONSTRUCTION BID SOFTWARE
Technology has fostered the growth of software solutions directed towards the pivotal, yet tricky, estimating process. Software programs such as Bid4Build and Turtle Creek—two of the most popular estimation software programs—organize bid materials, generate bids and create cost estimates for construction projects of all sizes and types.

Create a compact home office center with a desktop and swing-out work area, plenty of drawers and storage, open bookshelves, a large bulletin board and an easy cord organizer.

Does it seem like you’re always shuffling piles of paper trying to find that unpaid electric bill or your daughter’s soccer schedule? Do your dining table and kitchen countertops have a permanent layer of paper? Free up your countertops by building this home office in a guest bedroom. It fits on any 7-ft. 4-in. to 10-ft. section of wall and still leaves room for the bed. In this story, we’ll show you how to plan and lay out the office and then

* buy the right cabinets;
* order or build the desktops and shelves;
* build the cord trough, bulletin board and swing-out desk;
* buy the lighting; and
* install everything in one to two days.
First choose the location for the office and then make a scaled drawing of the wall you’re considering for the desk (Fig. A). Make note of the overall length of the wall, any doors or windows, and the ceiling height. Draw horizontal lines at 29 and 54 in. (Photo 1). These represent the top of the base cabinets and the bottom of the wall cabinets.

Determine the overall length of the desk. Ours is 10 ft., but it can be shortened to 7 ft. 4 in. by eliminating the base storage cabinet. The desk can fill a whole wall, sit in the middle of a wall, or start in a corner and stop somewhere along the wall, as shown in our project.

At this point you need to talk to a cabinet supplier and find out the dimensions of its file drawer bases and wall cabinets. Draw these in on your plan. Don’t leave a span of more than 4 ft. 6 in. between base cabinets or else the desktop will sag.

Also note the end panel that’s necessary to cover the left-hand file cabinet and cord trough. Ours is 29 in. tall (this matches the height of the cabinet) and 30 in. deep. Now order the cabinets and end panel. You’ll be ordering at least two base cabinets and two wall cabinets and one 30-in. deep end panel. If your desk is longer than 7 ft. 4 in., as ours is, you’ll add base cabinets. Base units should be 24 in. deep and wall cabinets should be 12 to 14 in. deep.

Next, order or build the desktops and shelves to the dimensions shown on our plans. For strength and to minimize sagging, make them from 1-in. thick particleboard and glue plastic laminate to both faces. We chose to edge them with a wood bullnose.

The cord-management trough is the backbone of the desk. Once it’s fastened to the wall (Photos 1 and 2), the rest of the desk stacks onto it or fastens to the front of it. The top edge of the trough matches the height of the file drawer bases. While ours was set at 29 in., measure the height of your cabinets to confirm.

The corkboard frame is simply screwed together through the edges of the top and bottom rails (Fig. D). We built ours out of cherry and finished it to match the cabinets. Stain and finish all the sections (corkboard frame, shelf edges, swing-out desk) before installing.

Build the cork inserts by gluing together two 1/4-in. thick panels (Fig. E), then fasten the cork sheeting to the face with vinyl flooring adhesive. Let the cork overhang the wood, then trim it flush with a utility knife after the adhesive dries. Use self-sticking Velcro tape to hold the panels to the frame. Because the frame is held away from the wall, it’s easy to run electrical cords behind it.

Set the wall cabinets onto the corkboard frame (Photo 3). Flush the left-hand cabinet to the end of the corkboard frame. Adjust the right-hand cabinet into the corner to make the space between the cabinets conform to the length of the shelves. The corner cabinet can sit a bit away from the side wall.

Drive screws through the cabinet backs into studs. The screws should be long enough to penetrate 1-1/2 in. into the studs.

Mark the shelf cleat locations (Photo 3) on the wall. Continue these lines onto the cabinet sides (Photo 4). Use a carpenter’s square to make sure these lines are also level. Drill clearance holes and screw the 1×2 shelf cleats to each stud with 2-1/2 in. screws (Photo 5).

Draw a layout line on the inside of the cabinet. Make sure it follows the center of the shelf. Drill clearance holes, hold the shelf in place and drive three 2-in. screws to fasten the two shelves (Photo 6).

Miter-cut the two 3/4-in. x 1-1/2 in. light valance pieces, and then clamp them 1-1/2 in. back from the front and side of the cabinets.

Drill clearance holes (Photo 7) through the edge of the light valance spaced 2 ft. apart. Drive 2-in. screws, making sure to countersink the screwheads.

Lay the cap shelf on the cabinets and fasten with screws driven from inside the cabinets.

Set the left base cabinet flush with the end of the cord trough. Adjust the feet or shim under the cabinet to level it and make it flush with the trough (Photo 8). Footed cabinets are ideal if your floor is carpeted. Drive two screws through the cabinet back into the trough.

Clamp the two right-side cabinets together, then drive 1-1/4 in. screws to make a tight joint (Photo 9). Push the cabinets into the corner and against the baseboard; fasten to the cord trough with several 1-1/2 in. screws.

Cut a square notch in the end panel to clear the baseboard (Photo 10). Fasten this panel with screws driven from inside the cabinet.

Buy a power strip with surge protection and mount it to the wall below the cord trough (Photo 11). All your equipment and lights plug into this strip.

Set the top and the trough covers in place on the base cabinets. Leave a small gap between the trough covers and the corkboard frame so the covers don’t get jammed in and become difficult to lift out. Clamp the top to the cabinets, remove the trough covers, then fasten with screws driven from inside the cabinets (Photo 12). Be sure the screws aren’t too long or else you’ll have a hole in your desktop. Set the cord-trough covers in place (Photo 13).