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Never had someone calling me directly. Some jobs the client chose to use a cheaper contractor that had no idea what they were doing and ended up paying much more to get the structure down and with a lot of swearing and embarresment. On one particular Job i told the client that demolishing a building mechanically should not be considered at all, they went for it anyway and ended up killing 3 workers in the process when the building colapsed on them.
7:53 PM
Im so sick of all this crap about lowballing a job for cash flow. Lowballing a demolition job will not give any cash flow and if it does it will buy you a month at best. Taking work and putting wear and tear on equipment is for morons .... no 2 ways about it. Running with the hookers is no way to grow a business,... as a sub contractor laying out money you want to make at least 20 percent of the contract value. If your making less than 15 your just spinning your wheels and those wheels need to be replaced the more they spin. to replace them will cost 15 percent. Underlying wear and tear will kill you before you die . Pouring money into equipment is the killer, plan for it or end up with rat/worthless equipment.
True, but being small potatoes like me, I hate to get beat by a chump who's bidding on work they have no business doing. Another demo man..fine by me, maybe I can study his work and see what he's doing different than me, and pick a brain or two about the job progress. If it's some landscaper with a Kubota garden tractor...ugh..:mad:. If its an excavation company that does demo as a second-line business, no big deal.
But you are right. I've beaten fairly, won good bids with good profit margins, but only because I did my homework, knew what was involved and how to present that to my customer in a way that he felt he was getting a good deal. I've even turned down a job or two that I felt was too big for my scope, and told the customer who to call.
The way I see it, if I've been way way overbid, then I missed something( and super stressed out like you said) or they didn't do their homework. If I've been way under bid, then they probably didn't do their homework or they missed something. Being beat legitimately by a small margine is always a little easier to take than being blown out of the water with a lowball price.
And sometimes those with the experience flat make a mistake! Over the years I have put out a few bids that were half of 2nd place, stressed out the entire time as to what I missed only to end up with a 50% margin. I know on one occasion I asked the 2nd place bidder what he saw that put his bid amount so much higher and his response was that he didn
Buck,
You nailed it!
And it those who don't go with you are the ones calling to clean up the mess the others left and you're the 1st one they call for the next one.
I tell all my potential customers this... you call a plumber fix your pipes, a landscaper to plant your shrubs and a demo man to knock down your house. I own a pipe wrench and a shovel but I don't pretend to be a plumber or a landscaper. Just because they own the machinery doesn't mean they have the skill to do it right. This is what I do. Demolition. Anybody can give you a low price, but what are you buying? A low price, or the satifaction of a job put into competent hands with years of experience, knowlege and contacts to get you not only a fair price, but the job completed on time, safely, and without rookie mistakes. You have only one chance to do a demo job right. You have many chances to do it wrong. Those wrong choices will be more expensive than the right one. Everytime.
Buck;13026 said:
The property manager on the other hand, I give him a call to bust his balls about it every once in awhile, and especially about the 3 months it took the "demo" contractor...(term used loosey, the guy was a landscaper and used a backhoe) to finish the site clean up...but the PM got a "good deal" on the price...about half of what anybody else who was undercutting even the most modest bid. My price- $7500, 2 days site level back to grade. His price-$4300, 3 days to tear down, 3 months to clean up, site still not to grade, and side walk remains...unbelieveable...:confused:
Just keep telling him you get what you pay for. 
We all hear it all the time sometimes people do it 4 cash flow sometimes misteaks but the lowballers do not last it all catches up to them we know what it takes to make money but it is very irratating to say the least.....................
i called a company once to tell him that i was awarded the contract for $275,000, and he left $110,000 on the table. With a 4X remobilization
Never had a competitor tell me off, but have had a property manager call me to do a job, and after I show up, had another crew on the way. It was a scrap metal salvage out of a small 3 bdr home, and here I was in a Mexican standoff between me and this other scrapper and his flunky in the livingroom of an abandonded house. We ended up staring each other down and then agreed to work together to split the take. So the guy tells his flunky..."get the tools" and now I have to out-work these two kids 15 years younger than me so I can rightfully take half of a meager scrap out....I was exhausted, and eventually the other fella and me came back the next day, got what we had torn out, and agreed to work with each other again.
The property manager on the other hand, I give him a call to bust his balls about it every once in awhile, and especially about the 3 months it took the "demo" contractor...(term used loosey, the guy was a landscaper and used a backhoe) to finish the site clean up...but the PM got a "good deal" on the price...about half of what anybody else who was undercutting even the most modest bid. My price- $7500, 2 days site level back to grade. His price-$4300, 3 days to tear down, 3 months to clean up, site still not to grade, and side walk remains...unbelieveable...:confused:
Every now and then everyone talks some trash.I try not to do it. The most respected people never say bad things about anyone else. I lost a big job last year 2 minutes down the street from my office . I still cant ride by without mother___kin the contractor that did the job.But i keep my comments to myself,My dad always told me never let em see you sweat it.
It happens in all fields, in fact.
I was at an art opening about 14 years ago of an exhibition of photographs of Boston's Big Dig. I had an image in the show, as did a collection of other pretty well known Boston based photographers.
One photographer, who has a lifelong history in all aspects of Boston for almost the past 50 years had a few images in the show. This guy was someone that I really admired. He seemed to have all the right clients, published his own books, and was always published in every major, newspaper, trade journal or architectural magazine. This guy is a living legend in the architectural photography world in Boston.
So he was standing in front of one of his prints and I walked up and introduced myself. He shook my hand and we talked about what it had been like shooting the BigDig and turned to his wife (who is also his business manager) and introduced me.
She turned, held out her hand and when she heard my name she withdrew her open hand and said.... 'Oh, you're Stephen SetteDucati. You're the enemy.' And she walked away.
In the business of architectural photography, pretty much anywhere in the world, since everyone else is bidding against one another and sad as it sounds, we are all arch enemies.
James,
I'm sure we have all experienced the "rumor-mill" when we're low bidder. We all know it's sour grapes...I do it myself. Having been in the business 25 years or so... outfits that consistantly "low-ball" are flames that die out. There are projects that come in below cost and you know the low bidder is gonna take a hit on it. But being the "proud" men that we are...we would never admit to our competitiors. It's a funny thing...and like demobud...it does make you work harder.
Not for undercutting or low pricing but for simply existing as a business. I have had a competitor tell me he was "going to do everything he could to keep me out of competition". I told him that was fine and good luck. So far it hasn't worked for him; I still get plenty of work.
It's pretty unprofessional and petulant. You can't bitch about what the other guy has, you just have to work harder if you want it.
I was talking with a demolition company owner the other day, about 2 weeks ago he submitted a bid on a Friday, unfortunately he was pretty low, but when he got back into the office on Monday another demolition contractor, who also bid on the project, left a voice mail telling him that he sucked, he didn't know WTF he was doing and that he was ruining the local demolition market.
I've known the demolition owner for awhile now and he is stand up guy, he's not trying to "ruined" the business.
So I'm curious, has this ever happen to you? A competitor calling you and basically telling you off?
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