Hello fflyer
There is one staunch rule internationally when sizing up which
contractor to use when construction works have been priced. And it is
a simple one; you take the one in the middle! There is a mathematical
reason for this, as I will explain below.
This applies to large contracts & small domestic home improvements alike.
You take 3 reputable or qualified firms or crafts people and ask for
accurate estimates. If you use more than 3 you will begin to waste
time, resources & money.
Estimate 1, The Lowest.
This price may seem tempting but it is a Trojan Horse. If a builder is
pricing less than everyone else or trying to undercut, it means that:
1) He has made a mistake in his calculations or he is inexperienced &
simply doesn't know how to price a job.
2) He does not value his services and may be desperate to cram in
extra work to cover losses on other jobs, his employees are likely to
be getting paid less than their counterparts in the same profession
resulting in a possible compromise in workmanship.
3) This contractor may have the highest skills & begin the job well,
but people will seldom work well or at all when faced with a certain
loss, other easy money jobs will take priority, additional costs,
delays & stress for both parties will arise.
Estimate 2, The Middle.
1) The Guy in the middle knows his market; he works on precision, a
middle distance runner if you like. He has got his price exactly right
because he knows how to price a job and make a profit.
2) He has priced the job tight because he has confidence in his team?s
ability to deliver results. He is not afraid of deadlines and running
the job in accordance with the budget he has been given and the
critical path that he has set out to complete the job on time.
3) These are the people you want on your team. If a an unforeseen
change or additional cost should arise, a mountain will not be made
out of a molehill because he is there to ply his trade and make a
profit not a fortune (hence the middle price).
Estimate 3, The Highest.
1) This guy is a joker, an idiot or already a millionaire with little
motivation to please. A high price is rarely a mistake and means
greed, bad debt or inefficient working practice.
2) The extra money may be required to cover bad habits and putting
mistakes right due to rushing or lack of skill.
3) A high price in this scenario is not a symbol of value but a
definite warning signal and could jeopardise the entire project if
unforeseen problems arise as all extra costs will be higher that the
norm. As ?unforeseen circumstances? arise more often on construction
sites than in any other conceivable aspect of life, you do not want
this guy on your team.
Estimate 4, The Gauge or Control.
This extra estimate is needed to determine who your ?3? are. So, You
take your 4 estimates and cancel out the lowest. Why? Because the very
lowest estimator has forgotten to take into consideration the rise in
materials costs and inflation during the course of the build & thus
will begin to incur financial & motivational losses from day 1.
You could buy a contractors price guide and check the costs for
yourself, but this would again cost you time, money and resources. If
for example a person earns $160 a day in their normal day job & spends
3 days researching the cheapest cost when they could have been working
overtime doing what they do best to save a contingency fund. That is
$480 that could have been saved for a better job or new furniture! So
if 1 sq. ft. costs you approximately $160-$170 you'll wanna keep it
simple & find someone reasonably swift to get the job underway.
The reality is that it is not about cost, it is about weather or not
you can afford to have the work done by the wrong crew, because then
the cost is any bodies guess. Select rock steady Eddie in the middle,
make him coffee every morning, show him respect from the beginning to
the end, and the price won?t need to bend. And remember, if you decide
to have the design changed, or have a little added on here or there,
Middle Eddie will charge you exactly what he needs to pay his men &
make a profit. Not a penny more & not a penny less.
I do hope that this is of some help to you, please post a message back
to let me know what you think or if you would like me to clarify as I
am trying to get on the Google Answers team. I think they quite like
me and would like to see what I can do.
Good luck with new story, US carpenters & bricklayers are seen as some
of the most highly skilled in the world in the UK so you should get
your monies worth.
Footnote for Google answers:
Come on Google, you know you want me. |
