How those incidental pre-contract changes always seem to go fuzzy—Part 2
Last month I left you quotesmiths out there tied to the railroad track with the mustache-twirling general contractor thrusting a leaky black Uni-ball® pen and a contract laden with the debris of your own casual concessions into your horror-stricken faces as the rumble of the five o’clock Amtrak loomed ever closer.
“Sign here—now, or the window of opportunity is going to slam shut on your white-knuckled grip!” the GC cries above the terrifying hum of the mighty diesel engine.
OK, maybe it is a little melodramatic, but it drives the point home again that the GC is not there to help you finalize your award. He has an ulterior motive, and shocking as it may seem, it doesn’t include your well-being, so scrap that ridiculous notion.
Oh, I know I’m starting to sound insufferably patronizing, but it never ceases to amaze me how completely gullible you otherwise-clever folks all become during that crucial pre-award period. What I offer below is a simple set of guidelines—a list of dos and don’ts that you already know intuitively but will nevertheless forget when you fall into your hypnotic trance unless you have my crib sheet.
The number-one rule: Get everything in writing. As I mentioned last month, the GC’s favorite weapon is the casual phone call. He’ll call unexpectedly and flatter you and your ability to rattle verbal quotes off the top of your head. You may even be lured into thinking these are theoretical numbers for budgetary purposes, only to find them coming back at you in a contract, couched in terms or applied in ways you never intended. So, do your level best to stall, then present your quotes in writing—even if it’s just an e-mail. Don’t forget to add a concluding line that reads something like “same terms and conditions of original proposal apply.”
Even if you do get lured into leaking numbers over the phone, don’t fret. Just follow your conversation with a “verification of our understanding.” Memorialize it in writing, and do it right away. If you let it languish, you’ll convince yourself that your verbal skills won the day and a follow-up in writing is unnecessary. Huge mistake.
This unearths another golden axiom: Don’t buy into the atmosphere of urgency that your villainous counterpart is conjuring up. Chances are there is no five o’clock Amtrak, so to speak. And even if there is, another half-hour of calculated thinking is not going to queer the deal. Take your time and get it right.
Avoid giving out unit prices, if at all possible. They are like a flaming boomerang—they invariably come back to burn you. Once your counterpart has a magic number, he will twist and stretch it to fit any and all possible scenarios, all to your disadvantage. So if you have to cough up some unit prices, qualify them with some verbiage—”for budgetary purposes only,” or “conditions may vary,” or “subject to specifics.”
Here is another jewel of wisdom: Qualify all the conceivable variables. This rule applies to afterthought-adds just as appropriately as it did to the base bid, only more so. If you have assumed that the added work is to be performed in sequence with the base bid work, indicate that. Better still, cite an accelerated price for out-of-sequence work. If your price is based on 1,500 linear feet of wall, state that criterion so your economies of scale are subject to reconsideration if the volume of work is reduced.
Moreover, assign support roles to “others,” where it’s reasonable to do so. For example, if you are asked to price backing for accessories, clarify that you expect the layout will be by others. Demolition should be by others. Trash chute should be by others. Anything that has not already been clarified as “by others” in your proposal terms but applies to this added work should be spelled out, and extraneous support work should now be designated as such.
I could go on ad infinitum and never touch on any single maxim that any of my readers are not already aware of. Nevertheless, I have seen a ponderous number of wary quotesmiths throw caution to the wind when entering the twilight zone of “almost there”—myself included. And so many of us haven’t landed a job in so long, it’s almost like a virginal experience when we do, so we tend to lose our heads.
Maybe I went the long way ’round about it and should have begun with my concluding advice: They wouldn’t even be talking to you if didn’t already have an edge. Play the game with some confidence.
But hey, that wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun.
Vince Bailey is an estimator and project director for MKB Construction, a Phoenix, Ariz.–based wall and ceiling contractor.