General contractors often have longstanding , successful relationships with certain companies , but they should make sure the subcontractor or vendor in question has the capacity to take on the work , especially if the project will have higher than normal production or manpower demands .
There is also a chance that a favorite subcontractor might not be ready to make the leap to a new kind of project that is outside its wheelhouse , Summa said .
Not qualifying a bid when there is not a full set of drawings or specifications
It is far from an ideal situation when a contractor must submit a bid without access to a full set of construction documents , but it happens . These bids still can lead to successful projects , Summa said , as long as the contractor doesn ’ t make unverified assumptions .
The first step , he said , is to submit a Request for Information but those aren ’ t always answered .
“ In that situation ,” he said , “ you have to qualify your bid . We have to be very clear if we excluded something or if we assumed something . We want to make sure we ’ re on the same page going in .”
Submitting an unrealistically low price or short schedule
Sometimes contractors will shave too much money off their proposal price or too many days from a project timeline in order to secure a job , said attorney Phillip Sampson
Jr . in the Houston office of law firm Bracewell LLC .
Neither strategy is a good one , he said .
Contractors that take this approach sometimes believe they can make up the shortfall with change orders , claiming extra charges for things like delays , new material pricing or scope changes , but this is a risky strategy and can end up creating mistrust with the customer , Sampson said . Not to mention that there might not be any change order avenues , leaving the contractor with an all but certain loss .
The same goes for the schedule , he said . Once it is apparent that the estimated timeline is not achievable , it casts doubt on the contractor ’ s capabilities .
“ It makes the GC look [ flaky ] because they were either not honest and transparent , or they just didn ’ t have a clue what it was they were supposed to be doing ,” Sampson said .
Owners today , he said , are more likely to evaluate bids for overall quality rather than just low price . Having confidence that the bid is honest and realistic is very important , especially on large , meaningful projects .
Failure to make a site visit
Contractors can glean a wealth of critical information during a visit to the project site , Summa said .
Publicly funded projects are more likely than private projects to host a mandatory walk-through as part of the prebid process , he said , but , even so , bidders should take it upon themselves to visit the site . Google
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