Recently a client reached out and asked for input on a project they were invited to bid. The project was a national chain hotel. The drawings they received were concept drawings with various iterations. Clearly very early in the design phase of the project. My client was asking for my advice on whether or not to bid on the project.
Below is my response:
Hi John Doe,
I glanced at the drawings you sent. Here are my thoughts on how I would approach the situation:
These certainly are all very custom. So they would take some time to cost accurately. Also, they are obviously in the early stages of design since they have not even done any drawings specific to the location in question.
I guess I would ask yourselves a few questions.
- How well do I know the Contractor, is this just a fishing exercise or would they really give us the job in the end?
- What are the most important issues with this project?
- Cost
- Quality
- Scheduling/Speed
If the answer to the first question is yes, and you could commit to the project a year from now or whenever it actually takes place, then it wouldn’t hurt to price it. If the answer is no, you don’t know the contractor well, and or you don’t think you have a high chance at getting it, then it’s probably best to pass on it graciously. I have found that a lot of times, the big hotel chain companies have preferred millwork contractors that do most of their work around the country. They typically get prices from local millwork companies that they do take into consideration. It just seems they lean heavily on their preferred millwork companies.
If you do choose to proceed, I would definitely not spend much time on it since it is so early in the planning stage. But that is not to say that a quick budget would be out of the question. If you are interested in the project in the least, I would put together a budget proposal that is fairly high, making it clear that it is “very budgetary.” I would include a note that you see some areas that could potentially be VE that would bring the cost down. If they are interested they can reach out later for those VE’s. That will do two things, soften the blow of the high cost, and find out if cost is a main factor at this point.
If you can get a feel for what is a main factor for them (cost, quality, scheduling/speed) Then find a way to highlight that in your budget proposal. If quality and or scheduling are their main concerns then cost will be secondary and you can charge them a higher fee than normal.
But basically at this point it boils down to how well you know the contractor and if you could commit and want to do the project. To emphasize, I certainly would not spend much time on it. I wouldn’t spend any money (on estimating) for sure this early on.
Those are my thoughts. I hope it helps!
Sincerely,
Ben Hudachek
They ended up not spending time on pricing the project since they didn’t know the contractor very well and it seemed to be a fishing expedition. They also had a full schedule and didn’t desperately need the work.
I am curious to know if this is something you run into a lot. If so how do you approach the situation. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for reading!
