Low Bid

MightyMoe, post: 431463, member: 700 wrote: Fairly large job, tight time line, lots of line staking (5 miles), breaking down 5 sections, highway right of way, corner records to file, sectional corners to monument, no drawing required. Bid came in 1/3rd of ours.......YIKES!!!!

Thought I bid that one really tight,,,,,guess not;)

Fun jobs are only fun when you make money. Sounds like somebody is about to have a learning moment..

thebionicman, post: 431467, member: 8136 wrote: Fun jobs are only fun when you make money. Sounds like somebody is about to have a learning moment..

OR, he/she/it will unloose a whole pile of garbage on the community.

I don't even like the word "Bid" when it comes to a professional service.. Pick me because I'm good, not because I'm cheap..

thebionicman, post: 431467, member: 8136 wrote: Fun jobs are only fun when you make money. Sounds like somebody is about to have a learning moment..

It's a possibility that someone has already monumented the sections, remote but possible. Then it's only running line and figuring out the ROW's

Nate The Surveyor, post: 431468, member: 291 wrote: OR, he/she/it will unloose a whole pile of garbage on the community.

Well, it's a pretty straightforward job, shouldn't come to that.

If it is a public money job. Get the name of the surveyor and the engineer/contract officer who let the work and follow up with them and make sure everything is taken care of. I followed one for three years to make sure meander corner was remonumented. It only happened because I didn't lay off of the city. Done right helps us all.

Probably not public money - professional services contracting is usually qualification based - not low bid.

imaudigger, post: 431490, member: 7286 wrote: Probably not public money - professional services contracting is usually qualification based - not low bid.

Low bid wins the public jobs in Mass. :tired_face:

imaudigger, post: 431490, member: 7286 wrote: Probably not public money - professional services contracting is usually qualification based - not low bid.

I get public money both ways, usually I'm bidding with a contractor when bidding for a piece of public connected money, otherwise like you say it's qualification based. This one is not a public project.

JCoop, post: 431470, member: 12798 wrote: I don't even like the word "Bid" when it comes to a professional service.. Pick me because I'm good, not because I'm cheap..

Some days that word "bid" gets me really aggrevated. For most of society we have lost our "Professional" standing. Please ask me for the cost of my services and NOT "I want a bid from you".

The qualifications thing only goes so far with public bodies. Most of them have no clue on qualifications so they label all applicants as qualified, usually giving extra points to firms they have used in the past that didn't clearly screw them over. Sadly, it still comes down to the low dollar offer of services in almost every case.

And, of course, low bidders will bid out a portion of work.
So, you tend to get the low bidders low bidder.

Peter Lothian - MA ME, post: 431492, member: 4512 wrote: Low bid wins the public jobs in Mass. :tired_face:

How is that possible? I assume most highway jobs have a pretty large component of FHWA funding, so they need to be Brooks Act compliant.

When I was in the private sector I was selected based on my qualifications on multiple large contract jobs. On others I would submit cost estimates with lots of stipulations and such as to protect myself and stay professional.

FrozenNorth, post: 431504, member: 10219 wrote: How is that possible? I assume most highway jobs have a pretty large component of FHWA funding, so they need to be Brooks Act compliant.

This is a very important question and the public officials need to be aware of this. Many aren't.

Peter Lothian - MA ME, post: 431492, member: 4512 wrote: Low bid wins the public jobs in Mass. :tired_face:

Brooks Bill doesn't apply there, huh?

It's always the same responses on this complaint. Why don't the cheap skates comment on here why they bid so low?! Ha

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As a young licensed surveyor, who ran a family owned surveying company with my dad, and now a government surveyor who gets to moonlight with old clients of mine, I just don't understand this low bid equal low quality work. I get the bad surveyor who has to lowball to get work, but they usually don't last long, for example all the companies that closed doors in 2008-2009. But, I have been beat out by other local companies that I know that do quality work by half or so many times, and vice versa. Sometimes I feel this profession is holding itself back by doing things like this complaining about low bids and trying to trap our competitors because we didn't get the project. I feel that we should be spending more time trying to truly define what it is that we do. I know I have had difficulty explaining to people I meet what exactly I do in terms that they can understand. I believe once we can do that we can be be true professionals with professional income. Rant off. Agree or disagree, to each their own. Destroy me if you want.

And the reason I'm not running a family firm at the moment is that I wasn't licensed at the time my dad passed. He always believed that a true surveyor never has to worry about money, they'll always be busy because of the quality of the reputation. We never advertised and and grew through the last downturn as everyone around us downsized.

Nate The Surveyor, post: 431468, member: 291 wrote: OR, he/she/it will unloose a whole pile of garbage on the community.

Probably relying too heavily on their equipment...