MANAGEMENT / PLANNING
FOR ANY CONSTRUCTION business , a lucrative tender opportunity is an exciting prospect . But cool heads are needed to ensure that your company ’ s bid is priced correctly . Balancing the desire for profit with the commercial necessity of ensuring your company submits the lowest bid can be a tricky business . To manage the bidding process effectively requires all staff members to have a firm grip on the costs likely to be incurred during the course of fulfilling the contract .
1 . Lack of consistency On a big project , you may need more than one estimator . However , the more you employ , the greater the chances that things could go wrong . Without clear and consistent guidelines , which are well understood , three different estimates for the same services or product can end up varying wildly . Don ’ t forget – estimators are expected to provide a high degree of detail while working to tight deadlines . If they are not using recording systems that are easy to use and provide clear definitions , mistakes and inconsistencies can easily creep into the process .
Subcontractors may offer slightly
Understanding of cost is vital
different services or products to one another and it is essential that systems record exactly what each can provide and how that matches with the requirements of the contract . If such differences are not recorded correctly , you might end up bidding 50 % lower than your competitor , only to discover you are only offering to do half the work required . It is essential to make sure that the information you are working from has been gathered fairly and consistently .
2 . Manipulation Using the proverbial ‘ back of a fag packet ’ might be useful for rough initial
24 November 2014