Bidding Mulit-million Dollar Job, Discrepency Question...

Little

I'm bidding a job right now and i'm almost finished with it. I started to take-off the retaining wall last night when i realized that there was a big mistake on the plans. They show the 800ft long wall to be only 1.5 to 2ft high, but when you look at it, it should be 8-10ft high the entire length as the contours below indicate. Would you take the wall of per plan? I think if i take it off as i think we would build it, then we are gonna be way high if someone else does it per plan as well. What do you do in these kinds of situations?

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Commercial Construction, Central Jersey

Vermaraj

I would bid per plan so you bid goes through the review process and is not flagged as non-competitve. Clearly spell out in your bid that the wall is bid according to plan. Then include the option to build the wall the way you think it should be built.

Make sure you clearly spell out that the difference in price is only valid if authorized prior to the start of work. That way you will not be trapped into rework that is not profitable.

mahlere

well, since it's a multi-million dollar job, my guess is that there is an architect and an engineer involved.....do an RFI and stop guessing.

Chris Johnson

The RFI is the best method, if time permits, if not bid as per plan then in you quote spell out clearly that you believe there is an error and if they agree with your findings also show the increased amount. Don't just fax or e-mail your bid, hand deliver and speak to the person reviewing your bid and make them fully aware of your findings, you may be recognized as the guy who cares and get the job based on your invaluable experience of finding errors and bringing them to someones attention prior to contract be signed. Others will sign a contract and nail them a hefty change order which usually upsets people and they get looked upon negatively such as 'Why did you not inform us of this during bidding?'

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Chris

Little

Oops, actually i left that out. I sent out an RFI last night and also left a voicemail but yet to recieve a response. Which is why i was wondering what i should do in case for some reason he doesn't get back with me by monday.

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Commercial Construction, Central Jersey

PipeGuy

I'd bid it per plan and either note a specific SF quantity of wall or approximate dimension (800 x 2) in my proposal.

I don't confuse proposals with qualifications about bid document anomalies
(perceived or otherwise). If I think there's some problem with the docs, I simply qualify the quantities, means or methods considered by my proposal. And I always keep the base bid as low as possible and use "add alternates" to address issues that might serve to drive up the price.

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ch0mpie

bid per the plans a little on the low side, then then jump for joy when you get the job and submitt a huge change order.

rino1494

I agree

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