Beyond Price and Quality: Part One

Recently, at a local trade show, I taught a seminar on tendering construction projects. The purpose of the seminar was to help building owners and property managers choose the right contractor for their construction projects. In other words how do you hire a firm that can deliver on all your needs not just price and quality?

The workshop went well and many people have been requesting information. So, over the next few blog posts, I will share some of the seminar content.

One of the keys to tendering a project successfully is to eliminate the construction firms that cannot deliver on your needs. How do you do that? How do you rank contractors before they have done the job?

Here are three “Red Flags” that can help you separate the good from bad:

1. If contractor calls with multiple questions after the job walk, they do not communicate well and they will have a hard time meeting your specific needs.
2. If they can’t bid accordingly and submit their proposal “off” scope they are not organized enough to handle your project professionally.
3. If the start and finish dates seem unrealistic, they probably are. You probably are dealing with a contractor that tends to overpromise and miss on service commitments.

Don’t take these mistakes lightly. The submittal process is the easiest part of a construction project. If your potential contractor can’t listen and seems to be overpromising, eliminate him or her from the process. By doing so, you will save some serious headaches down the road.

More to come . . .