Comments on: Hard Bidding is for the Birds – IPD Could Be the Way to Go

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By: Wayne Vriend

Wayne Vriend — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:51:26 +0000

I’m glad to see this discussion and interest happening.

It seems to me that the underlying emotional reality of hard bidding is a lot of scarcity, fear and power plays, on the parts of all the players. As that changes for each of us, I look forward to what we will create in it’s place

By: mike bruner

mike bruner — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:22:57 +0000

This discussion has been going on for my entire career, which spans 30 plus years. As one who grew up in the hard bid world, I would say without hesitation that hard bidding will never die, there are just too many Owners, users and buyers that get enamored with that low number. And we all know, nothing says quality like a low bid!
Whether you call the “front end” work IPD, PreCon(CM) or Program Management the real defining moment in any project is on the front end when the decision is made by the Owner on how they intend to manage the project. If Owners don’t engage, it doesn’t matter what delivery system is involved, because somewhere along the way they will be unhappy that their expectations aren’t met!
Does anyone believe for a moment that owners aren’t squeezing design fees? When low bidders bid on the low bid design do we really think that everything that needs to be put into the documents makes it there?
Yes, hard bidding is here to stay and the successful hard bidders will continue to be the ones who identify the holes in the documents before they submit their bids. Can you say Change Order?

By: Constructonomics » Blog Archive » Darnell Brings Emotional Intelligence to Contractors in “The People-Profit Connection”.

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:10:20 +0000

[…] Hard Bidding is for the Birds – IPD Could Be the Way to Go […]

By: Jonathan Cohen

Jonathan Cohen — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:19:03 +0000

This is a link to the IPD case studies referred to:

http://aia.org/ipdcasestudies

By: Jeff Barrett, CEO Eggrock Inc

Jeff Barrett, CEO Eggrock Inc — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:21:47 +0000

Hard bidding to 10 contractors is a huge waste of time for the contractors and their subs. And it results in poor bids because everyone knows 10 people are bidding and they become inclined to cut corners or low-ball estimates with the expectation that they will make it up in change orders later. The firm requesting the bids then gets intoxicated by the low prices and actually thinks they can magically hold contractors to the price.

Well, I’ve recently seen subcontractors walk off jobs because they realized they did not quote properly and the customer would not agree to a change order. So what did the bid really cost?

The entire system is flawed and is one reason why construction has actually declined in productivity by .6% per year for the past 40 years while other large industries have improved productivity. Imagine if an airplane manufacturer designed a part and then had 15 suppliers quote it – only to take the lowest bidder. Good luck building high quality planes on time. Today’s mature industries partner with key suppliers, include them on the design team, and end up with higher quality, lower cost product.

By: Maggi Britt

Maggi Britt — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:34:46 +0000

I agree that hard bidding is a waste of time and resources. It puts estimators out of touch with what’s really going on with a project and the people involved. IPD weeds out those who want to work in their own bubble, and it gives the project itself top priority.