Author Topic: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?  (Read 1254 times)

JGS1980

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Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« on: July 10, 2020, 07:06:51 AM »
Hi folks,

I have a sewer line leak (at the junction of my house sewer line with the main borough line) which will require digging through my driveway, repair of the line, lining the dated sewer line with new pipe internally, and then replacement of the concrete driveway.

How many bids should I get?

The cost of labor in my community is on the high side.

Thanks for your input!!!

JGS

Fishindude

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Re: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2020, 07:09:15 AM »
One.
Get somebody reputable to take care of this ASAP, you are leaking sewage. 

Papa bear

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Re: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2020, 07:17:50 AM »
Your city may have a list of recommended contractors for this work.  Take a look.


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JGS1980

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Re: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« Reply #3 on: July 10, 2020, 09:19:07 AM »
It's already in progress for a week or so, I was just curious if anyone else on this esteemed forum has dealt with similar issues.

ChpBstrd

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Re: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« Reply #4 on: July 10, 2020, 09:25:19 AM »
Three bids is standard corporate protocol. I use this rule personally as well (when I ever need something done, which is not often).

trollwithamustache

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Re: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« Reply #5 on: July 10, 2020, 03:58:33 PM »
3 bids. Why three? not to get the lowest price, you might not take the lowest if its an incomplete quote. You, like most of us, probably don't know much about sewer laterals and thats why you need to hire it out to an experience professional. By the 3rd bid, there has been some back and forth, you likely understand the scope and have communicated it well to the contractor. You may need to go back to the first one or two for clarifications.

Also, the only time I did a sewer lateral was with my cheap dad when I was 10. He picked the contractor that was ok with us spending a quality weekend together digging up the whole sewer line so the contractor could come on the Monday and just do the plumbing and then we buried it and put the patio bricks back in place.  Some contractors are more willing share/shrink dollars on jobs than others.

Fishindude

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Re: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2020, 06:48:53 AM »
Three bids is standard corporate protocol.

This is a new one on me.
Guess the corporations I've dealt with play by a different rule book.

Michael in ABQ

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Re: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« Reply #7 on: July 12, 2020, 12:59:07 AM »
Three bids is standard corporate protocol.

This is a new one on me.
Guess the corporations I've dealt with play by a different rule book.

More or less?

Three bids is what I experienced with a Fortune 500 company and with the federal government.

One bid doesn't give you any comparison if they're charging you twice the market rate or offering such a low price that they will potentially cut corners or ask for more money later.

Two bids gives you some comparison but you could end up with two people both bidding high. Of if you have one bid much higher you don't know if that's the one trying to overcharge you or if the low bid is the one who doesn't know what they're doing.

Three bids means you can either determine that all three are about the same or eliminate the one much higher outlier, or if it's a lower outlier see if they are really accounting for the same scope of work or will provide the same quality of work. It potentially gives you some negotiating power as well.


Beyond three and it's starting to add more time to vet those bids, plus you may not have that many vendors who will supply bids. I know that varies by product/market. In a big city you could probably find a dozen plumbers who specialize in sewer repair. In a small town there might only be a handful of plumbers and maybe just one or two that specialize in sewer repair. The bids from them will be more valuable than the plumber who normally just deals with water heater replacements and unclogging toilets. That's the one that might bid too low because they're not familiar enough with the work to know how much it will really cost. They might end up making no money and do a good job. Or they might cut corners to still eke out some profit and you could end up having to pay someone to redo it down the line.

obstinate

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Re: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« Reply #8 on: July 12, 2020, 01:09:39 PM »
I'd say three is a good default, for most things. If the bids are very far apart, I might get more, in a non-urgent situation.

Fishindude

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Re: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« Reply #9 on: July 12, 2020, 02:32:19 PM »
Three bids is standard corporate protocol.

This is a new one on me.
Guess the corporations I've dealt with play by a different rule book.

More or less?

Three bids is what I experienced with a Fortune 500 company and with the federal government.

One bid doesn't give you any comparison if they're charging you twice the market rate or offering such a low price that they will potentially cut corners or ask for more money later.

Two bids gives you some comparison but you could end up with two people both bidding high. Of if you have one bid much higher you don't know if that's the one trying to overcharge you or if the low bid is the one who doesn't know what they're doing.

Three bids means you can either determine that all three are about the same or eliminate the one much higher outlier, or if it's a lower outlier see if they are really accounting for the same scope of work or will provide the same quality of work. It potentially gives you some negotiating power as well.


Beyond three and it's starting to add more time to vet those bids, plus you may not have that many vendors who will supply bids. I know that varies by product/market. In a big city you could probably find a dozen plumbers who specialize in sewer repair. In a small town there might only be a handful of plumbers and maybe just one or two that specialize in sewer repair. The bids from them will be more valuable than the plumber who normally just deals with water heater replacements and unclogging toilets. That's the one that might bid too low because they're not familiar enough with the work to know how much it will really cost. They might end up making no money and do a good job. Or they might cut corners to still eke out some profit and you could end up having to pay someone to redo it down the line.

I was a contractor and made my living doing corporate work.
By and large, the majority of our work was negotiated with the client without competitive bidding.   We dealt with big industrial clients that bought construction on a routine basis.  They understood the value of partnering.   Bidding is a time / money waster.   It also starts the project out on an adversarial basis, implying "I don't trust you".

Michael in ABQ

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Re: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« Reply #10 on: July 13, 2020, 09:12:42 AM »
Three bids is standard corporate protocol.

This is a new one on me.
Guess the corporations I've dealt with play by a different rule book.

More or less?

Three bids is what I experienced with a Fortune 500 company and with the federal government.

One bid doesn't give you any comparison if they're charging you twice the market rate or offering such a low price that they will potentially cut corners or ask for more money later.

Two bids gives you some comparison but you could end up with two people both bidding high. Of if you have one bid much higher you don't know if that's the one trying to overcharge you or if the low bid is the one who doesn't know what they're doing.

Three bids means you can either determine that all three are about the same or eliminate the one much higher outlier, or if it's a lower outlier see if they are really accounting for the same scope of work or will provide the same quality of work. It potentially gives you some negotiating power as well.


Beyond three and it's starting to add more time to vet those bids, plus you may not have that many vendors who will supply bids. I know that varies by product/market. In a big city you could probably find a dozen plumbers who specialize in sewer repair. In a small town there might only be a handful of plumbers and maybe just one or two that specialize in sewer repair. The bids from them will be more valuable than the plumber who normally just deals with water heater replacements and unclogging toilets. That's the one that might bid too low because they're not familiar enough with the work to know how much it will really cost. They might end up making no money and do a good job. Or they might cut corners to still eke out some profit and you could end up having to pay someone to redo it down the line.

I was a contractor and made my living doing corporate work.
By and large, the majority of our work was negotiated with the client without competitive bidding.   We dealt with big industrial clients that bought construction on a routine basis.  They understood the value of partnering.   Bidding is a time / money waster.   It also starts the project out on an adversarial basis, implying "I don't trust you".

Ok, that makes sense and I've seen that as well. No need to send every single job out for bid. Usually getting bids was the case for a new client or new type of work. Once you find a good service provider there's no reason to waste time getting bids on every job.

I was a commercial real estate appraiser and we had some clients that would come to us directly and ask for a quote for a specific job - and usually accept it. Other times they would send out a request to bid to multiple appraisers.

trollwithamustache

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Re: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« Reply #11 on: July 13, 2020, 11:15:04 AM »
Three bids is standard corporate protocol.

This is a new one on me.
Guess the corporations I've dealt with play by a different rule book.

More or less?

Three bids is what I experienced with a Fortune 500 company and with the federal government.

One bid doesn't give you any comparison if they're charging you twice the market rate or offering such a low price that they will potentially cut corners or ask for more money later.

Two bids gives you some comparison but you could end up with two people both bidding high. Of if you have one bid much higher you don't know if that's the one trying to overcharge you or if the low bid is the one who doesn't know what they're doing.

Three bids means you can either determine that all three are about the same or eliminate the one much higher outlier, or if it's a lower outlier see if they are really accounting for the same scope of work or will provide the same quality of work. It potentially gives you some negotiating power as well.


Beyond three and it's starting to add more time to vet those bids, plus you may not have that many vendors who will supply bids. I know that varies by product/market. In a big city you could probably find a dozen plumbers who specialize in sewer repair. In a small town there might only be a handful of plumbers and maybe just one or two that specialize in sewer repair. The bids from them will be more valuable than the plumber who normally just deals with water heater replacements and unclogging toilets. That's the one that might bid too low because they're not familiar enough with the work to know how much it will really cost. They might end up making no money and do a good job. Or they might cut corners to still eke out some profit and you could end up having to pay someone to redo it down the line.

I was a contractor and made my living doing corporate work.
By and large, the majority of our work was negotiated with the client without competitive bidding.   We dealt with big industrial clients that bought construction on a routine basis.  They understood the value of partnering.   Bidding is a time / money waster.   It also starts the project out on an adversarial basis, implying "I don't trust you".

This is a bit misleading... Corporations typically have a staff of project managers, engineers, estimators, construction managers ect to work with and watch the contractor. And they issued a written scope of work, probably with lots of drawings and specificaitons. So yes, they are sole sourcing to preferred vendors all the time, but then they are watching/evaluating the contractor in ways most homeowners cannot watch their work. 

The "home" bid process should get you and your contractor on the same page as to the exact written scope of work.

Fishindude

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Re: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« Reply #12 on: July 13, 2020, 11:51:10 AM »
This is a bit misleading... Corporations typically have a staff of project managers, engineers, estimators, construction managers ect to work with and watch the contractor. And they issued a written scope of work, probably with lots of drawings and specificaitons. So yes, they are sole sourcing to preferred vendors all the time, but then they are watching/evaluating the contractor in ways most homeowners cannot watch their work. 

The "home" bid process should get you and your contractor on the same page as to the exact written scope of work.

NOPE - Profitable corporations are often short handed when it comes to this stuff.  They don't have time to babysit projects, so they put it in the hands of a trusted contractor to simply take care of things, so they can focus on the stuff that makes their corporation profitable, which it typically production.   The ones that build the most understand the value in partnering and do much less traditional bidding.

Having bought and built a shit ton of projects, I apply the same principles when I get something done for myself.   Find a guy with a good reputation, figure out what needs done and work out a deal, then turn him loose.   You get a whole lot better service this way.
   

Sanitary Stache

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Re: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« Reply #13 on: July 13, 2020, 11:52:04 AM »
I agree that three is a good number of contractors to talk to when ironing out the scope of work and getting a sense of cost/experience.  I also agree that once a reliable provider is found sticking with them is preferred.   I put a lot of weight behind a good recommendation as well.

Sibley

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Re: Sewer Line Work -> How many bids?
« Reply #14 on: July 13, 2020, 11:58:12 AM »
This is a bit misleading... Corporations typically have a staff of project managers, engineers, estimators, construction managers ect to work with and watch the contractor. And they issued a written scope of work, probably with lots of drawings and specificaitons. So yes, they are sole sourcing to preferred vendors all the time, but then they are watching/evaluating the contractor in ways most homeowners cannot watch their work. 

The "home" bid process should get you and your contractor on the same page as to the exact written scope of work.

NOPE - Profitable corporations are often short handed when it comes to this stuff.  They don't have time to babysit projects, so they put it in the hands of a trusted contractor to simply take care of things, so they can focus on the stuff that makes their corporation profitable, which it typically production.   The ones that build the most understand the value in partnering and do much less traditional bidding.

Having bought and built a shit ton of projects, I apply the same principles when I get something done for myself.   Find a guy with a good reputation, figure out what needs done and work out a deal, then turn him loose.   You get a whole lot better service this way.
 

Um, you're both right. It depends on the company/organization and the situation. However, I would like to point out that there's a much higher likelihood of the project going badly when the company relies completely on the contractor.  So just because it does happen doesn't mean it SHOULD happen.

 

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