“We Can’t Get Low!”
How many times have you heard or used the phrases, “We are too high” or “We can’t get low,” as an excuse for losing a bid or a presentation? I have heard it (and used it a time or two) over my career and it has been a long career. I recently heard it again in a focus group that I was leading and got flashbacks that I thought I might share with you.
First, I would make the case that you do not want to be the low bidder on any project in the design-bid-build process. My favorite saying from one of my clients is that, “The low bidder is most likely the one who screwed up and overlooked something in their bid process that will cost them and their clients dearly when construction gets underway.” Then there is one from a mentor of mine who said, ”The high bid is either a 'courtesy bid' or someone who thinks we are idiots.” This was usually followed by, “Throw out the high and the low bids and then do a spread sheet for me to evaluate.”
Five decades later, the same conversation is still held daily across the AEC industry whether the project is residential, institutional, commercial or industrial and whether you are owner, architect, general contractor, sub or tenant. [node:read-more:link]