lost a bid by 20 today

[James Chrimes]

$20,000 that is.

 

[Pro Image]

Wow......Why were you so much higher........?

 

[Bigdawg]

Holy Crap... how do you lose a bid by 20 grand???? Not knocking you... wondering who is working for free to do the job!

 

[signmeup]

What were you bidding on?

 

[Jillbeans]

Wow and I thought last week was bad when someone told me they could get what I was bidding on for $175 less.
Love....Jill

 

[James Chrimes]

The price was for a whole complex. Interior and exterior, with sandblasted signs painted with mathews paint and allum poles. ada signage inside and etched signs and so on. We priced it out with some room for the unseen and to make a proffit. We lost to a company from outside the area. win some loose some.

 

[wes70]

Identical specs and materials as the other company? Comparing apples to apples?

 

[CES020]

We recently lost a $90,000 job by $50

 

[cgsigns_jamie]

Don't you love the feeling you get when they tell you that?

I was $52k higher on one of my bids last year.... I laughed when the customer told me that, of course I thought he was kidding, he was serious.

Needless to say, I lost the bid, and now that I've seen what was installed I know they got what they paid for. Sure makes for a great example for future customers though!

 

[Marlene]

yep, I lost one a while back for a good chunk of change too. turns out that I can read specs and since I can, I based my quote on them. they wanted a post and panel sign system. the person who got the job did alumalite signs between unpainted pressure treated posts, hardly the post & panels spec'd, so you can guess why I came in more.

 

[J Hill Designs]

lost a neon job by 75K or so - seeing what was put in, it was based off of my large apple and their tiny orange...

 

[CES020]

turns out that I can read specs and since I can, I based my quote on them.

+1 on that. My quote asked to have existing black panels polished out (Matthews painted panels). That's what I quoted doing. The company that did them took black dibond and screwed it into the existing metal panels. Looks like crap and they have now ruined the signs for the long term.

So much for reading the specs. I guess you just do it how you want and screw the specs?

 

[Si Allen]

I do the painted signs for a few large painting contractors as a sub.

There have been quite a few occasions where some other companies underbid the job and start cutting corners so as not to lose their butts.

When final inspection reveals the crap that they pulled ... guess who gets called in to correct the problems?

We charge full price+ for the work that it requires! AND they get backcharged for it.

Usually we make more profit on the job, than if we did the whole job originally!

Yup! Cry all the way to the bank!

 

[Zambookajoe]

I won a bid buy actually being 20K higher, that customer was smart and was not looking to go cheap, but usually I lose it all the time, some nitwit wraps for cheap around here and after I saw one of his vans in a parking lot the other day I no why hes cheap LOL

 

[Rick]

I designed a job once and one of the bidders was 25% of the other lowest bid. The overall job was in the 150-175k range. I called him, told him he was a bit low and wanted to know if he wanted to resubmit before the deadline. I couldn't tell him the lowest number, but I told him he was so low that I was afraid he was going to lose his butt. He added 10k to the job and he said he thought he was fine, he got the job, did not realize the complexity of the submittal process and he lost his butt. Signs turned out great, but I felt bad that he lost a lot of money on it. He was grateful that at least he added the 10k but probably should have added 40 more.

Those larger ADA sign jobs can be scary, out of whack bids scare the crap out me because there are always hassles if the bid was way off the budget estimates.

 

[Mikeifg]

I loose jobs all the time and I'm less expensive than my competetor. I quote the same 3M material they do but they get the jobs by overly convincing their customers that knowone in the area offers the same 3M vinyl as them and bla bla bla. I've got a a## kicking waiting for em.

 

[Gino]

If you're used to bidding jobs in this price range... then it's no big deal.... like you said... ya win some... ya lose some.

For someone [not particularly the OP]….. that quotes this type once or twice a year and doesn’t have much hands on experience with this sort of thing…. you might be better off not getting the job cause you can really get burnt with the slightest mistake.

Most of our jobs are in the upper number range, with some going very high…. and then we have your everyday ‘Joe Customer’ that wants a regular sign. Some jobs will keep us going for months with the smaller ones filling in our void time.

As others have mentioned… you need to really cover your butt when quoting these.

 

[Patrick46]

You should never bid on a job that you'd be afraid to lose. It makes you desperate, then you cut corners...and problems show up!

JMO

 

[Williams Signs]

I am starting to offer lighted signage to my customers. Lost a job yesterday to a company that has been doing lighted signs for 40+ years. Lost the job by 900.00. My quote included a new laptop for the led message board and theirs didn't. There is my 900.00

 

[signgal]

well, you have to get experience guys... We have developed a thick skin and the right attitude but it took time. I'd much rather them say "oh, they were high" than "they screwed up and we'll never do business with them again!" We take everything into consideration and still cushion for the unforeseen. And get the job, occasionally. It just depends on if you have a contact and if you can talk to them about what they are getting. It sucks when they have to go with the lowest bid and don't have a clue what they are looking at.