Absolutely I have some stories regarding battling scopes of work after the fact, the worse the drawings the more arguments but I try and cover myself as best I can with tender clarifications. We bid a job earlier this year that had 15 other contractors bidding the same scope, now we weren't low but I'm just imagining how shitty it would have been if we were. I do not want any job where I beat out 15 other guys, there is no way there is any money in it, hell I don't want a job with half as many bidders.

edit: nvm.

Lol my page for what I have allowed for on a given job is usually just that, 1 PAGE.

My clarifications and what I havn't allowed for, usually like 5+. Bigger jobs could be like 10 or 15. LOLOLOL

I had some guy speaking at a seminar start off by trying to tell the audience that you should only bid jobs with the drawings that are 75%+ complete. Needless to say I just got up and walked out.

Sorry but if i'm only bidding jobs with documents that are 75%+ complete, not only would I only be bidding like 2 jobs a year, statistically I wouldn't win either of them.

Just set a good contingency value and I do your best to cover your ass as much as possible.

I just recently got beat out on a job where I had cut my rates by quite a bit. I mean I really gave them a LOW number (and on top of that I was given the incorrect price of some specialized valves which made my number another $35k low). In the end I still got beat out by another company. I was utterly shocked. I wish them the best of luck as I am pretty sure they and the owner are going to need it.

I can't believe owners just keep accepting ridiculously low numbers like they do, their just going to keep wrapping projects up in ridiculous litigation and change orders because the estimator missed a bunch of stuff during the tender phase. The industry is headed down a dangerous path now more so than ever, soon we will be just like the US where the first thing that happens after you sign the contract is that you run down to the land titles office and file a Lien on the property.

LOL, it's funny because it's true. I had a walk through budget last year for a restaurant reno, it's a company we do quite a bit of work for. His drawing consisted of a sketch of the floor plan with nothing on it as far as new work. He walked around and told me what they were doing sort of and wanted a budget so I gave it to him. Down the road actual drawings come out but I'm to busy to bid, the other estimator here does it and he's 60% higher then my budget because they added a shit load of work he never told me about. I get an email back with my budget, my co-workers price and all it said was, "what the fuck!!!".

He goes with this shitty company that is like 1/2 our price. 3 months into his 4 month reno he calls us and is begging us to come on site and help this other company out because they don't know what there doing and everything is getting fucked up. We tell him if he kicks them off site we'll come and finish it T&M but we aren't going on there jobsite. He agrees and lets just say our T&M is more then our quote and on top of that he had paid the first company a bunch of money as well. Will he learn his lesson? I'm guessing no, this isn't the first time this has happened with his guy.

Owners/Developers need to learn that T&M, or cost+ doesn't mean that I am going to dawdle around just to screw them. I have enough work to keep me busy. I get in, do what I need to charge out, and move to the next one. The fact that I am lump sum or T&M makes no difference, our goal is to complete the work efficiently and to the best of our abilities and go home safe at night. If I can manage to do that every day I know that I can make a good living.

More contracts need to be run on T&M/Cost+. This lump sum shit is just asking for trouble.

when we get outbid by some stupid amount, we usually say that they were bidding a different job :lol

I've been called in to complete/fix another company's work on a job we had bid on after they failed their inspection multiple times. The T&M was also more than our original quote due to the amount of time consumed pulling their work out. We thought the contractor would learn better but nope. We bid another job for him against said company and they won. Not worth it to work with him any more. We have enough work to be selective about who we deal with.

Red Seal Welder

Wow, your client went with the shitty contractor AGAIN? That's unbelievable.

I would hate to go in to clean up someone else's mess, regardless of the extra profit.

Which power tool brand do you all like best?

I've been very happy with Milwaukee but they don't offer a table saw, which is what I'm looking for at the moment. I was thinking of going with Bosch. Any thoughts?

I prefer Milwaukee (mainly for their hassle-free warranty support).

I prefer Hilti, Makita, Milwaukee, and Bosch

I refuse to buy anything dewalt

Hilti. No time wasted on screwing around, our rep will warranty just about anything, and the gear is really tough, and high quality.

I do have a bosch hammer drill, which I do like a lot and it has been very faithful to me.

I also have had some makita stuff previously, a palm sander, a belt sander, and also a corded drywall drill. Never really had a problem with any of their stuff either.

Do you guys consider trades a good route to get into at this time? I know BC is in deep demand for trades people but I feel like its gonna die down after this housing boom and pipelines construction dissipates.

The demand for tradespeople will always exist and be high, especially if you have the right perspective on workmanship to develop real skill at your trade.

The trades are not limited to only the construction industry, and even only a relatively small portion of it is driven by the "housing boom" and large projects.

If I had to look back I regret not becoming an electrician.

At 28 I'm still young relatively speaking but I've basically got my foot in the door for super/management so I've kinda pigeon holed myself

If I had been an electrician at least your field is so broad your opportunities are endless

I feel like I need to get the ball rolling in my life right now and I'm thinking of switching into the trades from the BBA program. They say the market is saturated with degrees and I feel I won't be able to find a job after graduation let alone enjoy the work that I would do. I keep looking at welding for some reason and it looks it could be pretty fun.

welding is a good spot to be as well because it can branch out to so many areas

Welding requires a specific breed of person; it's very repetitive, especially in manufacturing environments. at least that's my experience with it.

I'm sure there are some welders here that would be able to advise you on it.

I did production welding in Richmond for almost a year, i had to give it up as i got sick at the time. I didnt mind the work but the company and their management were pretty bad with benefits and raises and trying to cut time.. it got to a point where i took pics of my time cards and showed them that i was aware they were screwing me over. glad im out of it. Welding is not a bad gig if you land in the right spot but i got tired of the fumes and noise and shitty positions.

Im a first year pipefitter now, have 4 years experience with this current company but only signed my papers this summer. im an idiot people, sign your papers when you start and do your schooling!

Low voltage tech/installer
Alarm TQ
Alarm FSR
Home Automation (Control4)