The commercial building sector regularly seek out its labour force through the tender process. It has done so for a many years and has refined the process to provide a competent workforce for the right price. Both sides understand the process and both sides gain from it.
In the residential building or self-build market, this normally equates to two or three quotes from local builders using verbal instructions and the architect’s drawings for specification. Most of the labour supply involved at this level normally meet each other socially and this is how the components of a local building team are normally assembled. The criteria for becoming a member of that team is more likely to be how many pints a tradesman buys the boss and how long they have known them rather than how well they carry out their work.
Why tender?
Back in the commercial sector, the tender process has become something of a science. Providing a fully quantified schedule of work to all of those tendering, along with any relevant terms and conditions, makes the job that much easier for both parties, especially for the client who has to read through them to choose who will carry out the work. “We don’t need all that” I hear you all say…well yes you do. One of the most predominant causes of dispute in this business are the misunderstandings which occur, because the work was not properly specified in the first place. It’s no good screaming and shouting about extras and changes to specifications, when the work has been agreed in an ambiguous verbal exchange when it was originally quoted.
There is no such thing as a fixed price quotation! Only one that has been fixed to a specified schedule of work. It’s not rocket science…but you would think it was, the way some people take such enormous risks when choosing their builders, rather than undergo the tender process properly. There are plenty of rogues out there, both builders and clients, who will say one thing at the beginning of a project and then conveniently forget or change their minds later… swearing blind that this was what was originally agreed.
If everything was put into writing and signed for to accept it, then how could it be argued? Surely, that’s a much better way of working. We should all be able to do business together without the need for argument and conflict and if the tender process was carried out properly then those, disheartening disputes that can so often wreck a building project, would be reduced to a negligible level across the industry.
Our tendering service
Property Perfect Solutions Limited offer a full tender procedure for your construction or maintenance project. We meet with you and understand exactly what you and your family require from your building project, write up your requirements into a documented format and arrange/manage all building company site visits. This then results in three comprehensive and equal quotations based on your budget, the work required and your preferred time scale. Once obtained, we sit down with you to discuss each quotation in detail, compare them and make an informed decision on who to employ for your project. The building contractor who is successful through the tender process is then issued with a formal contract, which incorporates architectural drawings, structural calculations, build requirements and agreed the pricing schedule, to ensure full transparency throughout your build.
With Property Perfect Solutions you also receive our support, guidance and expertise throughout your build with our residential construction project management team. They ensure your build is completed to plan, to the highest of standards and that it is kept within the specified time-frame and budget
Contact us to discuss your build, ideas and requirements and to find out how we can help you!