If bidding is your only method of business development, then you have placed an enormous burden on your estimating staff. Sharpening the pencil to win competitive bids and eek out profits can be counter-productive. Making that profit up through change orders and claims, which often result in frayed client relationships, can also be counter-productive in the long run. When you compete on price alone, you let the competition help set the price and increase your risk. While estimators are extremely valuable, they are not magicians. They may be meticulous, accurate and knowledgeable, but they cannot control the competition, influence the
Contractors should beware of strings attached to stimulus funds from the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act. Both contractors and subcontractors receiving stimulus dollars must comply with Davis-Bacon Act requirements for paying wages and fringe benefits not less than the minimums established by the U.S. Dept. of Labor. Under Davis Bacon, contractors are strictly liable for subcontractor reporting. So, if the subcontractor is reporting it paid $10 per hour and really paid only $5 per hour, the DOL will require the government agency that hired the contractor to collect the difference. Additionally, contractors and subcontractors receiving stimulus dollars are subject to
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A second project to widen U.S. 60 (Grand Avenue), this time between 99th Ave. and Loop 303 in the northwest Valley, started in January. Crews will widen Grand by adding third lanes in each direction, along with intersection improvements to help with traffic flow. The $18-million project, funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is being built by Markham Contracting Co. Inc. of Phoenix and is scheduled for completion in fall 2011. The project was originally estimated to cost $45 million, but competitive bidding lowered the actual cost, freeing funds for use on other highway improvements in
United Construction, a prominent Nevada general contractor, recently shuttered its 21-year-old Las Vegas division in response to the deepening recession. The Reno-based company notified employees of the decision on Feb. 10. United's local offices had been located at 5130 S. Valley View Blvd., Suite 100, in Las Vegas. The three remaining division staff members were laid off. Photo: United Construction United won best industrial project in Southwest Contractor�s Best of 2007 awards for this warehouse inside the ProLogis Park North master-planned business complex in North Las Vegas. �It was a surprise move, although we had been biting our nails for
About 55,000 people�a 16% yearly decline and the event�s lowest turnout since its 2007 peak of about 92,000�attended the annual exhibition held on Feb. 2-5. However, the thin crowd�s mood was more upbeat this year, visitors said, and exhibitors were selling more, too�a sign that the economic slump may be near the end. Photo: Tudor Van Hampton Fast-handed masons competed for more than $100,000 in cash and prizes in front of 4,000 spectators on Feb. 3 at the World of Concrete. Photo: Tony Illia Booth spaces shrunk this year, allowing smaller exhibitors to become more visible. Related Links: Stimulus to
Cement consumption will rise by 5.2% this year, aided by federal stimulus spending, according to Portland Cement Association�s chief economist, Ed Sullivan. He gave a 2010-14 forecast on Feb. 2 at the World of Concrete show in Las Vegas. Slide Show Photo courtesy of Hanley Wood. Chris Swanson of Rescue, Calif., demonstrates his artistry skills with decorative concrete by using acid etching and staining techniques to depict a unique cross design on a 10-ft by 10-ft slab. Related Links: Moods and Masons Rise At Annual Concrete Show Last year�s administrative delays releasing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds will result
Voters in Bernalillo County, N.M. handily approved a total of $617 million in school construction funding during a special mill levy and general obligation bond election Feb. 2nd. Rendering: Claudio Vigil Architects The $24-million Food and Nutrition Services Building will be the first to be funded by the APS bond passage. The mill levy’s 68.3% ‘yes’ vote continues existing property taxes through 2015 while $225 million in general obligation bonds received 72.1% approval. “The focus with this money will be on renewal and renovation of our older schools,” says Karen Alarid, AIA, executive director of capital operations and director of
In its final report on the collapse of the Dallas Cowboy�s practice facility that injured 12 people, the National Institute of Standards and Technology recommends owners of other fabric-covered, tubular-steel-framed structures have their buildings evaluated. Photo: put photo credit here Summit Structures designed the University of New Mexico Indoor Practice Facility Photo: UNM Photo: UNM Chavez-Grieves Consulting Engineers, Albuquerque, which completed a report for the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, about its indoor practice facility, found that wind pressure could enter the steel-and-fabric building through openings in the structure and not escape. This would overstress the training facility. In addition,
Plans for a Southern Nevada national nuclear waste repository are all but kaput. The U.S. Energy Dept. said Feb. 1 it will withdraw its Nuclear Regulatory Commission application within 30 days. The move comes after DOE spent nearly three decades and $38 billion on waste repository tests and studies at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The agency planned to store up to 77,000 tons of radioactive waste there from 80 sites in 35 states. Spent utility fuel and high-level defense waste would be placed in specially engineered containers housed inside a network of tunnels built deep within
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