Underbidding Construction Projects
There are more contractors who underbid jobs today than
ever before. The problem seems to be getting worse and not better. You
would think that the homeowner would benefit from these low prices, but
it's just not working out that way.
This morning I received an e-mail back from a termite damage job that I
recently bid. The homeowner told me that I overbid the job by almost
double his lowest price. Obviously I don't know if the homeowner is
telling me the truth, because I've had homeowner's light to me in the
past. I know that's hard to imagine, but there are some dishonest people
out there and their motives are usually unknown to people like me.
Underbidding construction projects is creating big problems for
homeowners and competing contractors. You would think that most
homeowners would benefit greatly from lower prices, but this isn't like
the supermarket. If I go into one supermarket who is selling the exact
same product for $10 and another supermarket who selling it for seven
dollars, the lower priced product would definitely be benefiting the
consumer
In the construction business it doesn't work that way. I don't know how
many times I've seen home repairs made by so-called professionals that
do more damage than good. There is only a couple of ways that a
contractor can you give a homeowner low prices.
Either the contractor is going to have to pay his workers less money or
use inferior materials. The biggest problem with this is that when
prices get too low, the contractor will use inferior materials and low
wages to under bid the competition. It's not just that though, there are
other shortcuts that contractors can take, that won't be benefiting the
homeowner.
I've said this before and I will say it again,” You really get what you
pay for most of the time.” Neither the contractor or the homeowner
benefits from underbidding construction projects. The homeowner usually
ends up with an inferior product and the contractor can't make enough
money to keep up with cost-of-living increases.
This article isn't going to stop inferior workmanship, homeowner
complaints or contractors who don't make enough money to provide their
families with health insurance, but it will get some people thinking and
that's perfectly fine with me.