Electrical Contract Tender

[bilbo_88]

Hi Guys

I'm currently quoting a major build for a fairly large construction contractor and have never really had to estimate on this scale. I wondered if anyone had any examples of the finished article they may have submitted on jobs like this as so I can make sure it looks professional as well as been done correctly in terms of how many unit hours I am allowing for works. I equally don't want the estimate to be too detailed and put them off. Any advice on this is really appreciated as I've never had a go at this size of work and don't want to get caught out on what could be a good opportunity. I was also told last night on another forum that I should be showing on the estimate my mark ups for profit and overheads for material and labour on the estimate. Is this correct?! Thanks

 

[Marvo]

How large is the job? Usually the client supplies the tender documents and you basically fill them out. Sounds simple but it's a royal pain, the documents often run to over 200 pages and you need to be very careful otherwise you'll end up responsible for a lot of things you weren't expecting, especially incidental costs.

 

[bilbo_88]

How large is the job? Usually the client supplies the tender documents and you basically fill them out. Sounds simple but it's a royal pain, the documents often run to over 200 pages and you need to be very careful otherwise you'll end up responsible for a lot of things you weren't expecting, especially incidental costs.

Well the only documents I have received from them are the drawings and carried out a site visit. Nothing too formal yet. Just want to make it look as professional as possible

 

[bilbo_88]

7 5 bedroom houses on a private road and all street lighting

 

[Welchyboy1]

Watch the t's and c's carefully, last project tender i looked at like that it held the electrical contractor responsible for a hell of a lot, had to organise and finance PV installation, finance EDF or UKPN supplies, supply maintenance documents for absolutely everything and give demonstrations to new tenants, then they want a 5% retainer for a year or two, 60 day stage payments

then the hardest part is finding enough decent and reliable subbies to install the work on time to a decent standard

The margins are usually slim too

all in all i let it go, the cash flow needed to do the job would of been huge

and i prefer to sleep soundly at night

 

[Engineer54]

Contract documents are a legal quagmire if you don't know what you're doing, and once signed, their is no turning back or backing out without substantial penalties being incurred. This is why the bigger contractors employ ''Contract Engineers'' and ''Quantity Surveyors'' as well as specialist ''Contract Solicitors'', to keep them well and truly on the right side of contractual law!! ...lol!!

 

[Guest111]

you are potentially entering a minefield blindfolded!Some of these companies love the smaller/less experienced contractors to tender for these jobs as they can tie you up in knots then hang you out to dry when it starts going wrong.If it was me I'd leave well enough alone,I've worked on some jobs and the penalties for running over schedule have been many tens of thousands per day,the worst one was one and it had been a real nightmare,every trade was running late which though not our fault put us behind too,yet they were still talking nearly a million a day in penalty clauses if we ran over,I practically lived on site as we struggled to play catch up.

 

[Marvo]

Even though it's only 7 houses I'm still tempted to agree with the general sentiment and say you should walk away if you've got little or no experience with this type of contract or tender. Whilst there's a very small chance you could make decent money there's a very high chance you'll lose your shirt due to inexperience.

 

[atm84]

How large is the job? Usually the client supplies the tender documents and you basically fill them out. Sounds simple but it's a royal pain, the documents often run to over 200 pages and you need to be very careful otherwise you'll end up responsible for a lot of things you weren't expecting, especially incidental costs.

Well the only documents I have received from them are the drawings and carried out a site visit. Nothing too formal yet. Just want to make it look as professional as possible

If there aren't any contract documents then just price it and state in your tender return that you have only priced it on those drawings. Also state that you assume that all power supplies will be arranged by the main contractor.