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Anyone reading over a Job Order Contracting Price Proposal should walk away with a clear understanding of the work that will be completed. The Price Proposal should be a reflection of the Detailed Scope of Work, and include all tasks required to complete the project. Sometimes, items that need to be included are inadvertently left off of Price Proposals. Here are 4 items commonly left off Price Proposals that need to be included:

1. Mobilization for rental equipment, such as pavers, rollers, cranes, etc.
2. Minimum set up charges for tasks, such as core drilling, saw cutting, cutouts, etc.

Do you keep boxes upon boxes of fluorescent lamps and ballasts in storage for your facilities? Does your maintenance staff invest hours upon hours troubleshooting fluorescent fixtures? Does your HVAC system need a break from competing with heat emitting ballasts? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then LEDs or Light Emitting Diodes may be a fit for your facility and your maintenance/operating budget.

“If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” Well, that adage may hold true for some things, but that certainly isn’t the case for water infrastructure. A better one may be Murphy’s Law: “What can go wrong, will go wrong, at the worst possible time.”  This past winter was a classic example of fully functioning water infrastructure systems that function great half of the year and fail the other half. Out of sight and out of mind really plays a role here as well. 

Many times in construction the word “transparency” is tossed around very loosely.  At times a contractor can provide a brief scope of work with a lump sum price or just a lump sum price.  Or, a contractor will reference a set of prints in their lump sum proposal in which the problem is that sometimes the prints may not provide enough detail of what a contractor should or should not provide. For example, a print may say that the electrical contractor shall provide a 2” EMT Conduit from Panel A to Panel B.  The problem is that the print nor the contractor’s lump sum price spells out how that conduit is to be support, or routed.  This reflects a lack in transparency, which may lead to confusion during a review by the owner that could result in the owner being vulnerable to additional costs associated with the project.  Transparency is a tool that a detailed, localized unit price book, such as the Construction Task Catalog® (CTC), provides that allows the owner to remain protected from being a victim or being taken advantage of by discrepancies.

When using any of Gordian’s JOC solutions the contractor is building a Price Proposal based on a CTC.  Building a proposal from Gordian’s CTC is like providing to an owner a contractors “take-off” sheet.