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A few projects I have done recently

CM1995

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Running what I brung and taking what I win
I've been slacking on the picture taking the last couple of months. Work is going great with a couple of interesting projects on the board coming up this year.

Best pic I've taken in a while - Lucy chilling at the equipment yard.

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The steps to the office Lucy is lying on are some pre-cast panels we salvaged from the Arena project. The office is one of those portable buildings we horse traded with a business partner we own property with. The better 1/2's X5 is seen as a reflection in the glass.

Life is Good.:)
 

CM1995

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Running what I brung and taking what I win
Started a new remodel job for an eating disorder clinic in a former travel agency with tight access.

Our scope is grading, excavating the cut back for a retainer wall, some storm sewer and fine grading for paving.

Couldn't get the lowboy through the gate and the tight turn so the 321DL had to be walked in.

Beautiful winter day in Alabama.

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GC had a cheaper quote for the clearing and grubbing. Young kid that didn't have enough experience to be hard bidding a job like this. I had a quote from our tree guy for $17.5K to cut all the trees in the clearing limits and haul the debris away. We would then grub the stumps and have him come back in a grapple truck to haul stumps away for an additional $10K.

A new kid on the block bid $8K for all of it...:rolleyes:. He rented a 308 from the Cat House and had it on site for 2 weeks in addition to his Bobcat and 2 men for 2 weeks. Not going in to all the numbers but he lost his ass as he should have, good learning experience.

Of course the scope required for the job is not complete as the kid cut his losses and left the site. There are several trees left in the clearing limits along with stumps and a couple of trees by the building that will require a bucket truck to take down.:rolleyes:

We will have to do the final grubbing before we strip topsoil which we will charge for.


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New parking area where we will finish the clearing and grubbing with an additional charge to the GC. Kid left the stump holes open which will fill up with water and cause another CO for unsuitable soils when this area is filled. Hard to see but there is a pink flag marking the clearing limits on the right of the pic, everything in front of that down to the other pink flag on the tree to the left has to go.

Went through and marked all the trees with spray paint that still needed to be removed for the GC to see.

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Lowest bid is not always the lowest cost.:rolleyes::D

Storm sewer delivered and ready to be installed next week depending on weather.

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CM1995

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Jan 21, 2007
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Alabama
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Running what I brung and taking what I win
Back at the private school installing a 10" HDPE roof leader trunk line. Tying into the existing grate inlet. 10" 45's were delayed getting to the job so we had a 10" WYE and plug on the yard that we used as a 45. More expensive if we had to purchase but it's from a prior job and already paid for so we used it in order for production to go on.

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#57 bedding and recycled hardcore from the building demo as backfill above the springline. This roof leader is in landscape so compaction isn't an issue.

Backfill with warning tape.

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Cold, wet day in Central AL but the crew pushed on and made production. Love these guys.

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hosspuller

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GC shares some of the onus for the kid's CF and should share some of the hurt in fixing the mess. If his bid was that far off the others. When I am letting contracts for work, I always asked the low bidder what he was forgetting or over looked.. I was never comfortable taking the lowest bid. Of course I wasn't doing gov't work. I've been told a school bus contract for $millions can be lost for a minor amount like a few hundred $. Low bidder rules... (And that's why school buses are built so cheap i.e.. minimum to spec.)
 

CM1995

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Running what I brung and taking what I win
GC shares some of the onus for the kid's CF and should share some of the hurt in fixing the mess. If his bid was that far off the others. When I am letting contracts for work, I always asked the low bidder what he was forgetting or over looked..

The GC is paying us to clean up the remaining. Totally agree on low bid contract choice as the low bid is not always the cheapest cost. I'll be charging to take the remaining trees down, GC will need to hire a tree service to take the ones close to the building down and it's unknown how much we'll be undercutting with all those stump holes collecting rainwater.

GC actually called me to ask if I would be mad if he took the clearing portion away and told me the # the kid gave him. We both laughed and decided to let him have it as we are slammed and I was going to sub most of it out anyway. I told the GC we can complete whatever he doesn't.

To be honest I figured it was a learning experience for both of them.;)

Forgot to mention the kid put a tree on the building...:rolleyes:
 

willie59

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Knoxville TN
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Service Manager
Removing trees and stumps with a 308? Yeah, right! I've been in your area, you ain't got pine trees everywhere, you got hardwood and you got clay, good luck with a 308. Like Dirty Harry once said, "a man has to know his limitations". :rolleyes:
 
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Welder Dave

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Canada
On gov't. and other big jobs they usually have a good idea what it will cost. My former neighbor bid a demo job with another outfit (needed for bonding) for around 465K and it got ugly and ended up in court. There was a big falling out of the 2 parties.The judge's ruling was on the internet and when the bids were opened, neighbor was asked if he wanted to revise his bid as it was quite a bit lower than the next lowest bid. I was working for the neighbor and it took a long time to finally get paid. Neighbor was trying to make extra money selling salvage from the building. Pulling the copper wires out and florescent lights. His wife was handling the salvage and what a mistake. I had to go down in the hole among broken concrete and rebar to cut some pipes and was lowered down in a hoe bucket. It was a lot safer than trying to walk amongst the rubble. His wife was yelling at me not to ride in the bucket and that really pi$$ed me off. I don't think a person could crawl into a basement full of concrete debris with rebar sticking out in any kind of safe way. The hoe put me in a much safer location. Bad part was the pipe had a plastic coating inside and caused slag to drip down the back of my neck. Not fun!
 
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CM1995

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Running what I brung and taking what I win
Removing trees and stumps with a 308? Yeah, right! I've been in your area, you ain't got pine trees everywhere, you got hardwood and you got clay, good luck with a 308. Like Dirty Harry once said, "a man has to know his limitations". :rolleyes:

It was a good lesson for the kid as the job wasn't big enough to hurt financially but big enough to teach an expensive lesson. Working for free sucks, working and paying money to complete the job sucks more..:cool:
 

hosspuller

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It was a good lesson for the kid as the job wasn't big enough to hurt financially but big enough to teach an expensive lesson. Working for free sucks, working and paying money to complete the job sucks more..:cool:

I'm curious how much a $ lesson the "Kid" got. Since the job wasn't complete, did the GC pay anything ? Otherwise two weeks rental of 308 and two guys is a big hit $ wise. Maybe not in the scheme of gov't land clearing. But for someone just starting out...:(
 

skyking1

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he probably got an earful supported by the simple facts, plus putting a tree on a building? If he does not get it now it will be worse for him next time.
 

Welder Dave

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Lot's of blame has to go to the GC. Anyone with a sense of the job should have questioned the bid and what equipment would be used to accomplish it. On a big job I wonder if a GC could have withheld money because a contractor deserted a job or charge the contractor what it cost for someone else to complete the job? I think that's what bonding is for?
 

Landclearer

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We run into that low bid nonsense all the time in clearing. We had a guy clearing for 3k per acre including grinding. He started with decent equipment then it started going down hill. He went under last 4th of July owing every equipment company in town. I’m sure there will be another popping up.
 

AzIron

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Its perfectly acceptable for the gc to not pay the guy if he didn't finish that's breach of contract

I am sure he collected something up front or he really is foolish

I have seen a sub get taken to court to pay out what they got back charged for someone else to finish
 

skyking1

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happened on an apartment job our company plumbed. The dirt guys got 6 weeks behind and another outfit came in to finish it, and they have to pay the second company to do the work they could not. It all went downhill when they made some big mistakes and mis-steps that cost a lot of money and time. Lack of experience.
 

CM1995

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I'll find out for sure but the GC will pay the kid his full amount - known the guy for years.

This is a very small job overall and the clearing is just a portion of it. The GC is more of an "owner-builder" type but does build for other people and entities, this project being one. No 30 page contract with the "if you don't finish your contract you are responsible to pay if we hire someone else" language we usually see. This is a proposal and a handshake kind of job.

Hope the kid learned a good enough lesson that the next commercial bid job that comes his way gives him a little chill down his spine. To be honest I liked the kid as he seemed hard working and very respectful. Had a whole diatribe worked up to brow beat him a little about underpricing the market and hurting established contractors and such but decided not to use it the day he put a tree on the building.

Kid did ask if he could use our 321 to dig a large stump out... everyone knows what the answer was. Insurance, liability and it wouldn't be as good of a learning lesson.:oops:

Now all our big GC's we do our bulk of work with have the "you will pay if you don't finish" clauses but that's Big Boy Construction.
 

savman

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LaGrange, GA
3k an acre with grinding is crazy low. I don't why people want to work for free.

A local project was 11 acres and it supposedly went at 7k an acre with grinding. Heavily wooded. I thought that it was reasonable money but still wondered how profitable it was considering the amount of iron the guy had on site. No doubt he came out ahead but I wasn't thinking 'hey I should go buy a million dollar grinder and get in the game' profitable.

I don't know all the particulars, but I would be wary of a GC that let a kid hang himself like that. If I understand correctly the kid had a bid at 30% of an established sub....the GC had to know the the best case here was the kid paid to do the work. I'm all for giving somebody a shot, but there is a line. Again I don't know the particulars.
 

savman

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Just read #2097; hate to hear that if the kid seemed respectful and hard working.

Having rental equipment makes it that much worse but the kid could have really showed something if he would have stuck it out and finished the job.
 

AzIron

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My guess is poor kids going to get paid and will about cover his losses and will learn from it because everyone else involved saw it coming and let him crash and burn

Hope he realizes that how many people are keeping him from getting run over that seems to be rare these days everyone I know including myself has had a job like that great experience it will about make your pride hide under the table tho
 
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