concrete walls

here standard footings are 8"-9" in depth and 16"-18" in width, it varies depending on the code of the town you're building in. most require drain tile weeps in the footer too. as for the bar, it varies based on the architect's drawing but theres usually #4 bar placed vertically in the footer every 3 ft and then horizontal bars in the wall ranging from 2-4 courses depending on the overall height of the wall. i bid on some walls recently and lost to a guy who's charging $27/ linear ft for a footer and 4'x8" wall. i have no idea how he is able to go that low, in my price i had $24/ linear ft just to cover my materials, that leaves a little over $200 that he's making on this job. which now a days $200 will barely get me to the job and back, let alone pay my guys and any other overhead. can anyone explain how he's able to do it this low? the only conclusion i came to was that hes just picking it up to keep his guys busy:beatsme