Commercial Steel Estimating. Kerri Olsen

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СКАЧАТЬ is in case errors arise in the product or services being provided. If the steel fabricator is strictly a supplier, retention isn’t as necessary because the steel fabrication is usually completed and installed before the end of the billing cycle.

      If a fabricated item doesn’t fit, then the “right to remedy” is executed and the steel is fixed or replaced right away. Once the fabricated steel has been delivered, and the steel fits, there is no reason to retain funds.

      The 1.5% on overdue invoices is a given, a policy made by the company’s accounting department.

      The detailing is billed as a separate line item on the schedule of values for the job. Billing prior to providing the fabricated steel will ensure that the steel detailer gets paid in a timely manner. The steel detailer is on a 30-day billing cycle, like all the other subcontractors or suppliers.

      The deposit requirement provides cash flow for steel and other materials on the project. Requiring a deposit is a good business practice; it secures the material delivery and enables steel fabricators to better control their schedule when the material resources are secure.

      Financial markets require a quick turn on cash; deposits will secure the materials before they are sold out. Material availability impacts delivery schedules. The time span of 30–60 days may occur between award of a project and the shop drawing approvals. Often, materials are not purchased until the steel shop drawings have been approved. Customers need to be made aware that deposits are necessary to the project’s success because every job has a quick turn schedule.

      Most projects are quoted based on optimum project management conditions. Having ready cash flow for your suppliers is one of them. Financing costs to pay vendors, suppliers, and payroll cannot be bid into the project for you to be low bidder. The argument for deposits provides a good negotiating tool if you choose to use it. However, if this is not the case, just eliminate deposits from your list of qualifications.

      3.This quotation is valid for 15 days and is based upon labor and material cost as of the date indicated on this quotation. Awards subsequent to the 15 day period may be subject to mill price increase and / or scrap surcharges at time of material ordered.

      Validating the quotation is essential because the steel market is very volatile. If your customer waits too long to award a project, you may lose your low price on the steel detailing, the materials, and potentially all remaining buy out items.

      Labor availability in the shop may change; you may need to allow for overtime costs once a job has been awarded to you. All of these factors change over the course of time from bid date to project award. Therefore, a validation time frame is important.

      4.This quote, if accepted, will form the basis of any purchase order awarded and will be included as an attachment to said contract as pertaining to specific inclusions and exclusions.

      It is very important that the bid letter tie into whatever contract or purchase order that your customer gives you. When you submit a bid on a project, it is contractually binding. Although the bid documents are the law for the project, your bid letter outlines the rules by which you will perform the work based on your pricing.

      The contract specifications are usually generic in their presentation. Your work is specific to each job. Therefore, it has specific conditions by which it must be performed at the price you have submitted. For this reason, the bid letter must be included and must override any contract conditions that may conflict.

      5.This quotation is based on availability of steel from the warehouse or mill at time of award.

      Material availability changes all the time. The first step any estimator or project manager should take upon getting a new job is to check the steel availability. Steel mill rolling dates are undependable and materials move out of the warehouses on a daily basis. Materials need to be secured as soon as possible to insure availability for project fabrication.

      Your estimate has a set budget for materials. It is very important that you maintain that budget. Unavailable materials or delayed deliveries due to the timing of mill rolling or shipments that come in from obscure locations may force you to acquire materials at a higher price, affecting both the budget and fabrication schedule.

      Substitution requests can be made by petitioning the engineer for a different size material that is readily available in lieu of a size that is not. The paper-work involved in managing such a request may affect your schedule. Additional engineering costs may be incurred.

      6.Detailing and fabrication in this quote is based on release for construction documents being per “AISC, Code of Standard Practice” latest edition. (Steel Fabrication is not performed by an AISC-Certified shop; all welders are WABO certified.)

      Make certain of the AISC status of your company. Be advised that if you are not an AISC-certified shop, you may not bid on work that requires it. Complying with the AISC Code of Standard Practice is an industry standard; most shops comply.

      Make certain that the company’s specific status with regard to AISC membership or union involvement is clear to your customer—for their own safety as well as yours.

      7.Delivery of steel is based on the shop schedule, with the first delivery in the time frame of 2-to-4 weeks after approved shop drawings.

      Any changes in delivery for any reason are not viewed well by the customer—unless they are improvements! The steel package is the “skeleton” of the building; as such, scheduling delays will have a domino effect on all the other trades down the line.

      Steel delivery to the job site is set prior to your even quoting the job. Your shop fabrication schedule isn’t determined until you have approved shop drawings returned from the general contractor. Project scheduling information is usually available in the general conditions portion of the specifications. This delivery statement is intended to help protect you from delays caused by circumstances beyond your control, with approval of shop detail drawings being one of them and a potential major cause for holding up the project.

      8.Changes to submitted design by the contractor/owner or engineer on items designed by the fabricator will be incorporated as an added cost.

      Changes happen all the time during shop drawing approvals and even after approvals. This statement is a continuation of that which is already in the AISC code of standard practice. If the architect or engineer makes a change that will cost your company extra money to create, then you have the option to put a cost to those changes and submit them to your customer.

      Require written approval on the funding from your customer for the extra work before you start that work. If work proceeds without agreements in place, the steel fabricator runs the risk of being liable for all costs incurred.

      9.This proposal is based on Prevailing Wage rates (if applicable) that are current as of the date of this bid document.

      Watch the wage rates because they do change periodically. Prevailing wage or Davis Bacon requirements may put your shop fabricators at a higher rate than they normally earn and create additional paperwork for your accounting department. The Davis Bacon Act was created to force trade pay scales to be equal to union scale requirements.

Inclusions

      This section lists the inclusion items in the bid letter, with an explanation of each numbered item.

       Inclusion #1

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