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The Three Problems With Bidding
. Understanding the scope of the work (how much work is there?)
. Knowing the amount of time it will take to complete the work
. The highest price that can be charged while still remaining competitive
Since time or payroll costs are the biggest expense, payroll hours need to be controlled. Most errors in bidding are the time estimates. If you don't know how long the work will take, you can't accurately bid the job, or assign the right number of employees. Without "time knowledge" on some days unplanned overtime is incurred, on others crews return to the shop without having put in a full day's work. Workers have a tendency to "stretch out" the days when not enough work was assigned. The owner in that sutuation never discovers what amount of work could have been done since he wasn't aware of the time requirements to begin with. Who to blame, where to look when profits are too low for a job? Workers too slow, price not high enough?
