The Downside to Hard Bidding: Why We Prefer a More Negotiated Approach

Posted on | by Savannah Sokol

As a Commercial General Contractor, we’re often asked why we steer away from the process of Hard Bidding and opt for a more negotiated process to serve our clients. At the surface, hard bidding seems like a great idea and could create healthy competition. However, at The Douglas Company, we firmly believe that hard bidding is actually detrimental to our clients, causes inflated project costs, and can create a reactive environment to project management.

What is ‘Hard Bidding’?

Before we get to why, first let’s discuss what ‘hard bidding’ entails. Hard Bidding is a process that includes sending out a complete set of construction documents to a list of anywhere from two to five General Contractors. The companies will then go to the subcontractor market for pricing and put together a proposal, which will be compared side-by-side by the ownership group. These companies know that these situations are extremely competitive and the...

Read More >

The Case for Construction Technology — Productivity Loss

Posted on | by jyoakam

The conversation around the use of technology in construction management has changed dramatically it tone and frequency over the last several years. At least, that's the way it seems; but what do the numbers say about this? Turns out, it's not just a feeling. From 2011 to 2017 McKinsey measured $10 billion in investment in construction technology (stylized as "Con-tech") firms, and separately JLL measured already $1 billion in the first half of 2018 alone. Those numbers aren't surprising when at last count Skanska USA determined there were over 2,100 individual companies looking to take up some of the space that opened up in what was a pretty uninteresting sector for so many years. So con-tech is definitely on the rise - but why? Well, it's no secret that the construction industry is suffering from and diminishing workforce and rampant issues meeting schedules. We have a productivity problem. It isn't getting better...

Read More >