Services

BIDDING & CONTRACT NEGOTIATION 

After 25 years in business, we have interacted with a wide range of contracting firms, particularly in the Chicago area, and we are happy to recommend a few firms that may be interested in bidding your project. We are however, always happy to meet new people in the industry, and we welcome outside suggestions.

Upon request, BBA Architects can set up initial interviews between clients and contractors. We can schedule and be present for project tours, as well as respond to requests for additional information or clarification. When the pricing sheets come back from the contractors, we can analyze each for equal scopes of work, contingency funds, and fee structures. We then quiz each candidate based on our findings. 

In the end, we will make a recommendation to you, but it is your decision, and we will stand by it. Often, the winning contractor will be awarded the project because of confidence the company, and past outstanding performance. A few of the general questions we encourage our clients to ask the Contractors are as follows:

  1. Tell us about the history of your company. How large is your organization now?
  2. If we were to award you this project by  (date), how soon could you mobilize? how long will it take?
  3. How many active projects do you expect to have this year
  4. Who would be the day to day manager of the project? Do I expect that manager to be on-site every day?
  5. Who will perform the carpentry? will the lead carpenter have project management responsibilities?
  6. Do you have any carpenters or laborers on your direct payroll, or are they all independent contractors?
  7. If the construction site is damaged by a storm, or there is some other emergency at the building site during off hours or on a Sunday, who will come to secure the site? how long will it take to get help? 
  8. What type of contract do you prefer to use? 
  9. What fees do you charge?
  10. What guarantee do we have that the project will not significantly increase in cost, more than your estimate based on the current drawings we have to show you today?
  11. Would you agree to a fixed fee for the project, with no markups for change orders unless they involve significant scope changes?