Construction Engineering Preconstruction New York Engineers Eigile 12 min read
Let NY Engineers lay the groundwork for your building construction project so you can source competitive and efficient bids from multiple contractors.
Value-Engineering
Utilize our engineering expertise on levelizing contractor bids for your acquisition of high-value but fair-priced construction tenders.
Point of Reference
Cover all your bases as you set a baseline technical and financial standpoint during the contractor bidding process of your building project.
Performance Evaluation
Fair assessment is at work as our expert engineers implement a “no selection bias” on your potential contractors.
Level the Playing Field for Contractor Bids
Entering the construction phase for your building project might be considered one of the most overwhelming tasks you can undertake in the AEC industry—whether your inclination leans onto the clientele or professional spectrum. For starters, building your design concept to reality is no easy feat, but in all means possible, if all resources merge together efficiently for your building's constructability.
However, before we get to that point, you need to settle first all the priority items. Case in point, choosing the contractor who will render you the best value for your money should be at the top of your list. In order to create an effective selection criteria, you need to collate all information needed in issuing Request for Proposal (RFP) to your prospective bidders.
Bid returns can come in all sizes and forms. But here's where our expertise lies: New York Engineers levelize all your contractor bids from conception to completion so you can find a common denominator in the apple-to-apple comparison of your construction tenders. This way, reaping the benefits on all of your project constraints—from schedule, down to cost and quality—will be evidently visible.
Stages of Levelizing Contractor Bids
Before you can appreciate just how essential contractor bid leveling is for your building project, you need to understand it initially on a macro scale and delve deeper stage-by-stage. Building occupancies vary in requirements but the key takeaway is, most follow a predetermined path especially when your building projects are structured in a traditional bid model.
At a later stage, our proficient engineers will show you the differences in project delivery methods but for simplicity's sake at this point, we will take reference from the traditional design-bid-build model of large-scale complex projects:
- Bid stage
For you to get a comprehensive and competitive contractor bids, you need to have a starting point and it all starts with you and your project team. Regardless if you hire construction managers as your client representatives or consultants act as your mediator, you need to create a compelling bid package inclusive of complete contract documents to get to your desired results.
By all means, you need to prepare all your building project's construction documents, plans, specifications, construction cost estimation, quantity take-offs and bill of materials. You also need to decide at this stage if you will tender your building facility by trade or by project, so you can scope out all your project requirements on a specific or macro scale.
Common sense kicks in that this stage would be very time-consuming and labor-intensive, and to save up on your resources means you need to spend on upfront assets. At New York Engineers, our experience and expertise in levelizing contractor bids serve as your investment.
- Bid return
Our skilled engineers reiterate the importance of bid scoping when you prepare the bid package to be issued to your pre-qualified construction bidders.
Once you have issued the bid via sealed, open or online bidding, you need to give your prospective bidders an ample amount of time to meet all your requirements, all while simultaneously respecting the scheduled deadlines for bid submission. This alone helps you weed out the efficient from the incompetent bid returns, and our engineers are well-versed in shortlisting contractors that deliver your project on time and within budget.
- Bid leveling
All successful bid returns that make it on given timeframe are subjected to construction bid leveling. At New York Engineers, we levelize all your contractor bids on a line-by-line system, and then further analyze the discrepancies from the highest to the lowest bidder against the client's maximum cap on project budget. We take a holistic approach in determining the best-value contractor for your building facility by collaborating with all stakeholders back and forth in all project constraints.
How To Scope Out And Levelize Your Contractor Bids
As we have previously positioned the crucial point of bid leveling in your contractor selection, we take it one step deeper as our experienced engineers show you the in-depth process of professional bid review and evaluation:
- Establish a baseline bid form
Securing a point of reference early in the contractor bidding process helps you determine which bid returns are commensurate to your project requirements. For great cause-and-effect relationship, you need to scope out all bid items from contract documents, plans, specifications and financial references since these will serve as your barometer in comparing all the line items from your bid returns.
- Create an analysis matrix sheet
Creating a concrete baseline bid form means that all the incoming bid returns will be arranged in your own curated format, instead of non-uniform bids which could otherwise impinge your project efficiency. Similarly, you can opt to disqualify contractors who can't follow instructions at this early stage. For those who pass your qualifications-based criteria, our skilled engineers can help you evaluate which bid items are useful for input in the bid worksheet.
- Highlight consistencies and discrepancies
Once all inputs are in place, our meticulous engineers will cross-check all bid items against your baseline requirements. This will help us conclude which contractors are compliant from those that are non-compliant. And in an itemized setting such as this line-by-line analysis, collating data on similar and different materials will set the ground for your building project's value-engineering—leading to higher savings for you down the road.
- Develop questions for clarifications
At this stage where you are armed with an arsenal of shortlisted contractors, you are now well-equipped in leveraging your negotiating piece. Once all bid returns are reviewed and evaluated professionally, our consulting engineers will reach out to your prospective bidders who successfully meet all your project constraints to your liking. If any deficiencies occur, we develop post-tender clarifications and maintain a back-and-forth communication with the potential contractor until we settle all sufficient job terms and clauses in time for the contract award and start construction date.
Factors to Consider in Levelizing Contractor Bids
In all our years of experience working with all types of clients in such industry-specific projects, we know that price isn't everything. Moreover, lower bids will cost you more in the long run than if you had settled with a higher contractor bid, since lower bids either place hidden costs or compromise the quality standards of your building project through their lack of expertise in producing accurate bids.
Either way, our engineers know best to practice a value-engineered approach: one where we don't look solely at the price itself, but more so on the interpretation behind of what led the contractor to charge the client at this final price. In a way, we read between the lines and through our expertise alone, we can assess if your potential contractor can walk their talk.
Here are some of the qualification factors and credentials that you should look for in your contractor selection criteria:
- Licenses and Permits
Although this doesn't necessarily equate to expertise, you should check the reputation of your potential contractors by acquiring their updated license information.
- Years of Experience
Another item to add in levelizing contractor bids is to assess the established credibility of your prospective bidder through a proven track record.
- Project Portfolio
Cross-reference your project requirement with the repertoire of your potential contractors so you can discern if their general or specialized expertise can get your facility running up to speed.
- Insurances
To ensure a worry-free experience, secure a contractor who covers all bases on personal liability, workers' insurance, and property damage coverage.
- Subcontractor Pre-qualification
Check all the license information of subcontractors working under your general contractor, and let our engineers assess if they have the reputability and skills to complete your building project.
Advantages You Can Get From Levelizing Contractor Bids
If value-engineering is one of your priorities in your building project, then levelizing contractor bids is a must-have item in your inclusions.
At New York Engineers, we list some of the benefits and advantages that you can reap with contractor bid leveling:
- Better comparison
Common sense dictates that you can't compare apples to oranges, and forcing to do so would only necessitate more resources than what's needed. When we levelize your contractor bids, you are well-informed to make turning point decisions that can improve the quality, budget and overall delivery of your building projects.
- Audit trail
Traditional bidding process often resulted in large loads of paperwork, and this can produce inefficient review results on top of a demanding project timeline. Our efficient engineers give you the leverage in securing all your incoming contractor bids by complementing our expertise in construction bid leveling with digital technology. We guarantee you zero problems in bid progress tracking of post-tender clarifications as all in-and-out documents have electronic date and time stamps.
- Cost reduction
Setting your budget for your potential contractors to see can enable them to exceed your cap limit or underbid to win and build your project. Either way, when we levelize your contractor bids, you can engage your bidders in a dialogue and ask them to justify the reason of the increase or decrease in a specific cost of a bid item. At New York Engineers, we do not pit your potential bidders against each other, but we advise you on how to take into account all of your bidders' calculation variances from local prices to fluctuating variables for your cost advantage.
How Project Delivery Methods Affect Contractor Bid Leveling
In all such cases, project delivery methods can affect your contractor selection criteria and procurement methods.
Our expert engineers show you how choosing the most suitable project delivery method can reap you the most benefits:
- Design-Bid-Build (DBB)
General contractors or multi-prime contractors all undergo contractor bid leveling on technical and/or commercial compliance as per conformance to your low-bid, best-value or qualifications-based criteria.
- Design-Build (DB)
Bid is non-existent, since your architect also acts as your contractor in a single-point responsibility.
- Construction Management at Risk (CMAR)
Client retains the services of a construction manager during the earlier design phases, and the CM may bid the construction work under guaranteed maximum price (GMP).
- Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)
All project stakeholders are bound to one contract, where contractors and construction managers are already involved in the design phase to instigate constructability.
Levelizing Contractor Bids with Work Breakdown Structure
What better way to levelize your contractor bids than by integrating work breakdown structure (WBS) in your baseline bid form. From general to specific, all deliverable-oriented components are broken down into manageable sections—giving you a greater cost control point and an accessibility to your tenderers' method of bid calculation.
Take for instance, our forte in building systems as specialized MEP engineers. Using HVAC as an example, we break down the system into macro to micro components on a hierarchical format. From the whole ducting system down to the materials used for return air grills and linear diffusers, we levelize all performance specifications for the contractor bids so we can assess the scalable cost discrepancies from your potential contractor-vendor relationships.
Through our engineering expertise in generating WBS for your contractor bid leveling, we can help you pinpoint in a line-by-line analysis which bid item you can value-engineer so you can yield higher returns on your investment.
Levelize Contractor Bids Like a Pro with NY Engineers
Our engineering consulting firm works with all project stakeholders, rendering us agile and flexible whatever functionality is demanded of us. Whether clients come to us for value-engineering services, architects demand our engineering expertise or contractors aim for higher profit margins, we only have one answer: we deliver fair, curated solutions for you.
Whichever stake you hold in the building project, gain more leverage when you let our specialized engineers levelize your contractor bids for efficient outcomes. Learn how we apply this best-value approach in our strong project portfolio with top-tiered clients and industry-specific professionals.
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