Random Thoughts.....

obullfish said:
Turns out after a CT scan and wasting half the day at the ER it is just some inflamed tissue that they are treating with Advil.
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CasterTroy said:
o_O

Really Doc? How about some feel good drugs for my wasted time
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Was he previously a Navy medic? For all the other Devil Nuts out there...Corps candy!

Headache? Have some Motrin. Drink water.
Got sand in your girly area? Take Motrin. Drink water.
Toothache? Take Motrin. Drink water.
Back hurts? Take Motrin. Drink water.
Broken limb? Take Motrin. Drink water.
Leg blown off? Take Motrin. Drink water.
Multiple GSW's? Take Motrin. Drink water.
Getting transferred to 1st CivDiv, Camp Couch? Here's a handful of Motrin for the road. Go find some water.
 
skyhighZJ said:
Why do gas stations limit the amount of diesel you can buy in one purchase??!! Everywhere around here has a $75 limit. You can re-swipe your card but that’s a pain in the ass and just further makes you question the limit. I try to not let my truck get that low but it does have a 45 gal tank. Don’t even get me started on the 75 gal aux tank in the bed for when we travel
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The limit here is $100, with current fuel prices I'm edging close to the limit per transaction.

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RatLabGuy said:
Or just order it on Amazon for 30% less and have it delivered to your door, no dealing w/ idiots in a blue shirt.
Waiting 2 days w/o a TV isn't the worst thing for you...
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I gave it a short thought. Then recall how most packages are delivered, er / dropped kicked to your house! Even made me wonder how the Stores, get "Fragile" items delivered by Freight carriers?
 
rodney eppes said:
I gave it a short thought. Then recall how most packages are delivered, er / dropped kicked to your house! Even made me wonder how the Stores, get "Fragile" items delivered by Freight carriers?
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I bought a Newtonian telescope on Amazon, the first one was broken...the reflector in the back of the tube was broken and rolling around loose. But - they made good on it quickly. All I had to do was put a label on the broken one and put it outside my door. It was gone the next day, and another new one was on my doorstep the day after that. This time it was intact.
 
Scooter402 said:
I bought a Newtonian telescope on Amazon, the first one was broken...the reflector in the back of the tube was broken and rolling around loose. But - they made good on it quickly. All I had to do was put a label on the broken one and put it outside my door. It was gone the next day, and another new one was on my doorstep the day after that. This time it was intact.
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I bet we place 100 Amazon orders a year. The rare times things show up broken, it's almost always resolved in under 48 hrs.
Had a 32" tv show up w a crack. Had a new one in hand tbe next day. Of course we have a fulfillment center just 30 miles away...
 
RatLabGuy said:
I bet we place 100 Amazon orders a year. The rare times things show up broken, it's almost always resolved in under 48 hrs.
Had a 32" tv show up w a crack. Had a new one in hand tbe next day. Of course we have a fulfillment center just 30 miles away...
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We've had the Prime membership for probably about 6 months now. Definitely paid for itself with the free shipping, and I'm starting to dig the Amazon TV. Almost making me think of cutting loose of Verizon. It's a shame to say, but with the deals that they've got on literally everything, it's hard not to shop there. I can't hate on them at all. They definitely help pay the bills at work, too...if you get what I'm driving at.

I'm in very close proximity to a fulfillment center, too. I think I've actually seen some items with same day shipping. That blew my mind.
 
just FYI- my record is 5 x 12mm
 
Loganwayne said:
i hate bid days.... Subs never send quotes in on time everyone is all high strung and half the time the subs dont cover everything they should and im sitting here scratching my head pulling numbers outta my ass.
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Galax Elementary bid yesterday. MOST suppliers numbers were AWOL. Hell the window mfg refused to give any GC a number #becauseChina (they said if they gave them a PO that second they would honor the price THAT DAY, but otherwise they wouldn't even give them an estimate) so the GC's all swag'd it and threw 20% over what they sqft it to be anyway. That was pretty much par for the course on ALL trades.

Guess what percentage the lowest bid came in at over the budget
 
CasterTroy said:
Galax Elementary bid yesterday. MOST suppliers numbers were AWOL. Hell the window mfg refused to give any GC a number #becauseChina (they said if they gave them a PO that second they would honor the price THAT DAY, but otherwise they wouldn't even give them an estimate) so the GC's all swag'd it and threw 20% over what they sqft it to be anyway. That was pretty much par for the course on ALL trades.

Guess what percentage the lowest bid came in at over the budget
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Probably 40 because I’ve never been to a bid opening and the project wasn’t over budget


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Loganwayne said:
Probably 40 because I’ve never been to a bid opening and the project wasn’t over budget
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Yeah not quite that bad....if you're 40% over on a $20M project.....well, damn son!

just under 25%

My guess is, just about every trade lumped 20% on top of their "good" number (at least all the PME's that bid the job told me that's what THEY did) due to unknowns this week

BAD week to bid big projects
 
CasterTroy said:
Yeah not quite that bad....if you're 40% over on a $20M project.....well, damn son!

just under 25%

My guess is, just about every trade lumped 20% on top of their "good" number (at least all the PME's that bid the job told me that's what THEY did) due to unknowns this week

BAD week to bid big projects
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Sitting on the other side of the table, that project number is usually a pie in the sky/lowball number anyway, and there's always an additional 20% contingency line item baked in anyway. I have no problems paying a realistic price, I know some of my colleagues that'll will take that realistic price and cut it by 30% as a bullying/negotiation tactic. That said, what bugs the ever living hell out of me are the deadlines for milestones and completions. The money, I'm not worried about, a standard deviation or two is to be expected for the unforeseen. But dammit I'm gonna hold you to the same standards I'm held to, if my numbers are off by 5% or more, I get fired...if I say something is going to happen with the business/numbers, I get fined or could go to jail. I've paid for $50k-$100mil projects all over the country, some areas a lot more receptive to daily fines/charges when they don't hit a milestone...and I'll drive those home. What I am starting to see though is, recovery, folks aren't as hard up for work and won't chop their own heads off in contracts, but that just means I have to be patient until the market becomes saturated with builders again. Rant over...
 
UTfball68 said:
Sitting on the other side of the table.....
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I've been on all 3 sides: Owner/Rep, Contractor, Design team

Still confused as to what side you get rich on....seems every time I made a move I was on the losing side o_O

Anyway....what really sucks is hearing contractors call and say:

Johnny Contractor: "well I know binford series 2300 is not approved, but XYZ supplier is throwing out a number that 50% less than whats specified...and all the OTHER contractors will use that number, so I'm gonna have to as well or risk losing the job"
Meathead engineer: "That's fine, just know come submittal time "reject and resubmit" does not equal "send them a PO" and you WILL be responsible for holding the spec

I've been the contractor AND the meathead in that situation....sucks for both parties. I have no idea who's getting rich, but I DO know our tax dollars are just being blown to smithereens here in the last 2 years (every single project over by 20-30%...honestly I blame these "professional estimators" our local architects are hiring. I'm giving them past numbers to go by, and they cut those in half o_O)
 
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What I’ve seen a lot of is subs not bidding any work because they are backed up 6-10 months on contracted work and architects that are specing the most expensive products and then owners getting mad at the contractor for everything being over budget. Case and point project bidding today we could use gypsum floor leveling which isn’t to bad but they spec something that is 65 bucks a bag takes a specialist to install and buy.... oh and they need anywhere between 1200-1600 bags.... cost for just the material they spec will push project over budget.


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Loganwayne said:
i hate bid days.... Subs never send quotes in on time everyone is all high strung and half the time the subs dont cover everything they should and im sitting here scratching my head pulling numbers outta my ass.
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Labor sucks ass right now in Charlotte. We are paying more for less skilled labor and happy they show up. SMH. Steel is thru the roof with increases this month and next month. Engineers are covered up. Ours has already done over 180 projects this year and had a flood of them come in the last 3 to 4 weeks everyone trying to beat the increases. As far as scope I would hate your side. What I hate is addendums coming out after you've sent your number in. Obviously the GC has asked for the number several days in advance of the actual bid date. I've already moved on to something else by that point now I have to rearrange my schedule to look over drawings for changes that probably aren't even clouded or noted. My $.o2

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No fries said:
Labor sucks ass right now in Charlotte. We are paying more for less skilled labor and happy they show up. SMH. Steel is thru the roof with increases this month and next month. Engineers are covered up. Ours has already done over 180 projects this year and had a flood of them come in the last 3 to 4 weeks everyone trying to beat the increases. As far as scope I would hate your side. What I hate is addendums coming out after you've sent your number in. Obviously the GC has asked for the number several days in advance of the actual bid date. I've already moved on to something else by that point now I have to rearrange my schedule to look over drawings for changes that probably aren't even clouded or noted. My $.o2

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We have three jobs bidding today we asked for numbers back on Monday knowing well that most wouldn’t come till Tuesday or yesterday.
We got three addendums since Monday 2 for one job one for another. One changed from floor leveling to a specific product that only can be gotten and applied by a few companies within 150-200 mile radius and I’ve called and begged today to get some numbers for it since we found out about the product change yesterday at 3 and our flooring subs told us they couldn’t do it this morning at 8:30.....


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^^^With my propensity for consistency, accuracy and to standardization...I think I'd murder everybody in your industry if I had to deal with them day in, day out.
 
UTfball68 said:
^^^With my propensity for consistency, accuracy and to standardization...I think I'd murder everybody in your industry if I had to deal with them day in, day out.
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I just love when you have subs that say they are bidding the job the whole time. (We try to send out bids with a month to review and quote if possible) and then on bid day your waiting for their number and you call and they say “oh ya forgot to tell you we decided not to bid it”


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I miss my old sub. She was so well tra... wait, what? I didn't say anything. :D
 
CasterTroy said:
I've been on all 3 sides: Owner/Rep, Contractor, Design team

Still confused as to what side you get rich on....seems every time I made a move I was on the losing side o_O

Anyway....what really sucks is hearing contractors call and say:

Johnny Contractor: "well I know binford series 2300 is not approved, but XYZ supplier is throwing out a number that 50% less than whats specified...and all the OTHER contractors will use that number, so I'm gonna have to as well or risk losing the job"
Meathead engineer: "That's fine, just know come submittal time "reject and resubmit" does not equal "send them a PO" and you WILL be responsible for holding the spec

I've been the contractor AND the meathead in that situation....sucks for both parties. I have no idea who's getting rich, but I DO know our tax dollars are just being blown to smithereens here in the last 2 years (every single project over by 20-30%...honestly I blame these "professional estimators" our local architects are hiring. I'm giving them past numbers to go by, and they cut those in half o_O)
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Likewise Ive yet to find the rich side.
Regarding your example above:

If there is 1 penny of public money on a job in NC you shouldnt be specifying by manufacturer, period.
Exclusion of a supplier based exclusively on manufacturer brand and not performance is illegal in NC.

And btw, I dont know of any suppliers in business today who will produce a submittal without a written PO with cancellation terms. Now maybe pure commodity products differ, but on the flip side for a small order I have 6-12 man hours in submittal prep. Not counting material cost (luckily everything is moving towards Electronic FINALLY) In 2009 when I worked for brand "C" I spent $68,000 on paper, binders, tabs, ink and printer repairs for preparation of submittal docs. And almost that again in O&M prep costs. And those numbers didn't include equipment procurement of the printing/publishing equipment. Point being you are asking a contractor to commit to purchase equipment before you will consider it.


Real conversation I had this morning wth a specifying engineer:

Me: Good morning, sir. We have been asked to price project XYZ for contractor ABC and owner DEF that bids on May 15th. In compliance with specification requirements we are requesting to be added as an equal supplier in advance of 4 weeks before bid date as required. Attached to this email is a full engineering package of our proposed offering. Other than name listing as a specified supplier we 100% comply with the specifications and drawings. Both ABC and DEF (the owner) asked that we contact you since we are the preferred vendor of DEF and already have many systems in their other facilities and have maintenance agreements in place to maintain not only our equipment but also competing equipment they own. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter I am available at your convenience should any further clarification be needed.

EE: Ron, thanks for your note. Unfortunately we are only specifying brand DOG for this project. If the owner really prefers you after bid we can work with them to obtain a comparable price. Please note if they elect to use your product you will be responsible for covering all deviations between the two products and the owner will be charged for design revision time.

Me: Thank you for your prompt reply. I understand your concern. May I please ask, why you specify brand DOG only on this project?

EE: We reviewed all major manufacturer's offerings (including yours) and found brand DOG to have the best solution for this application.

Me: Thank you again for your prompt response. Actually on this particular product node, are you aware that we manufacture brand DOG's product in house and private label it for them? It is 100% identical except for paint color and decal application to our offering. In fact if you buy brand dog all future parts and service will have to come from us anyway.

EE: Oh thank you for reminding me. There are so many moving parts on this job they run together, actually I did know that. We went with DOG because they have closer service facilities and more trained service personnel than you guys. No hard feelings, we will definitely work together in the future.

Me: Sir, I apologize for being combative but any time we are not a specified manufacturer I am required to notify our manufacturer as to why and fill out an explanation form and if I dont have my ducks in a row they will wear me out, so I have to make sure I have my story straight. Your last email raises a couple questions. Industry Z technicians are nationally certified by a central independent agency. You can review a supplier's trained service personnel at :ww.hereisaresourceforyou.com as you can see we employ 68 trained and certified service personnel while the listed manufacturer DOG only has 11. Furthermore I see where my prior email may have been vague. Brand DOG will not commission, service, or diagnose this equipment. Ever. After sale at time of commissioning they will call me and pay my technicians to do the commissioning. if there is an equipment malfunction - your client will call DOG and they will call me and I will dispatch a technician. I will bill DOG (the same thing Id bill your client) and they will mark it up and bill your client. Your specified brand literally can not service any part of this equipment. Does this information alter your prior decision in any way?

Crickets since 8:05 AM...all the other emails tok place between 7:15 and 8:05
 
Ron said:
Likewise Ive yet to find the rich side.
Regarding your example above:

If there is 1 penny of public money on a job in NC you shouldnt be specifying by manufacturer, period.
Exclusion of a supplier based exclusively on manufacturer brand and not performance is illegal in NC.

And btw, I dont know of any suppliers in business today who will produce a submittal without a written PO with cancellation terms. Now maybe pure commodity products differ, but on the flip side for a small order I have 6-12 man hours in submittal prep. Not counting material cost (luckily everything is moving towards Electronic FINALLY) In 2009 when I worked for brand "C" I spent $68,000 on paper, binders, tabs, ink and printer repairs for preparation of submittal docs. And almost that again in O&M prep costs. And those numbers didn't include equipment procurement of the printing/publishing equipment. Point being you are asking a contractor to commit to purchase equipment before you will consider it.


Real conversation I had this morning wth a specifying engineer:

Me: Good morning, sir. We have been asked to price project XYZ for contractor ABC and owner DEF that bids on May 15th. In compliance with specification requirements we are requesting to be added as an equal supplier in advance of 4 weeks before bid date as required. Attached to this email is a full engineering package of our proposed offering. Other than name listing as a specified supplier we 100% comply with the specifications and drawings. Both ABC and DEF (the owner) asked that we contact you since we are the preferred vendor of DEF and already have many systems in their other facilities and have maintenance agreements in place to maintain not only our equipment but also competing equipment they own. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter I am available at your convenience should any further clarification be needed.

EE: Ron, thanks for your note. Unfortunately we are only specifying brand DOG for this project. If the owner really prefers you after bid we can work with them to obtain a comparable price. Please note if they elect to use your product you will be responsible for covering all deviations between the two products and the owner will be charged for design revision time.

Me: Thank you for your prompt reply. I understand your concern. May I please ask, why you specify brand DOG only on this project?

EE: We reviewed all major manufacturer's offerings (including yours) and found brand DOG to have the best solution for this application.

Me: Thank you again for your prompt response. Actually on this particular product node, are you aware that we manufacture brand DOG's product in house and private label it for them? It is 100% identical except for paint color and decal application to our offering. In fact if you buy brand dog all future parts and service will have to come from us anyway.

EE: Oh thank you for reminding me. There are so many moving parts on this job they run together, actually I did know that. We went with DOG because they have closer service facilities and more trained service personnel than you guys. No hard feelings, we will definitely work together in the future.

Me: Sir, I apologize for being combative but any time we are not a specified manufacturer I am required to notify our manufacturer as to why and fill out an explanation form and if I dont have my ducks in a row they will wear me out, so I have to make sure I have my story straight. Your last email raises a couple questions. Industry Z technicians are nationally certified by a central independent agency. You can review a supplier's trained service personnel at :ww.hereisaresourceforyou.com as you can see we employ 68 trained and certified service personnel while the listed manufacturer DOG only has 11. Furthermore I see where my prior email may have been vague. Brand DOG will not commission, service, or diagnose this equipment. Ever. After sale at time of commissioning they will call me and pay my technicians to do the commissioning. if there is an equipment malfunction - your client will call DOG and they will call me and I will dispatch a technician. I will bill DOG (the same thing Id bill your client) and they will mark it up and bill your client. Your specified brand literally can not service any part of this equipment. Does this information alter your prior decision in any way?

Crickets since 8:05 AM...all the other emails tok place between 7:15 and 8:05
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They are gonna delete the DEF anyway so it doesn't run like a DOG.
 
Ron said:
Likewise Ive yet to find the rich side.
Regarding your example above:

If there is 1 penny of public money on a job in NC you shouldnt be specifying by manufacturer, period.
Exclusion of a supplier based exclusively on manufacturer brand and not performance is illegal in NC.
Click to expand...

Everything specified is 100% Performance based spec that 3 mfg CAN achieve. I absolutely CAN and DO base my schedules around a single product UNLESS I have to send it to DPI. If that's the case I still base on single model number but I have to LIST 3 mfg in that column (who can achieve the performance spec). I cannot, however, specify a single patented product that no other mfg are allowed to replicate with public money.
If your product cannot achieve the performance I have specified (state, local, federal tax dollars) but 3 mfg can, I can (and will) reject your product.
And to take it a step further, if the client DOES want a very specific MFG/model, I can make it an Add-alternate to achieve their desires.
 
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