Across the Table: Trust but Verify
We were low with the low contractor for a large pharmaceutical project. Before the contracts were signed, two employees of the customer came to visit. At our first meeting, they quickly got our attention. One said, “Before taking any tours or talking to your people, you need to understand something. When this building is operating, it will generate a million dollars in profits each and every day. Your products are installed at the end of the project. Do you want to be the reason it doesn’t open on time?” Not surprisingly, every step of that project was done on time (despite our deserved reputation).
I was chatting with an architect about another project we hadn’t bid. The low company (the one above, where I used to work), still had a reputation for being late. The architect knew this. His solution was, “We’ll just manage them more closely.” This made no sense to me. Why should the architect have to make an extra effort to get the vendor to do what they are supposed to do?
The bidding process actually starts when companies are approved to bid. Who you approve is who you get. If they don’t perform, that’s on you for not verifying they can – and will – meet your expectations.
Consider:
When are orders placed? If working through dealers, does the factory place the order into their backlog as soon as the dealer gets the order, or only after drawings are approved, colors selected, and ship-to addresses are confirmed? If not placed right away, you’re in trouble. One company understood expectations. Knowing colors would be selected later, we entered “fuchsia” as a placeholder. (No one ever used fuchsia). When that was on reports, we knew color was needed and pressured the architect to select colors or late delivery would be their fault.“Timbuktu” was used as the ship-to address for the same reason.
What do you ship with each phase? When there’s an odd cabinet but it’s in each phase, some companies make them all at the same time and ship them together. This means someone has to handle and store those meant for later phases, which just invites damage (and added cost).
How do you handle shortage and breakage? It’s a construction site; stuff happens. The answer is you need replacement products while installers are still on site. Many European manufacturers, just fix the product or build a new one on-site, because they usually have one shipping container with equipment, parts, and supplies. One American company always kept some capacity available, with any unique parts, just in case replacement products were needed as early as the next week. If you are told it depends on when the installers can return to the job site, you’re in trouble.
There are other potential questions. If you’re an owner, you need to ask your architect these questions. No matter what you’re promised, though, always reply, ”Prove it.” It’s fine to trust but verify or it’s fault.
Dave can be reached at dwithee@alum.mit.edu or 920-737-8477.
All opinions expressed in Across The Table with Dave Withee are exclusive to the author and are not reflective of Lab Design News.