Getting Multiple Quotes: Best Practice for Designers, Contractors & Clients
Having completed a design, and the client has signed off the scheme in preparation for obtaining quotes from suitable contractors, it is usual to find that the customer will seek more than one quotation – more likely to wish to see three comparative tenders, based on the documents to hand. Unless the client has made recommendations regarding potential landscapers, they may leave the selection up to the Designer to research and arrange for three (or more) tenders. This is standard practice on all major projects – say, over £100,000.00.
Unless the Designer has experience of dealing with multiple contractors, the suggestion may be made to the client that the short-listed contractors be invited along to meet the customer and inspect the site as a group. This may seem a reasonable way of conducting an initial pre-tender meeting, if only to save the customer from having to spend too much time on interviewing people they know little about, wishing instead for the Designer to make arrangements and organise matters, then make a proposal based on their findings and returned figures submitted by the contractors.
There are many sound reasons for not trying to organise a joint meeting, with three or more individual representatives of competing companies, all in the same meeting, as the result could be most unsatisfactory. A major part of client/contractor social intercourse is the personal touch, which is not possible under a competitive group situation.
Better by far for the Designer (who should be charging an hourly rate for such operations) to meet with each individual contractor on site, walking around, examining, inspecting, measuring and generally getting a strong feel for the proposed scheme during a one-to-one meeting, where any questions may be asked in confidence regarding the Designer’s thoughts and wishes.
This should be repeated for each contractor, with the Designer being open and honest in regard to any salient points made by the contractor/s, and all such comments noted by the Designer, to be added to the pre-tender package as an Appendix, if only to clarify any grey areas noticed during the inspection. This way, the designer can gain the thoughts and knowledge brought to the table by individuals during the site visit, as each will bring their own experiences and advice.
Once all contractors have made their site visit, the next event is to organise a series of meetings with the Designer, customer (or their representative) and the individual landscapers, with a strict time limited allowed (usually one hour except for very large/complex schemes), for the landscaper to be introduced to the customer (first time of meeting) to go through the project proposals, noting any queries that may have been made by the individual during their walk-round with the Designer. Any comments, advice or suggestions made by the relevant individual contractor to be ascribed to them as a matter of courtesy during the interview.
This allows the knowledgeable landscaper to present and own their ideas and proposals in the front of the customer, and thus enhance their chances of winning the project in a fair manner.
Following these two separate interviews, the contractor to go away and return a quotation based on the strict terms agreed at the second/formal meeting, within a set time scale. In the spirit of open competition, all contractors should be allowed to raise any issues they identify, and these should be shared formally by the designer and imparted to the contractors to ensure that like-for-like tenders can be submitted.
This avoids any question of additional costs at a later date (unless genuine, and covered by formal Variation Orders). This is to ensure that no contractor has spotted a loophole in the contract documents they may exploit at a later date to their advantage, having won the project on a lower price, knowing they will be making a claim in the future.
It is customary to notify the unsuccessful contractors, showing a list of submitted tender prices, without naming any company. This is considered good etiquette, and shows the contractors how close/far away from securing the contract they were for future reference.
Having worked on many such projects, we commend this course of action. It maintains a professional balance at all times, whilst allowing personal relationships to develop between the parties involved in an open manner.
It also allows designers and contractors to gain the respect of each other, and ensures that the customer is aware of the process through which the tender and subsequent contracts have evolved.
