b'PRESIDENTS LETTERChris WalkerBest value proposalsWhen is it appropriate to judgevice,andwechoosetoprovide a product or a company only bythat service for clients who show costs?Ageneralcontractorwillus the minimal courtesy of at least tellyouitiswhentheyhave,providing quality and timely feed-accordingtotheirprocess,vet- back, even if they dont award us tedotherpotentialbiddersandthe project.aresatisfi edthateachbidderisRecently, I had the opportunity capable of performing the instal- towalkadeveloperthroughan lation.Noticetheysaidcapable,award-winningprojectwecom-notqualifi ed.Thereisalargepleted a year and a half ago. He distinction between the two, andaskedustoprovideanexample the amount of expense and effortof a similar project we had com-expendedtoproperlyinstallapletedbecausehewasvetting projectinstead of just getting itour installation to see if we were installedis signifi cant. CAPABLEofcompletingtheir I am concerned that GCs are notinstallation. We are being consid-trulycapableofcriticallyevalu- ered along with a few other can-atingwhatisrequiredtojudgedidates and they expect to make whetheraninstallationisdonethe award this week (You can ask right. Thishasledustoreevalu- meifwegotitbythetimethis atewhoweareprovidingpro- TileLetter is published).posals to and what type of workKnowing he wanted to see our we at David Allen Company bid.completedproject,Iofferedhim We will bid if we feel we have atransportation to the job. This was competitiveopportunityandarean opportunity to discuss the dif-being considered with other trulyferencesthanmakeaninstalla-qualifi edbidders,notapooloftionCORRECTratherthanjust 10-16 bidders where the last lowCOMPLETE. Having an opportuni-price will win the project. We arety to discuss specifi cs about a com-taking a much more critical viewpleted installation instead of sim-of who we prepare our proposalsplywalkingunescortedthrough for.Estimatingisavaluableser- thebuildingwasveryvaluable. 18 TileLetter | October 2019'