how do you get a concrete contractor to give you a quote?
Trevor_Lambert
| Posted in General Questions on
Is there a secret handshake or something? I managed to get a couple of quotes for excavation without much trouble. It has been a different story for concrete. I’ve contacted at least 10 places, all of whom I speak to on the phone to confirm that the scope of work is within their business model, and they have interest. Then I send over the drawings, and never hear from them again. I’ve tried following up with some so far, and they don’t reply. This is for a pretty straightforward, monolithic slab. Am I going to have to start my own concrete finishing business? I’m kind of running out of places to contact.
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We are in the same boat. Contacted a number of concrete guys. I assume it's the time of year they are the busiest, at least around here. All the projects waiting for the thaw. We looked at doing a monolithic slab, WarmForm specifically. We are working with a builder on consult who has done Passive Houses and other high performance homes since the 80s. He said they had a really tough time finding a concrete contractor willing to do that. Anything outside of normal walls and you run into issues. I requested quotes from a few guys who do ICF and Superior Walls and got quotes back a lot quicker.
Concrete contractors have been in short supply since before the pandemic and can generally pick and choose their projects. You might try going through your excavator; several that I know will subcontract concrete work.
I've thought about starting a business building "green" foundations--WarmForm, slabless slabs, helical piers, ICCF, Superior Walls and other unconventional foundations that can be hard to find people to build.
The first two I contacted, referrals from an excavator, were nice enough to decline the job; one because he was too busy, the other because it was too big for his crew. The ones that just ghost you make no sense to me. Most don't even ask when I want the work done. Doesn't seem like a smart way to do business in the long term.
Reading between the lines I'm guessing you're and owner/builder, in which case I'd bet its the same old cliché. Subcontractor X has worked with the same GCs/ Builders for decades and have more than enough work to stay busy. Bidding a one off job for an amateur isn't worth the hassle and risks versus working with experienced pros that are known to pay their bills, and may not even be getting multiple bids.
My recommendation to you: don't start by asking for a bid/quote. Instead, try to paint your job as smooth and painless, and if they have the availability, is theirs. NOT that you're a homeowner looking to save money by acting as their own GC and is shopping around for the lowest bid.
You've already got the odds stacked against you, so asking them to spend time and money putting together numbers for a job they may not get is only going to hurt your case. Have a friendly chat on the phone, give a rough scope of work and your (hopefully flexible) timeline, see if they can give an idea of pricing over the phone, and if they will bill off time and materials instead of based off a proposal/quote you're not likely to get.
I'm sure that's not what you want to hear, but it beats having to start a business or hiring the worst concrete company in the area that is desperate for work. If it makes you feel any better, I work for a well established GC and we often have trouble getting responses/numbers when reaching out to subs we haven't worked with previously.
Good Luck!
Where are you located? Many excavators also do concrete work. Have you asked around for recommendations from your other subs?
This is absolutely their busy time of year. They've been gathering the jobs for the spring and summer for the last few months. Now they're booked.
Still, something doesn't sound right.
The title of this post made me laugh. Because I've been there.
What Bcade said above is insider knowledge which might as well be gold. Don't expect contractors to be a professional business. They can pretty much do whatever they want and argue their way out of it.
Then on the other end of that, they are in demand. The good ones have developed relationships and don't need new business. If they even sniff something aggressive, out of the norm or (I hate to say this) a 'homeowners drawings' they don't even bother. If you're on this site, high likelihood you're one of the three I just listed.
Be careful when you get the one guy saying yes to everything. The likelihood of you picking one of these is high because you get desperate. Those can be the bad contractors. The ones that say, ya I can do it, to engage the work and then do it a different way, or just steal your deposit on first hardship.
As you mentioned about doing it yourself. I had to take on a lot of things with this approach.
We all swallow hard when we see the number a general contractor demands.
The way I see it a big part of that number is that he has a team of subs that take his calls and give him reasonable bids.
Your choice to not employ a GC is a big part of this dilemma. You are forced to deal with the screwup subs the GC refuse to use, pay the extra markup that know you will pay because you are desperate and be the lowest priority job that gets bumped over and over again. As the GC you have 15 or 20 more sub locate to finish the house so buckle up its going to be a bumpy ride.
Walta
For our house we hired a GC for Foundation, excavation, framing, roof only - we're doing the rest. If you can find a GC that will work with you in this way it may be a viable option.
Maybe we got lucky?
Eventually I did get three quotes, which is enough to make a decision. I am pretty shocked at how expensive concrete is now compared to when I built my house in 2017, but that's another story.
So let's flip this around. Is it expected that I inform the losing bidders that I've gone with someone else? Or is it just sort of expected that you only hear back if you got the job. I want to be courteous, but if it's not expected I won't do it.
I typically only contact a contractor when they've won a bid.
btw concrete in my area (Central NY) is about $175/cuyd and it hasn't changed much in recent history. Additives have though, added hot water this past winter was $15/cuyd which is way higher than normal
Must be a regional thing. I've collected five contractors and got a quote from each within a week. Three of them even came out in person even though I live in the middle of nowhere
I have no advice for you other than is it too late to hire a GC? My GC hired a new concrete sub to do our slab. The guy botched the finish. We just paid our GC the amount we had budgeted for this line and he ate another ~ $5k toward fixing it by getting another sub to come pour a topping and smooth it out.
Maybe you have the experience and skills necessary for DIY management but as a homeowner/client currently in the middle of a build, if you can afford it I highly recommend working with a GC. A good one.
This is the primary reason why I do most of my own work , including smaller masonry/concrete jobs.
I think many concrete companies have suffered labor shortages that make them less inclined to take smaller jobs. I worry that things will get worse. I know very few young people who want to work in a trade like masonry/concrete work. Meanwhile, large infrastructure projects (road and bridge work, etc) will demand many skilled tradesmen, especially in concrete work. Where are the workers going to come from? Frankly we would have faced this problem many years ago but it was delayed because of the huge influx of immigrants (legal and illegal) that filled the construction industry over the past 3 decades. Now that the political winds auger for les immigration, shortfalls will grow.
Perhaps this is a good time to explore in more detail various forms of foundations that do not need concrete or masonry. Some of these approaches can be far less labor intensive. For instance, in the coastal area I grew up in, a good piling contractor crew of three guys with a vibrating arm-excavator can put in a full wood piling foundation for a large house in less than a day.