The other morning I was listening to NPR’s Morning Edition on my way to work. The news was mostly the same as it has been for the past few months, the economy, revolutions, and politics. As I listened, it reminded me of those famous words written in Charles Dickens’ opening paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…”
Though written about the French Revolution of the 1700’s, the statement could easily reflect upon the state of the economy and governments around the world today.
The fact is, these are tough economic times and they have reshaped nearly every business model and a lot of businesses are just looking for ways to bridge this current recession. In addition to overhead cost cutting, some businesses are also cutting prices to bare minimums in order to stay-a-float long enough to see the rising tide of economic change; but at what cost?
There are dangerous tradeoffs in the quality or amount of services that one can afford to give when prices are reduced. The question arises as to whether it is worth it to provide a lesser quality product and perhaps compromised service just to win a new project. And, after that project is complete, have you actually gained a loyal client or will they continue shopping for the lowest price when the next project comes along?
Even though businesses have been forced to change their business models, customers are still demanding the same quality and perhaps even better customer service than before.
While NBD is much leaner, like every other firm, we are also much more efficient in terms of productivity. “Right Sized” is the current term that probably best describes the business model under which we will be living for the foreseeable future. And although we at NBD have adapted, we still continue to provide our clients with un-compromising quality and service, no matter what the economic conditions. INTEGRITY at a fair price!
There are probably as many ways to bid a project as there are to design a project. When asking for project proposals from architects, engineers and other design professionals it is important to remember the difference between initial project costs and scope of services. For instance, at first glance a proposed price may seem lower from one firm compared to another, but does that “lower” price include the entire scope of services needed to permit the project. It could be, in the case of civil engineering services, that a firm may propose a set price for the bare minimums such as grading and onsite utility designs and then after an initial submittal to permitting agency come back to the client saying that additional services such as a drainage and traffic study, as well as, off-site improvements will be required for the project permit. These “additional” service designs are then billed the higher hourly rate in the form of a change order.
At NBD, we have been providing civil engineering services in Southern Nevada for nearly 15 years and we know what it takes to receive a permit. We have also provided “Plans Checking” services for several agencies and are experts on what it takes to develop a permitted and “buildable” (which contrary to belief are not one in the same), set of plans. So if you have a project that you are developing, I ask you to please, compare our hourly rates with our competitors and then compare our scope of services on an apple’s to apple’s basis. While I cannot guarantee the lowest initial price, I am willing to bet that when the project is finished, we will not have exceeded our upfront proposal fee, simply because we do not believe in change order bidding.
At Your Service,
Craig A. Ruark, LEED AP (BD+C)
Director of Business Development
