Replies

1. 
   BobKovacs | May 24, 2005 10:02pm | #1

   OK....that one's a little vague....

   Did you want to know what the "general conditions" include?  How to determine the general conditions costs?  Or what may or may not be "fair" in your eyes?  And what "pricing spreadsheet" are you talking about?

   A little more information would be very helpful.

   Bob

2. 
   RW | May 24, 2005 11:50pm | #2

   I think I know what you're getting at. You're looking at something laid out on CSI and the block referring to general conditions.

   What that means is basically thus: you've established a cost for a certain item. The cost might be accurate as a sf or lf figure, but it's not perfect, and it can't be, because every job has its own unique facets. The general conditions is really a modifier - and a way to force you to think about those other things that are going to impact progress and your time spent. So say you are charging a buck 25 for drywall. But thats based on new construction. Now you're bidding a job where it's a second floor only, and it's a half story where the walls only come up 5 ft then you hit the rafters, then the ceiling. Well, all the extra cutting is going to impact your time. Lets say you cant get a lift in the yard for fear of driving over the septic. So now you gotta hand carry 3500sf of rock up the stairs. You need to protect what you're passing through. You need to clean up and get all the debris back down and out of there. It's 30 minutes out of town. Ok, you get the pic.

   "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain

1. 
   BobKovacs | May 25, 2005 03:35pm | #3

   Interesting concept, but I've never seen General Conditions used for anything remotely close to that.   The items you mentioned should be modified in the unit pricing for the direct work items- that $1.25/SF should be reflected as $2/SF in Division 9- not in the GC section.

   Division 1- General Conditions is for items such as job supervision, trailers, temporary utilities, scaffolding to be shared by all trades, temporary heat, dumpsters, and all of the other items typically supplied directly by the GC.

   Bob

1. 
   RW | May 25, 2005 07:21pm | #4

   Hmm. Well, yes. I put all those things in there too. I guess the way my head works, I look at general conditions also in a very literal sense of what the actual job conditions are and how those conditions impact the job itself. Not disagreeing. I suppose if we both end up more or less at the same place by the end of the spreadsheet . . ."If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain