I got a packet in the mail today that was stamped “RFP enclosed”, and, sure enough, there was one.

There was a cover letter describing the process that the client (a church) will follow. A few things caught my attention.

Here is the rough process:
1. Packet with plans & specs enclosed for review
2. Time for site inspection for contractors on two separate dates
3. Answers to all RFI’s will be distributed to all contractors involved on a given date
4. Proposals to be received approx. three weeks after site visit
5. Church will request “Best and Final Offers” from three contractors
6. “Final award will be made on the basis of best value to the owner”

The thing that caught my eye was the note on page 1 of the plans that states “These drawings are to be used in conjunction with: ‘The Handbook of Specifications and Scopes of Work for Trade Contractors”.

I’ve never heard of this book before (although a BT search does give one passing reference to it) but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth anything.

I would like to get our company into more commercial work (to date, we’ve done a $60k TI job and acted as a construction manager on a $1.8m new church build) but have not done too much to actively pursue that end. One thing I like about commercial work is it seems to be more formal and organized, and I think we could do well in that environment.

On the flip side, I don’t want to confuse “normal” commercial protocols with a group of retired guys who are “managing” a construction project with way too much time on their hands and the mindset that they can, with enough ink and paper, manage a job on paper. I appreciate structure and organization very much, but I think we’ve all dealt with the customer who works as an engineer/purchasing agent/academic who thinks that the only difficult part of a construction project is creating the to-do list- everything after that is just crossing items off of a list.

So, is this a typical method, or should I choose my steps carefully? I’m also open to any comment on the “process” that they outline. I will certainly ask how many contractors they are expecting to bid. 12 may be a good number for how many disciples there were, but I’m not interested in bidding against 11 other guys.