How not to win a bid:

1. do not return calls - there's nothing that endears you to a potential client so much as making it difficult to contact you in the first place.
2. suggest that your potential clients break the law - granted that building without permits will probably save money, but I'm guessing the insurance company is likely to take a dim view of the house burning down after a fire caused by uninspected electrical work.
3. lose your client's file - always a winner, this one.

In theory, we sought out four builders to get bids from in order to have more options and as a cross-check on estimated costs. The outcome has been that we have needed to approach that many builders in order to obtain one plausible bid.

Depressing.

Posted by Dunx at March 29, 2004 05:15 PM