Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/280108
WORLD FENCE NEWS • APRIL 2014 • 77 POSITIONS WANTED WE ARE LOOKING TO DO LARGE PROJ- ECTS – We have over 20 years experience in all types of fence and we own truck and tools. I am on the west coast right now but willing to travel if the job is large enough. If you could use our help or need more information please call 360-296-5916 or e-mail me at robbgordy@aol.com. EXPERIENCED FENCE INSTALLER, 20 plus years experience in commercial, industrial and res- idential fences, DOT/highway guardrail, and insti- tutional. Looking for Southern Wisconsin or Northern Illinois areas. Please respond to: World Fence News, Box 93A, 6101 W. Courtyard Dr., Bldg. 3, Suite 115, Austin, Texas 78730 or e-mail to: mary@worldfencenews.com. World Fence News will forward information in confidence to party plac- ing this ad. BOLLARDS FOR SALE TELESCOPING OR RETRACTABLE BOLLARDS AUTOMATIC BOLLARDS – use in lieu or in front of Automatic Gates. STEEL PIPE BOLLARDS – shipped directly to your warehouse or job. BOLLARD SLEEVES OR COVERS www.bollardsolutions.com, Bill Talbot 706-283-0400 MATERIALS FOR SALE WE SPECIALIZE IN MANUFACTURING, im- port, export and distribution of Fence Pipe. Serving the wholesale fence industry since 1975. E-mail your inquiries for price and delivery at: sales@fencepipe.us. Visit www.fencepipe.us for details. ALUMINUM FENCING MATERIAL FOR SALE – Still in shipping boxes by Stephens Pipe & Steel. 6' –AFS Series A Industrial Black – 3 Rail, 90-6'x6" Fence Sections, 44-Line Post – 2 1 ⁄ 2" x .075 x 9', 10-End Post – 2 1 ⁄ 2" x .075 x 9', 18 – Gate Post – 4" x .125 x 9'. Buyer pays shipping from Harlingen, Texas 78550. Paid $17,324 on 11-13. MAKE OFFER! Contact Joe Jones at 956-245-8965 or joe.jones.b37m@statefarm.com. EQUIPMENT FOR SALE FOR SALE: 2004 GMC 4500 FLAT BED TRUCK. Asking: $18,900. 6.0 liter V8 gas engine in good condition with low 38,000 miles. E-mail fencesbydente@juno.com for details. Located in Neptune, NJ. FOR SALE: PVC ROUTER MACHINE. Asking: $1,000. CMM brand Model 6931 Type 2 Router with portal cable base, air actuated clamp, templates and stand with wheels. Located in Neptune, NJ. E- mail: fencesbydente@juno.com for details. 2005 DANDY DIGGER DD 2-25: $32,000. Diesel, 1050 hours, 3 augers, extend-a-dig, new dual tires, auxiliary hydraulics. Great machine. Call Blu at 970-250-2132. STERLING DIGGER FOR SALE with 2.5 x 12' kelly bar with pole setter and wench mounted on F-800 Ford with cat diesel engine. Excellent shape. No leaks. Many bits. Call 860-485-5011 cell or e-mail: josephlaganga@gmail.com. SSD CONTROL EQUIPMENT PURCHASED BRAND NEW in 2010, discontinued vinyl pro- duction in 2012, equipment is like new condition, can be seen operational in our NJ facility. • COS 18 Cut Off Saw with upgraded 24' epoxy coated in-feed table left of saw, handheld de-ioniz- ing blow off gun. Totally automatic operation, load bundles of material, set cut sizes and machine will feed and cuts as required. 220V, 60 HZ, 5 HP 20 AMP 18" 102 tooth carbide tipped blade: $30,000 OBO. • DANC-35 Automatic Double Notcher w/roller con- veyor and adjustable depth option: $2,500 OBO. Please contact us at 609-890-6600 and ask for Joe C. Photos sent upon request. MISCELLANEOUS GATE BIBLE: THE ULTIMATE WELDERS GUIDE to manufacturing gates. Includes all cut- ting, notching and bracing specifications for resi- dential, commercial and industrial gates. Also includes kennel panels, tools and more. Only $49.95. Phone: 810-241-2900 or e-mail us at: bfenceman@aol.com to order. Now available for immediate download. CLASSIFIEDS CONT. The life of a construction estimator You see, this wasn't the first go- round for the fire station. I'd bid it about a year ago (along with 14 other GCs). The low bid (it wasn't me) came in $420,000 over the architect's pro- jected $750,000 budget. I believe the architect's quote at the time was "Well, the bidders didn't understand the in- tent of the plans." Sure. They did try to negotiate it down with the low-bid- der but the talks stalled and the city ended up going back to the drawing board. The architect charged the city for the additional revisions. Good gig. Thursday came and I spent most of it on the phone. We're a small of- fice, so Tim (my boss) and I both do estimating and project management. The fax blared non-stop as Tim streaked in and out of my office every six minutes with little other purpose than to let me know he was worried I was going to miss something. When I let him know I was getting annoyed (which I have no problem doing), he went out to bother Becky, our receptionist. At least he was out of my hair. There must have been a lot of GCs bidding the station because we were getting really good coverage. The plans had been in all the area plan rooms and we were getting a lot of unsolicited proposals. By 1:15, I had 13 plumbing bids and 20 electri- cal. Gustave Electric (who was low with me) pulled their bid about 1:47. Someone must have talked. The toilet accessory guy called me at 1:51 to see how his number looked. I love those guys. This time I came in fifth out of 18. It was an open letting, so the bids were read aloud. Pretty good number. I was about $48,000 over Douglas's low bid of $802,900. All the bidders were bunched together pretty good. No silly highs or lows. Only $50,000 over this time, so they'll probably be able to make it go. I didn't attend the letting. We sent Becky with my mobile phone. I stayed at the office to field any last-minute bids. At five minutes to 2, I gave her the base bid number to write in. We'd written in the alternates earlier, so all she had to do was seal the envelope and give it to the receptionist. Becky called me later with the re- sults. She said the letting room smelled like a gym sock. Of course it didn't help that she was sitting next to a very nervous Bubba Douglas. Bubba seldom bathed, had no-where- near 32 teeth, and had a strong, strong crush on Becky. Bubba's bid was read first and he was low. As the other 17 numbers were read, Bubba was nerv- ous. Bubba was sweating. Once Becky called and gave me the news, all of the pent-up stress and emotion from the day began to leak out of my body. I went from exhilara- tion to exhaustion in under a minute. I guess everything in nature really does achieve equilibrium. I exhaled in full for the first time all day. It was no use starting anything else because I knew that I wasn't going to accom- plish a lot anymore today. Tim went golfing. Becky came back about 3:40 but left early because she'd missed lunch. She needed to let her dogs out. I answered the phone for awhile but it was all subs and suppliers wanting to know how they looked on the bid. The ones I liked I'd told. The one's I didn't, I didn't. I was feeling kind of playful, so I started telling everyone who called that they were low with me. I'm sure Bubba would see the humor in that later on. Friday was pretty uneventful and I was still tired from Thursday. I woke up feeling run-over and pretty much coasted through the whole day. In the morning, I set up a couple of spreadsheets for bids coming up and faxed out some bid requests to subs and suppliers for those jobs. At noon, I ran around to check on the jobs. I told Becky I'd be about and hour and half but I didn't come back until 3:30. I got hung up, I told her, when I got back. She glanced up knowingly, smiled, and went back to reconciling her lien waivers. I went into my office. Tim was gone now for the weekend so the week was officially over. And now I'm home and all is quiet. Real quiet. Boy, that (sound- deadening, friction-fit, R-11 fiber- glass) insulation in the walls really works, I think, as I force myself up and over to the (black cherry with raised panel doors; dove-tailed drawer bod- ies) cabinet. God, I'm glad the week's over and I don't have to think about work! Professional construction estima- tor and educator Steve Saucerman is a long-time contributor to World Fence News.