Nordlys
2017-10-17 22:30:04
- #1
2 questions:
- How can an independent architect offer fixed prices? You pay the craftsmen yourself and not through the architect, right? Then it’s no longer an architect but a general contractor?
- Isn’t the problem with public tenders that only the cheapest always gets the contract and companies therefore don’t bother? I’m not sure if that can be applied so well to the private sector.
Regarding your second question. Because we do restricted tendering, i.e. we agree with the architect who he should invite, the cheapest must also get the contract. If we hadn’t wanted him, we simply wouldn’t have invited him. That’s the theory. Unfortunately, the practice today is that you also have to invite companies you don’t really value in order to receive offers.
A frequently mentioned problem with architects, according to craftsmen speaking behind closed doors, are the payment processes. Invoices go to the architect, who checks them, which often takes three weeks, then to the client, another 14 days, so five weeks already pass before the money arrives. If there are discrepancies, it takes even longer.
Then there are the bank guarantees due to defect rectification security retention; they cost money and you still have outstanding amounts. Many architects are good creatives but poor, disorganized construction managers.
It also causes annoyance when tenders are manipulated. For example, 240 m of stucco moulding is tendered to be supplied, painted, glued, but that actually never gets executed. Company xy knew this, the boss plays tennis with the architect, he offers it at 50 cents per meter while others charge 4.30, suddenly the tennis connection is the cheapest and there will never be any mouldings. Or, you tender Junkers heating without allowing alternatives, suddenly Meier and Co. is a Junkers specialist and offers the package for €14,600. Müller GmbH works only with Buderus, so they must offer Junkers at €21,400 because their volume discount does not apply to Müller with two orders per year.
All this leads to many companies’ aversion to architect tenders in times of booming economy. Karsten