How Low Can You Go?
"Never explain-Never Complain"
It isn't a stretch in credulity for me to boast a bit about how in tune I stay with the current events in the window film "industry."
The Internet has made it simple to keep current with every manufacturer (real and pretend) distributors dealers and an array of related developments.
I always know when someone "lifts" images from my blog and sticks on their own the very next day. I know when someone takes a posting from my blog and copies it almost word-for-word to paste it into their own.
I watch "their" videos when they post them onto Youtube or Facebook. I admit to being curious to see if there is anything new, but ultimately it's the same old boring nonsense.
The point being I kind'a know what's happening in this wacky business.
So it's no surprise I noticed a bid in Greenville SC for the removal of 16,500 square feet of P-18 3M silver film and the replacement with P18 or equal more than a month ago.
The bid was listed under "Sun Film" which is unusual to say the least. After all; who calls this stuff Sun Film?
The 3M P18 caught my eye because this is an overpriced "Me Too" silver film that has nothing unique or unusual to boast about unless you are referring to its price being, in many cases, twice as expensive (per square foot) as equivalent silver film.
In other words beating that specification is easier than pie.
I could run through the list for you if you'd like. Call me sometime!
I'll leave the Solar Gard argument aside that they sputter silver better than anyone (I actually got into a debate about this years ago and conceded the point!)
Suffice to say that only a fool would propose 3M P18 (unless 3M lowered their price by 50%) and even then they would be at too high a price compared to several vendors!
Now let me explain how a bid like this works.
Someone in Greenville apparently was talking with a local 3M dealer.
They obviously set the bid specifications for this project perhaps calling it Sun Film to hide the bid from standard bid search engines.
Another clue is that the old film was clearly identified as P18 (typically building owners forget what film was installed 20 years ago!)
Removing 16,500 square feet of film takes a good deal of time and effort. The film won't simply peel away from the glass like a Post-It Note.
No. This will require young, strong men with Popeye arms and plenty of 6 inch scraper blades.
The film is on windows blocked by blinds, cabinets, desks and boxes of paper.
The work has to be done around city employees who are union members and this implies that the work has to be scheduled around their hours. (I know that this is true because I actually checked into the details and was lurking behind the scenes on this bid.)
Once the 16,500 square feet has been ripped, scraped, steamed, peeled off and bagged. One assumes the City of Greenville wants the garbage taken away.
Now. .
Your crew (or Superman) has to install 16,500 square feet of new silver film purchased from some company. Of course you really have to buy more than 16,500 square feet of film because of the waste (roll sizes don't match window sizes exactly)
For the sake of argument; lets say you have to actually buy 20,000 square feet of silver 20 film from someone (or P18 if you are nuts!)
Follow me so far?
Of course a traveling crew could sleep in their cars and eat Mac and Cheese every day, but that tends to weaken the arm strength.
Let's recap:
- Remove 16,500 square feet of 3M P18 film that has been baking on their glass for 20 years. Get all that adhesive off of course!
- Work around the employee hours in the building.
- Remove all blinds, drapes, curtains and move furniture, boxes and cabinets.
- Take the 16,500 square feet of shredded garbage film and dispose of it properly (whatever that entails)
- Buy 20,000 square feet of new film from whomever. (Solar Gard, Sun Gard, LLumar, SunTek, Madico, Global, Johnson, Garware, Hanita, China Inc., Korea Inc.
- Install the new film properly.
- Replace the blinds, curtains, drapes and put the cabinets and desks back where they were while working around union employee schedules.
- Do all of this in a reasonable amount of time (let's assume 30 days for arguments sake?)
- House your crew and feed them (assume higher cost if you are traveling-like gas from say Florida to Greenville?)
- Assume you have all required SC business license requirements, General Liability and Worker's Comp.
- Wait a fair amount of time for payment. After all it's a government paying the bill.
Here's the Bid Tabulations:
The Low Bid is less than $2.00 per sq. ft
Enjoy.
Posted by Mike Feldman at 1/7/2012 10:21 AM 
Categories: Consulting Coaching
Tags: How Low Can You Go?
Categories: Consulting Coaching
Tags: How Low Can You Go?
As a small company that you would place into the pretend or korea inc group.. I actually agree with you on this bid. It's a very short-sighted victory for the bid winner.
The margin for error on this job doesnt exist, and neither does a realistic profit margin.
Thank you for posting this on your blog. It's a good lesson to take in.
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Hard to believe and sad, just sad.
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Enjoyed that!
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