几年前，一群在美国中西部小镇的一群商业和商人需要更大的消防站。他们从个人经验中了解世界的运作方式，但是由于城镇的压力，他们向所有竞标者开放了该项目，并且没有使用资格预审过程。低价竞标者（250万美元）是一名承包商，因难以与之开展业务而闻名。企业和商人怀疑承包商没有资格，但他们不需要任何资格预审流程来筛选投标人。

他们应该更了解。

我已经在建筑业中近60年，在低价低下的经验太多，甚至让我的财产附近。基于低出价的选择实际上可以保证您最终会为您的项目提供最低的合格承包商，从长远来看，您将花费更多的钱来回报，您将获得较低的质量和更多的头痛。

预定的12个月工作始于在建筑部门的检查，必须被撕毁的工作和很多争论的困难。消防公司和建筑师检查员的志愿检查员受到了霸道和积极进取的承包商的威胁，也没有匹配，他们声称他可以在合同中建立合同，因为他认为合适，并且所有者唯一的担忧应该是成品。关于缺陷和规格的建设的投诉被忽略了，并在尚未接受的工作中进行了新工作时建立了不满。

在许多其他地方，有人注意到墙壁位于错误的位置，电梯不适合轴。几乎每个人都举起了双手。城市检查失败的污水捕获巴辛非常不足，必须更换。承包商刚刚填充了它，并铺在盆地上。每次所有者试图停止进度付款时，承包商都威胁要放弃该项目并起诉。随着工作越来越落后，该镇迫切需要在承包商的手中发挥更大的消防站。实际上，该镇成为受害者，因为其自己的合同期限要求削弱了与承包商的谈判权。

建筑物完成后，市政当局拒绝签发占用证书。有电不足，替换的污水捕获盆地失败的检查失败，屋顶和许多窗户泄漏。该列表太长了，无法在此处列出。可以说，该项目迟到了六个月，独立顾问的估计是为了纠正获得占用许可所需的缺陷，超过了150万美元。

How could that be?

请记住，要把一些东西取出并修复或更换它比将其放入新的要代价更高。超过50个窗口未正确安装。它们没有根据规范安装，因此制造商的保证将无法执行，除非纠正。仅此修复程序的价格为240,000美元。

完全有线的主电动面板尺寸不足，不得不出来并被更换。主楼梯在错误的位置为5英寸。当然，必须更换替换的预制混凝土污水孔，上面装有入口和插座管道，完全用4英尺的污垢覆盖并铺成铺装，必须更换。

There's more. The roof had to come off and be replaced. There were structural steel lintels over the top of 50 windows that were incorrect or in need of repair. All of the precast windowsills and copings on the building were out of specification.

This is not the end of the story. The fire company used all the funds it had, along with the building funds raised over years, for the construction of the new firehouse. It is now struggling to make the mortgage payments on the millions they borrowed and there is no money available to make any of the $1.5 million in repairs needed an occupancy permit. It will be years until this comes to trial, but that is contingent on whether or not the fire company can continue to pay their lawyers.

Role of Surety Misunderstood

You may ask where the surety was in all this. Apparently none of the parties to the contract understood there was a bond or what it was for. There is now some question as to whether a claim can still be made under the surety bond's notice provisions. The bond would not likely have prevented the nightmare, so if it pays for the consequences, does that mean the nightmare never happened? Does it mean that design-bid-build does work?

不幸的是，噩梦并没有在这里结束。我描述的实际事件发生在2014年，2015年，该项目被据称已准备好占用。当我在2018年写这篇文章时，没有人出于任何目的占用或使用该设施。但是，持续的携带费用继续用于保险和安全。新利18备用官网登录

Sophisticated buyers of construction services don't use the design-bid-build process to select contractors because it simply does not work. The old joke that the bidder that makes the most mistakes gets the job no longer is amusing because it is way too close to the truth. The low-bid process doesn't work. Notice that I do not blame the low bidder, who performed as he always had. A sophisticated buyer of construction services would say the contractor performed in a predictable manner. If an appropriate best-value contractor selection had been conducted, the contractor's consistently poor performance history would have been discovered and the contractor would have been screened out.

最大的问题是：您是否要在项目附近的任何地方进行低价投标人？