Originally Posted by
Not DJSapp
Fred and other contracting folks here, I'm curious what your overall hit rate of # of contracts signed vs. jobs bid actually is. In my heavy civil world, it's only about a 10-12% hit rate.
Ouch. If that were my experience I'd probably be bitter about writing bids too. For me it's probably more like 75% of the people I meet whose jobs I actually want end up hiring me. I don't even bother to write actual bids anymore: I just explain that shit is crazy and that we can't get materials, subs, or employees and that they should wait if they can. Then I give them a T&M contract, which they inevitably sign and say they want to start ASAP. That literally happened today.
To address OG's earlier question about the saying yes phenomenon, I don't have a great answer. I say no much more often than ever, and it's great. I suspect people are afraid of the work pipeline running dry so they don't think they can say no.
I am way less salty than other GCs, it seems. Maybe that's because I don't have ambitions to own a fancy boat or a hudge Diesel truck, so I don't work all the time. If I finish a job and don't feel like working for a few months I'm perfectly happy, and my guys will find other stuff to do and then come back to work for me when I find another interesting project because I pay them well and treat them with respect.
ride bikes, climb, ski, travel, cook, work to fund former, repeat.
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