ETHICS & the LOW BID CONTRACTOR I call these guys the lowballers. Understand who I’m calling a lowballer. It’s not a company that bids a few hundred dollars less than the next guy; it is the company that put a bid of $5,000 when all others are over $8,000. An ethical contractor has no chance against the lowballers. They are going to get the contract for a third of the going rate. From my own experience, there is just not that much profit in this business if you take the time to be safe, do the job properly and completely. In any other industry, a bid that is too low is dismissed. Municipal governments that are so damaged by “good old boy” politics and “brother-in-law” deals have a set policy, or even ordinances, that state the LOW BID MUST PREVAIL. This kind of thinking must be re-thought for some contracts. Unlike the purchase of materials, when dealing with HIGH RISK CONTRACTORS, factors other than price must be considered. Automatically taking the low bid when dealing with any high risk contractor is not a good policy. How much time is the project going to take? Is their low bid enough even to cover the minimal time to do the job? Do more than look at the dollars bid. Call each contractor and ask them to quote a daily rate for a dive team. Then ask them how long your job will take. You may learn that the lowest bidder has not allowed enough time to complete the job. Can they really do the job, pay their employees, cover fuel, hotel, and other expenses and still make a modest profit for the company on 1/3, or even ½, of what others bid? THE TRICK of the FOLDING YARD STICK & the VIDEO DOUBLE BACK. Over the years I have hired a lot of divers, and I have heard stories of how companies push ethics aside to go after the biggest check possible in the shortest amount of time. One company used a folding yard stick for years. They would break off the last part of the stick so when they took a video of the ruler sticking into the sediment it was always at least 9 inches. Another company was in a habit of cleaning half a tank and when it came time to perform the after video they just doubled back and filmed the clean part twice. Some companies tell their employees to clean the entire tank, and then offer bonuses if multiple tanks are cleaned in a single day. This sets up the divers up to be rewarded if they move fast, leaving before the tanks are really done, and go on to clean, or at least appear to clean, more tanks. Rewarding divers for speed is a doubled edged sword. On one side the crew definitely moves faster, but on the other, the utility is often left with a job half done. Unfortunately, old habits are hard to break. When these divers tried to take shortcuts like this with our company, they were shocked to learn that the after cleaning video was done by another person, and when sediment was still found in their tanks that were reported to be clean their employment was terminated. This problem is so wide spread that despite experienced workers having the expertise to properly do the job we have had much better results when we hire recruits and train them from scratch. I spoke about money well spent when you’re talking about peoples’ lives, which is not only about the divers having the time they need to be safe. The contracts I am referring to in this chapter are made to remove sediment form the floor of water storage tanks. Potable water goes directly to the public. If only part of the tank is cleaned, bacteria and other contaminants may continue to grow in the tank and threaten the health or even the lives of the customers on that water system (see Chapter four). Spending the money it takes to get the job done right is money well spent. An extremely low bid should raise suspicion. Check references, check safety records, investigate to find out what their daily rate is, and how much time they are really planning to be on your site. Do what many general contractors I know do, get more bids. Throw out the high bid, throw out the low bid, check safety records and references of the ones in the middle, and make a selection. ETHICS & SAFETY: Take a little time to make to sure the contractors you hire have good safety records. Search engines like Google have made checking a company’s safety record easier than ever before. I think safety and good ethics go hand in hand. Providing employees the time they need to perform their jobs safely and providing the proper equipment and training all cost money. Safety records and references are things that you can check to get an idea of the policies and customs of the company. Repeated or willful violations on safety issues may reflect a company that is more concerned about making a buck than doing what is right. A company’s safety record must be considered when hiring a HIGH RISK CONTRACTOR. There is more than one way to award a contract. There are two commonly used methods to determine who is awarded a contract. The low-bid method and the qualifications-based process. The low-bid method that is by far the most common method of selecting an inspection or diving contractor. Qualifications-based process is usually reserved for attorneys, engineers, and architects. When is the last time you ask your doctor for a bid on doing a little surgery? Architects and engineers for the most part avoid getting into a low bid competition. Professionals services are more likely to use a qualifications-based process that allows the buyer to choose a contractor based on the contractor’s qualifications, experience, and perhaps most importantly, reputation. When people are hired to climb water towers and crawl into confined spaces and work underwater, perhaps it is more ethical to choose the qualifications-based process. These jobs require highly trained, well equipped people to tame the high risks that are associated with climbing towers and working underneath 40 feet of water. These contractors are specialized and much closer to professional status than their blue collar counterparts who are awarded skilled trade or typical construction type contracts. If you need a street paved, a roof installed or a ditch dug, I can see the merit in seeking out the low bid contract. However, these can come with their own risks as well. Tower inspectors and commercial divers have more at risk when they go to work, and the water utility has an ethical obligation to use the qualifications-based process when dealing with this type of contract. With this method, the utility can choose a contractor based on the contractor’s qualifications, experience, reputation, and perhaps most importantly, with these types of contracts it allows you to evaluate the company’s safety records.
This is from Chapter Nine of my new Book-
Inspecting & Cleaning Potable Water Storage
available now at
www.xlibris.com/bookstore
l Water Tanks. 
