They sound as though they expected to get the work no matter their bid
A group of small, minority-owned Seattle-area trucking companies that had expected to start working on the Brightwater sewage-treatment plant Monday got some bad news at the last minute: Their services won’t be needed.
The Trucker’s Consortium, a group of 10 local owners of 25 trucks, got word Friday that, instead, a big corporation will be hauling dirt excavated from a deep tunnel that will carry treated sewage to Puget Sound from the $1.8 billion plant under construction north of Woodinville.
Consortium members announced their loss of subcontract work to the Metropolitan King County Council on Monday and said it was a blow for small businesses and minority entrepreneurs trying to get a piece of public-works contracts.
Here is a hint: Try going for contracts in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and not hope for sub-work on a multi-billion dollar job.
Because I work with them on a daily basis, I can name a half-dozen small contractors who get good contracts from local municipalities that are solid five and six figure jobs (though, because I work with them, I can’t go naming them here). One of them is just a guy and his son and his nephew. They do good work, under budget and on time, every time. They are all building reputations and referrals and will be able to drop out of the muni-bidding racket in the not too distant future.
Of course, I also have to work with contractors that do crappy work, are always late and can’t pay their bills on time if their lives depended on it.
Which is sad, because the life of their business does.