ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Business Related Discussion how do I bid allowance

I do not fully understand when they say give an allowance for X (say lighting).
Do I bid giving them upto that amount? And if they come under allowance do I subtract from final payment?

please advise.

Thanks,
H20

Whenever I write that in my "Issued for Bid" set with regards to the lighting, it usually means that the 'lighting designers' haven't finalized their vision yet, but we can't wait for them...we need to get this thing bid and awarded.

In order to keep things fair for the bidders, I give them a line item price for X. That way, it's possible to get a reasonable bid from everyone instead of a bunch of wildly differing assumptions about what X will finally turn out to be. It's a LOT easier than horsetrading later on for materials and labor when the Bid included 34 $200 lights but the final design called for 42 $160 lights.

If the final price of X is over the allowance, the Change Order is smiled upon with very few questions. If the final price of X is less, I usually let the unspent money go back to the Bidder.

Some folks may handle it differently; it would be safest to ask that before your bids are due.

An allowance is the amount that your bid "allows" for an item that hasn't been chosen yet. You might allow $100 per lighting fixture if the fixtures aren't chosen yet.

Definitely keep your allowance items as separate line items. If you don't, you'll pick a more expensive fixture than the competition and your price will seem higher. Also spec exactly what fixture you've chosen for the allowance just to show that you aren't pricing something really cheap to make your bid look lower.