AIA President Celeste Novak shares her unforgettable experience of walking in the shoes of a contractor for one day … a big bid day.

I am not sure which piece of this experiment was better, walking in Doug Maibach's shoes or watching him walk in mine. I discovered that we both love complexity and love what we do. Our jobs are intense, complex and there is no “typical day.” We had to adjust our meeting date at least three times because of the unpredictable nature of our jobs.

Although a daughter of an architect with brothers in construction management, I was not prepared for my day at Barton–Malow. On July 10, as I drove up to the company my eyes widened. Cruising by wetlands, I approached a winged glass box, grounded with interlocking planes of concrete with inlaid patterns of brick. Any preconceived notion of the conservative nature of contracting toppled … Click here for the full story (this would be a good place to jump link the story) as Doug took me on the tour of their new, award-winning, high tech office building.

Doug had gleefully told me that he had planned the “mundane” for my visit, and a bid proposal. Doug handled three business issues on the fly as on our way to the bid room, walking by several departments, discussing sustainability, continuing education, water treatment and sludge.

Architects prepare drawings, specifications and work within the owner’s expectations for a specific budget. On bid day, the reality of the market meets the dreams of owners and the vision of the designers.

I have watched bids prepared for small projects before, but I wasn’t prepared for the intensity of bid day in a large company. Bid opening was at 2 p.m.; at 10:30 a.m. only about a third of the numbers were in place. I was amazed at the calm around me as a few phones rang and we discussed the process.

As the only architect in sight, I was target practice for complaints about unit pricing, alternate pricing breakouts – particularly the ones that carve out pieces of a building – so the owner can get alternate funding. Apples to apples are not easy to obtain, and what might seem easy to an owner or designer (include the floor area of the cafeteria as an alternate item) on bid day, is not a number easy to break out. I questioned why we continue a process which does not require more collaboration between the designers of buildings and the builders of the buildings. This system could be better; and between us we should figure out a mechanism to improve how we deliver buildings.

On bid day, the atmosphere is electric. There were three people in the room, three more at their desks breaking out this project by spec division. The drawings were dissected by trade, by subs, by sheet, by response and phone calls. If there were errors in the drawings, if there were places where savings could be made through drawing changes, they were not part of the pricing process.

I began to feel like I was in a telethon as phones and faxes began to fly.

The plan was to send a staff member to the bid opening with blank pages. In my mind, I can see all of the contractors in their cars, gathering on the site, cell phones and pens ready.

Barton-Malow keeps a database of over 6,000 subcontractors, qualifying each on the basis of whether they are union or non-union, safety records, insurance, red flags and gold stars. Even with this available list, there were calls going out to encourage multiple bids on several of the trades (some with only a single bidder) for this project.

11:10 a.m.: Still only 15 percent of the bids were in and secured. I began to feel like I was on the floor of Wall Street as calls and faxes, bid quotes and comments were flying.

11:30 a.m.: In the car, cell phone ready, Doug responds to a bid question as we drive to an Association of General Contractor’s meeting. Listening to my counterparts at AGC regarding membership recruitment, benefits and programs made me realize how much we have to share with each other. We are close allies in the built environment and we need to continue to strengthen our communications with each other.

1:15 p.m.: We are back in the office, and Doug looks more excited as the bid room has heated up. Five people are bumping into on another, the central computer shows that almost all the bids have been submitted. Scott is at the project and with 15 minutes to go, he calls in to say that their clock is six minutes faster than ours. The bid number is produced and analyzed. It is not quite where instinct says it should be given the initial budget by the owner. The scope of work is greater than original estimates; will the owner understand the price might be higher than originally planned? The temperature in the room and metaphorical smoke rises, and the decision is made to go ahead. As the phone call is made, with two minutes to go, one last bid comes in lowering the price to the final number submitted. Time is up. It’s 2 p.m.

A collective sigh is felt throughout the room. Doug says later, “ I like winning.” You could tell everyone in the room loved the process. I think there is nothing like it in architecture, not even a presentation before new clients. There is almost the smell of cigar smoke, the ancient ritual of gambling, bartering and guessing as a bid document is submitted. It is a final number, with no qualifications and no exclusions. If you get the job, then you must build it at that price. The numbers must be close enough to make the project work financially and still win you the job. In this case, the competition was fierce.

By 2:30 p.m. the decision on the bid opening had been made. We clustered together in the middle of the office with some of the staff. We were seventh out of 17 bidders. The spread surprised me by its perfect bell curve. The winner had not provided qualifications, the next bidder had beat the field by about $300,000, and we were in a cluster separated by less than $40,000.

By 3:05 p.m., my visit really got interesting as we talked about “pickle liquor,” sludge and how to proceed with the dismantling of a pump station on another project. I approached the sets of drawings I saw, and paged through to the elevations. Doug, and every other engineer immediately flipped to the process flow diagrams –“the guts of the job.” Once again, I watched the un-building and re-building of a set of drawings from another lens… Time, schedule, size of the pieces to be removed, size of the doors, apparatus, cranes to lift, safety features, accessibility, air quality, insurance, who can do what. These are the people who will build and make real the two dimensional vision. They have enormous knowledge of systems, processes, the market, contracts, performance guarantees, liquidated damages, bonding, financing… they are the process.

By 4:20 p.m., I take an early leave from Doug’s world. He has more than 47 e-mails to answer. He will review mail, expense reports, look at some labor issues and leave by 6 p.m. to go home to his family.

I asked him what his next challenge is, and what makes him eager to get up in the morning. He describes new markets, his enjoyment of the bidding process, and seeing the people around him succeed. I get the sense that he has a lot of fun at work – even on a bad bid day.

Doug visited our office the following week, and I felt as though I was two people showing him my work and listening to his questions.