Trade overlap and “Ghost Trades”

Watching buildings emerge from the ground everything appears to have a synchronized and obvious way for all the elements to fit together.  The tradesman on site just flow from one task to another.  Sadly, this is not the natural way of things at the bid stage.  A review of the subcontractor exclusions across trades will quickly reveal several items that nobody included.

The natural question here is “Why?”.  The answer can be simple.  The subcontractors are competing so they avoid including anything that might be in someone else’s scope of work.  The answer could also be complex, for example they may know that a specialty contractor is required but they don’t want the responsibility of subcontracting them just to give the GC a “complete” bid.

For example, nobody likes to work with Betsy the roof inspector…

Trade overlap occurs wherever assemblies from separate trades will meet.  In the case of equipment the specifications should define how the assemblies will be furnished and installed.  For example a responsibility matrix for the mechanical equipment might show that the rooftop equipment will arrive with a fusible disconnect for the electrician to connect to.  It may also indicate that the fire alarm contractor is to furnish a duct detector which the HVAC contractor is to install.

Whenever the plans fail to properly identify which trade does what, it falls upon the GC to provide direction accordingly.  There will however be times that local tradition or simple subcontractor opinion will play a role in what they will include in their bid.  For example let’s imagine that a ground up building will consist of structural steel on to which metal studs are attached to  frame the exterior walls.  Depending on the assembly, it may prove necessary to weld the light gauge studs to the structural steel.  This can be common at parapet walls over a window opening.  Some drywall contractors will seek to exclude light gauge welding from their scope of work, claiming the structural erector already has welders on site.

If the local tradition is for structural erectors to weld light gauge studs to structural steel, they may well provide pricing to do so.  Be cautious with this option since the structural erector will likely need separate mobilizations to return to the site for the light gauge welding.

Remember that every bid you complete adds to your collective legacy.  Working with the subcontractors over and over again, you can (and should) develop understandings of how you’d like things to be bid.  Traditions can be hard to change so ask for alternates to “do it your way”.  Over time, you might change the tradition!

Sub-Tier Subs

There are some specialty installers that come into play when specific materials or methods are required.  Often they are sub-tier subs or “Ghost trades” since they don’t appear on any of the GC’s subcontracts.  Examples include: Mechanical controls, Fire alarm, Energy Management Systems, Directional boring, Core drilling, Concrete saw cutting, Ground penetrating radar, X-Ray, Concrete honing, Independent testing agencies, Commissioning agents, Racking systems, Emissions controls systems, Emergency Radio systems, Radio amplification systems,  De-watering equipment suppliers, traffic control, erosion control, storm water management, Standby systems, Truck mounted HVAC, Generators, Craning, Rigging, Utility locates, etc.

Depending on the situation, the subcontractors may be obligated to use a single sub-tier sub for some scope item.  Basic economic laws remain,  a restricted supply drives a greater demand.  Sometimes these “Ghost trades” are immensely overpriced simply for lack of competition.

These guy’s don’t come cheap, but who else are you gonna call?

Go ghost hunting.

The  vast majority of these “ghost trades” will involve scopes of work pertaining to engineering consultants.  Often the plans will show a desired system without any particular mention of a restricted specification.  In the case of a remodel, it’s often critical to use vendors who are licensed or franchised by the manufacturer of an installed system.  In the case of Fire Alarm it’s not uncommon for an installer to program a “lock” on the system precluding any other company from remodeling the system.  On ground up projects, the specifications will define acceptable manufacturers.  As a GC it’s perfectly reasonable to reach out to these vendors directly.  If they won’t bid directly to you, give them a contact list of your subs to ensure that everyone you’ve invited will receive the needed quotes.

As simple as it sounds, taking a picture of the control panels for all systems during a job walk reduces the likelihood of a mistake.  Many firms will put their business card or sticker on the case, this can be a valuable lead.

Don’t play favorites.

Sometimes a design team will require  sub-tier-subs without properly specifying the system.  If they wrote “or approved equal” after the name of a sole-specified vendor, insist that the design team provide a full specification to allow competition.  Often this is an indicator that the vendor assisted the design team and they are rewarding them by sole specification, they conceal this preferential treatment by feigning to allow alternate vendors.

That dude’s shady.

Get involved

Good subcontractor communication leads to better feedback.  If you establish yourself as a GC who will run down the details, the subs have less risk in working with you hence lower bids.  Getting to know the norms and traditions of sub-tier-subs in your market is invaluable to ensuring that you face  a minimum of bid-day surprises.  Be advised that it can be immensely frustrating to encounter a situation where everyone is excluding some scope of work.  Attempting to force a bidder to cover some portion of work they must subcontract out is not fair.  It’s your job to find the hidden details and broadcast them to your bid team NOT to collect bids and stop your feet when they’re omitting something.

Sub tier vendors can be so specialized that subcontractors may not know they exist despite decades of experience.  Whenever possible, consult with experienced Project Manager’s as there’s a chance they have heard of the situation once before.  Staying on top of current means and methods is a critical job skill everyone in construction management should maintain.

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© Anton Takken 2014 all rights reserved