Bidding war breaks out between lawn services company and weed spraying company.
Way back at the beginning of September last year, Demolition News interviewed the US National Demolition Association’s Ray Passeno and Mike Taylor about the bidding war that was (and still is) raging in the US demolition sector; the fact that many local contractors were searching further afield for much-needed work; and the fact that tenders were attracting the interest of companies with little or no demolition experience.
During that interview (which you can hear here), Mike Taylor memorably coined the phrase “Bob the Landscaper” to describe a man with a machine who, with no work in his chosen field of endeavour, decides to venture into the demolition business to help keep his business afloat.
That throw-away remark has now proved to be strangely prophetic with the news that a bidding war has broken out between a lawn services company and a weed spraying firm over a demolition and land clearing job for the Bloomfield School District.
The confusing and ongoing dispute relates to a proposed settlement to the original low bidder, who was later shunned when a negotiated price was agreed upon with another contractor. Local newspaper The Greene County Daily World has learned the school district may offer Kramer Custom Weed Spraying and Land Clearing LLC of Linton an undisclosed amount of money. The offer will represent the anticipated profit margin that Kramer would have made on the job. Kramer told the Greene County Daily World on Tuesday that the amount he told the school district that he would have made on the job exceeds $1,000.
The full story can be read here and, not surprisingly, it concentrates primarily upon the local politics of the bidding war. What it fails to address, however, is the fact that the two front-runners in a demolition bidding war are clearly not demolition contractors. While the contract clearly contains some land clearance, does anyone really believe that a weed spraying company is the ideal candidate for any kind of demolition?
Either way, perhaps NDA chief executive Mike Taylor can now add “prophet” to his CV.
