Ongoing bidding war continues to attract outsiders into US demolition business.
Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away (well, Killarney in September 2009), DemolitionNews had the opportunity to meet up with National Demolition Association chief executive Mike Taylor and president Ray Passeno to discuss what was rapidly turning into a US bidding war.
At the time, Taylor noted that the economic downturn had seen an increasing number of non-demolition companies – who he termed “Bob’s Landscaping” – beginning to compete for demolition work.
Fast forward 18 months and, judging by the bid reports emanating from the Alamosa School District, it appears that Bob’s Landscapting (or, in this instance, Absmeier Landscaping) remains camped in demolition’s front yard.
The Alamosa School District received 11 bids for the demolition of Polston Primary School with base bids ranging from a low of $118,000 (Absmeier Landscaping, Alamosa) to a high of $765,000 (Gardner Excavating, Alamosa).
Not only has the company managed to steal a march on its demolition rivals, it also has another deck of cards stacked in its favour. Potential bidders were advised that a five percent preference to local bidders would be enforced.
But the fact that this “open to allcomers” bidding process was so accurately prophesized by Mike Taylor almost two years ago tells only half the story. What is more telling is the fact that non-demolition companies must be incredibly desperate for work if they are willing to try their hand at a job that even highly professional companies find risky (both financially and in health and safety terms) in order to stay afloat.
That probably says more about the current state to the economy than a myriad of Wall Street economists.
Read more here.
