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The Lowest Bid May Not Be The Best

The Lowest Bid May Not Be The Best

Darwin AwardWhen I was living in Portland, we had a windstorm one winter that broke a large branch off my neighbor’s tree, punching a hole in their roof. Their insurance company paid for the roof to be repaired but did not cover taking the rest of the tree down, so my neighbor had to pay out of pocket. Not having a lot of money, they ended up hiring the lowest bidder. This bidder, I’m sure, was not a licensed tree arborist, and I doubt they carried any insurance. Looking at the picture, I can sarcastically say, “What could possibly go wrong.”

When hiring a contractor of any kind to work on your house, it is important to ask them to provide proof of insurance, especially worker’s comp insurance. If something went wrong and an employee was hurt, they could not only sew their employer, they could sew you. You could be on the hook for their medical bills, not to mention the cost of any further damage done to your property.

Don’t feel shy about asking for proof of insurance. If they are a reputable contractor and have been around the block a few times, they will be prepared to have their insurance company send you a copy of their proof of insurance or have a copy on hand when presenting the bid.

Of course, references and examples of their past work are a great idea when hiring a contractor as well.

Tree crushed fenceIt took them a few days to get the tree down, and luckily, it came down without incident except for crushing the fence between our properties. They did kind of fix the fence by replacing the broken boards, standing the rest of it back up, and tying it to a smaller tree in their backyard to keep it from falling over.

Custom Furniture Design and Fabrication by Brian Benham

I guess that is the quality of workmanship you get when hiring the lowest bidder. Luckily, shortly after that incident, I moved so I would not have to deal with the fence after their rope rotted in the weather.

 

 


I’m the owner of Benham Design Concepts, a mixed media art studio where I design and build custom furniture and other works of art using wood, glass, stone, and various metals.
In this blog, I talk about the art I create, my journey, and the things I learn along the way.

2 comments

  1. The lowest bid is hardly never the best. When you try to save money on home renovation, you usually spend more.

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