Please please please.... Know the scope of works! And oh, please take time to read the proposal.
Earlier today I got a call from a contractor that requested technical assistance from us to supervise on the positioning onto the concrete pad of PAHU's we supplied last year to this hotel. At first I was surprised about the news since the unit/s he was talking about was delivered quite some time ago and its odd that it hasn't been positioned and assembled yet (not to mention that its odd that after a year the unit is still not operational).
Then this guy mentioned that they took over the work of the previous contractor and that he will be the one in charge of following through. Upon hearing this, I was seeing in my head a flashback of what had happened during the time that we delivered the units and sad to say that its not a good thing to remember but might be a good story to tell....
About late June last year, since our scope INCO terms is DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) Jobsite (Tax Included), naturally we will follow through with the release from customs of the units then afterwards we have our logistics and delivery team do their jobs and send the unit off to the jobsite. Everything was working well at that time and everything was on track. The containers were sealed properly, shipping documents were complete, etc.
Then, at the time of arrival of the containers to the jobsite; a BOOOOoiiing (sound effect)..... An issue arises!
Then here comes the phone calls, the emails and the blame games as usual...
On our end, what we knew is that it was clear with our proposal that the works stipulated above is not included. In fact, it was indicated on the "not included" section of said document even. Not to mention that since these are long lead items (3-4 months) and there were several meetings in between the time of ordering and delivery - that nobody mentioned about who will do the said scope of works.
So after some debates with the contractor who bought our equipment we then came into a conclusion and common understanding. It is not our responsibility since it's part of our "exclusion works" and that If we were to do the additional scope then it is fair to say that it would be a change order and that they would have to pay us for it.
Unfortunately, the people who processed the ordering on the side of the contractor and whatnot did not know or failed to look ahead on what works needed to be done in order to complete their job for the owner and that they might not have read all of the inclusions/exclusions of our proposal. They just issued the purchase order and did not even evaluate if the offer was complete or not. Had they mentioned it on the first place that the scope is included then we would have priced for it and added it to our cost and no issue would have even popped up.
This is just a reminder for all of you folks out there that just cares about the price of the equipment and does not even take some time to understand or even try to understand and know the details of a certain proposal. Remember that these machines cost millions and that if you were to mess up then it would certainly be a million worth of trouble that nobody wants to have....
Then this guy mentioned that they took over the work of the previous contractor and that he will be the one in charge of following through. Upon hearing this, I was seeing in my head a flashback of what had happened during the time that we delivered the units and sad to say that its not a good thing to remember but might be a good story to tell....
About late June last year, since our scope INCO terms is DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) Jobsite (Tax Included), naturally we will follow through with the release from customs of the units then afterwards we have our logistics and delivery team do their jobs and send the unit off to the jobsite. Everything was working well at that time and everything was on track. The containers were sealed properly, shipping documents were complete, etc.
Then, at the time of arrival of the containers to the jobsite; a BOOOOoiiing (sound effect)..... An issue arises!
Who's going to unload from the truck to the jobsite ground level, lift, rig, and haul the units onto the concrete pad?????Well, apparently, at that time, nobody knew!
Then here comes the phone calls, the emails and the blame games as usual...
On our end, what we knew is that it was clear with our proposal that the works stipulated above is not included. In fact, it was indicated on the "not included" section of said document even. Not to mention that since these are long lead items (3-4 months) and there were several meetings in between the time of ordering and delivery - that nobody mentioned about who will do the said scope of works.
So after some debates with the contractor who bought our equipment we then came into a conclusion and common understanding. It is not our responsibility since it's part of our "exclusion works" and that If we were to do the additional scope then it is fair to say that it would be a change order and that they would have to pay us for it.
Unfortunately, the people who processed the ordering on the side of the contractor and whatnot did not know or failed to look ahead on what works needed to be done in order to complete their job for the owner and that they might not have read all of the inclusions/exclusions of our proposal. They just issued the purchase order and did not even evaluate if the offer was complete or not. Had they mentioned it on the first place that the scope is included then we would have priced for it and added it to our cost and no issue would have even popped up.
This is just a reminder for all of you folks out there that just cares about the price of the equipment and does not even take some time to understand or even try to understand and know the details of a certain proposal. Remember that these machines cost millions and that if you were to mess up then it would certainly be a million worth of trouble that nobody wants to have....
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