oliviagrant•20d agoProlific Poster

Three quotes in one week and I nearly lost the job

I bid a garage foundation in St. Albert last Tuesday, gave them my number, and the next day three different contractors came in under me by $2000 each. Turned out they all use the same cheap concrete supplier that cuts corners on mix ratios. How do you guys spot these lowball bids before you even start digging?

4 comments

4 Comments

the_joel20d ago

Honestly that's wild to me, like you're telling me there's concrete influencers now? I had to read that twice. @john_cooper is probably right that it sounds like a stretch but I've literally seen guys on TikTok shilling their favorite rebar supplier, so I wouldn't put it past anyone anymore. One crew I know was using a mix from some Instagram brand and within six months the whole driveway had spider cracks everywhere. The supplier just deleted their account and vanished, left them holding the bag.

lane.cameron20d ago

Read an article saying some suppliers give bulk discounts to crews that push their concrete on social media, so you gotta check who's feeding them. Ask around at the local supply yard who else is buying from that cheap supplier you mentioned. Call the bidder and ask what mix they're quoting, if they dodge the question you know something's off.

john_cooper20d ago

Idk man, that sounds like a lot of conspiracy stuff for a concrete pour. I mean, are crews really out here running influencer campaigns for a yard of mix? Maybe it's just me but I'd be more worried about making sure the truck shows up on time than who's feeding who.

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robinj2920d ago

Hate to break it to you but there's a bigger problem here. Nobody's talking about the liability angle. If a crew is getting cheap mix from some influencer supplier, that concrete could fail in a year. Then you're on the hook for the whole pour, not them. Good luck getting that supplier to cover a tear out and repour. They'll just block you and move on to the next sucker. I've seen it happen twice now. Guys saving fifty bucks a yard ended up spending thousands to fix cracks.