Nope. They dont actually start construction, they just put cones up so they can start hiring the actual construction team with the 33% pay the city/county gives them when they put those cones up.
Road projects fall through an average of two times … this means your local government usually pays for 66% of a project before it is even started (often over 100% if it happens more). The money is rarely recovered.
Don’t forget that traffic fines increase in construction zones, even if there is no actual construction going on. Not only does nothing get done, but the people pay for it doubly so.
I did indeed forget that part … but you know who doesn’t forget it? The police issuing tickets on a construction site that isn’t even active.
Such a great point.
Road projects fall through an average of two times
Do you have a source for this? I work in consulting and have never had a construction project fall through. Part of the mandatory bidding process is the contractor securing a bond against the value of the work, so that if they walk away, the Municipality can claim against the cost of the bond to complete the works.
Surety Bonds might only cover 10% of the bid cost. They can cover 100%, but usually cover less. This is where my local area seems to be getting hit. They are hiring companies from other countries and getting skipped out on once they hit a certain payment milestone.
That and the low bidder system. I am in heartland America, it is way too common here.
Interesting. There must be some serious differences between there and here (Canada). I have no doubt companies fail here too, but even for companies that have soon gone out of business, they always finish their jobs.
We often only hire companies who can show past experience on similar sized projects, our bonds cover the full contract amount (every municipality around here has that requirement), and the contracts are generally pretty stringent on things like working days with severe liquidated damages for projects that go over the deadline (I’ve seen $500/day up to $3,000/day).
It is totally different in the US. City planning will go with the absolute lowest bid, unless it is one of their relatives or they are getting a bribe.
Regardless, the incompetence would astound you. My city hired a construction company out of India that did not do construction cuts in the concrete. The roads developed “fault lines” within two months. The news said it apparently never snows where the construction company was from and they didn’t know it had to be done. That makes no sense because it would still expand in summer.
Nope. They dont actually start construction, they just put cones up so they can start hiring the actual construction team with the 33% pay the city/county gives them when they put those cones up. Road projects fall through an average of two times … this means your local government usually pays for 66% of a project before it is even started (often over 100% if it happens more). The money is rarely recovered.
Don’t forget that traffic fines increase in construction zones, even if there is no actual construction going on. Not only does nothing get done, but the people pay for it doubly so.
I did indeed forget that part … but you know who doesn’t forget it? The police issuing tickets on a construction site that isn’t even active. Such a great point.
Do you have a source for this? I work in consulting and have never had a construction project fall through. Part of the mandatory bidding process is the contractor securing a bond against the value of the work, so that if they walk away, the Municipality can claim against the cost of the bond to complete the works.
The high failure rate of construction companies would be here https://www.constructconnect.com/blog/6-reasons-why-construction-companies-fail
Surety Bonds might only cover 10% of the bid cost. They can cover 100%, but usually cover less. This is where my local area seems to be getting hit. They are hiring companies from other countries and getting skipped out on once they hit a certain payment milestone.
That and the low bidder system. I am in heartland America, it is way too common here.
Interesting. There must be some serious differences between there and here (Canada). I have no doubt companies fail here too, but even for companies that have soon gone out of business, they always finish their jobs.
We often only hire companies who can show past experience on similar sized projects, our bonds cover the full contract amount (every municipality around here has that requirement), and the contracts are generally pretty stringent on things like working days with severe liquidated damages for projects that go over the deadline (I’ve seen $500/day up to $3,000/day).
It is totally different in the US. City planning will go with the absolute lowest bid, unless it is one of their relatives or they are getting a bribe. Regardless, the incompetence would astound you. My city hired a construction company out of India that did not do construction cuts in the concrete. The roads developed “fault lines” within two months. The news said it apparently never snows where the construction company was from and they didn’t know it had to be done. That makes no sense because it would still expand in summer.