One of Birmingham’s leading chartered surveyors is to produce an educational blueprint advising small and medium-sized builders how to complete tender forms – to give them a greater chance of winning important contracts in an ever more competitive environment.
Ian Fowler, a director and head of building surveying with Bigwood in Birmingham, has been asked by the Federation of Master Builders to draw up the blueprint in the form of an educational package.
It follows an increase in complaints last year from Midland architects, property developers and chartered surveyors about the standard of completed tender documents from smaller companies.
Mr Fowler, who addressed the Midlands region annual conference of the Federation of Master Builders in Lisbon on the subject of tendering, will hold workshops on October 9 and 23 at the FMB, Hagley Road West, Oldbury.
He said: “The problem for some medium-sized and smaller companies is that they tend to leave the completion of the tender document until the last moment, or fail to meet the deadline.
“This is not efficient and leads to a loss of business and it not helpful to clients as it can delay commencement of projects. Smaller firms do not always have the resources to complete technical, lengthy and complex documents to the required specification – so I hope my workshops will help to iron out these problems.”
More than 60 delegates attended the FMB conference – traditionally a mixture of business programmes supplemented by social activities – to hear Mr Fowler address them on the subject of tendering.
John Watson, regional director of the FMB said: “Ian’s presentation at our conference was immensely valuable to the delegates and we are looking forward to receiving the educational package which should go a long way to solving this difficult problem.
“There is a myth shared by some builders about tender documents being difficult to fill in and a widespread fear about the jargon – our aim is to demystify these things so the documents can be handled properly to the benefit of our members and their clients.”
To book a place at the seminars, contact Nikki Ellsmore at the FMB on 0121 421 2241.