Company A and Company B quote? 7

[SteelPE]

We were approached by company A to prepare some preliminary drawings for a small office building. The job consisted of running quick calculations and preparing some drawings so the job could be estimated by a fabricator. We quoted company A a small fee to perform the work and get them the information they required (which would take 3-4 days to complete). We submitted a quote to company A and never heard from them again.

Company B comes to us with the same job as company A. We give Company B the same quote to do the same work as company A. Company B gives us the go ahead to perform the work. We complete the work and give a bill to company B (it takes a little longer than estimated but that’s not their fault) and company B pays the bill. Everyone is happy. Company B knows we were in contact with Company A.

If the job goes forward, company B will be paying us to complete the job.

Now we get a call from company A to go ahead on the preliminary drawings for same job we just did with Company B…. and there is the dilemma.

Do we charge company A the agreed to price or do we give a credit to company B and split the bill between the two companies? What would others do in this situation? It’s unfair to only charge B and I believe it’s unfair to the owner (who is getting quotes from Company A and B) to charge 2x for services that were only done once.

 

[BAretired]

I believe this thread has gone seriously off track.

BA

 

[patprimmer]

BA

On this point I thoroughly agree.

The OPs position has certainly deviated from the OP.

Regards
Pat
See FAQ731-376 for tips on use of eng-tips by professional engineers &

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm

for site rules

 

[dik]

This is a real interesting problem...

Because of your involvement with Company B, I would give my regrets and decline to put in a proposal with Company A. I would do this without offering an explanation other than previous involvement with another client.

You are in a difficult position because you cannot divulge the name of any party and you have prior information provided by your 'true' client.

It may be that you can get a release from B, but, that could be problematic.

Dik

 

[jmw]

So once something is done it belongs to everyone for free ever after? This is Communism.

So all those limited edition prints of expensive paintings and even the prints run off by museums and art galleries have no value because the artist only painted it once?


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[TJOrlowski]

I'm late to the party on this thread (or missed the party), but I'm confused.

Company A came to you on Monday with a set of specifications and requirements, and asked you to prepare a quote and do some engineering work. You did so. You should charge for your work at your normal bill rates.

Company B came to you on Wednesday with a set of specifications and requirements, and asked you to prepare a quote and do some engineering work. The specs and reqs happen to be identical to a project you either just completed, or are currently working on.

As long as Company B is asking for a quote in good faith (is willing to pay for your work), then these should be treated as two unrelated projects, and each should be billed independently, and at full price. If Company B stole the information from Company A and asked you to quote on it, that's not your responsibility (and not your responsibility to investigate either).

There's no conflict of interest here. What if both companies googled your core competency on their own, came to your website on their own, and inquired for work on their own?

The only conflict would be if Company B called up and said "Hey you know that quote/work you did/are doing for Company A? Can you send me a copy, or can you send me the quote? I don't have any specifications or requirements, but you know what I'm talking about."

-TJ Orlowski