The Bid Blog

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Feel Good Projects

We published a report a couple of weeks ago for abrasive blast-cleaning a wooden trail bridge that was damaged by arson (bidid #2513511).  Apparently someone thought a fire underneath a wooden bridge was a good idea, or maybe they just craved the lovely aroma of burning creosote (though I doubt it beats the smell of napalm in the morning).  Now the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism has the displeasure of paying someone to remove all of the charred wood so they can install new railings.

It seems like this would be a “feel good” project to work on.  Righting a wrong, or something along those lines.  Obviously it’s not a big job, but I’ll be curious to see the bid results.  It makes me wonder if “feel good” jobs receive some sort of discount.  I think that if I were a contractor and this job was in my area, I’d be inclined to bid it with a serious discount, both for the good of my community and the positive publicity.  But maybe I wouldn’t be a contractor for very long if I operated my business this way.

What do you think?  Have you ever worked on a project that benefitted your community in some manner, beyond visual beautification or infrastructure maintenance?  I suppose clean drinking water and bridges that don’t fall into rivers feel good, but on more of a subconscious level, which is a lot easier to take for granted.  If you have, did you bid the project at a discounted price?