In brief
- A low total usually means the bidder counted fewer workers than the programme needs, not that the work is cheaper.
- Ask for a labour return that ties each gang to a task, a week and a named supervisor.
- Match crew claims against tool counts and the absence register from a recent site.
Contents
A low bid in Borama may be a crew claim, not a material claim. The sum looks cheap because the bidder has priced fewer people, or thinner gangs, than the programme needs to finish on time. Crew underfunding in a Borama bid starts here: the money is short because the labour in the document is short. Read the labour lines before the total.
What does a thin crew actually look like in a Borama bid?
It looks like a schedule that lists trades but not days. The bid prices a mason, a steel fixer and a helper with no statement of how many of each work on any given week. Pour day then arrives with one gang instead of three, and the concrete waits while steel is still being tied.
Ask each bidder for a labour return: gang sizes by trade, weeks on site, and the output each gang is expected to reach. General practice in building work is that gang size follows the pour or fixing sequence, so the return should show peaks on the heavy days and fewer people during curing and finishing. Confirm any assumed output rate against the project's specification or engineer. Where a rate looks optimistic, ask the bidder to show a completed job with the same crew size, then walk that site and count who is actually there.
A second sign is a supervisor carried as a share of another role. Ask who signs the daily record and how many gangs that person covers. Ask the municipal engineer's office what records it expects for permitted work, and put the same question to the bidder so the two answers can be compared.
How does an unbalanced labour plan show up on site?
It shows up as idle trades waiting on each other. If the bid funds a full masonry gang but one steel fixer, the fixer sets the pace and everyone else stands still. Concrete cannot be placed until reinforcement is complete, so the whole pour sequence slips week by week.
The same imbalance appears in the support roles that bids tend to cut: water carriers, mixers, curing hands and a person to keep the daily record. In hot inland conditions, general practice is that concrete needs early and continuous curing, which takes labour and time. Confirm curing method and duration against the specification or engineer.
Check the bid's plant list against its crew list. A mixer, a poker vibrator and a bar bender each need an operator and a maintenance routine. If the crew is small but the plant list is long, the plant may sit idle or the same people may be priced twice. Ask for the daily site record and absence register from the bidder's most recent job in Borama, then compare names with the crew return.
How do you close the gap before award?
Close it in writing. Set a minimum gang size for each critical activity in the tender documents: pour days, steel fixing, blockwork and curing. Name the supervisor count and the daily record that goes with it.
Then make the bidder commit to a labour histogram, week by week, across the programme. A histogram shows peaks and gaps that a lump sum hides. Hold a short interview with the proposed supervisor, not only the estimator, and ask which task each gang will do in the first month. Check what your contract allows for records, progress evidence and any adjustment if the crew falls below the agreed histogram.
The same test works for subcontractors: ask for their gang sizes separately, because main contractors often carry the risk of a thin sub-crew. If the bidder cannot produce a histogram, the low total is a planning gap rather than a saving.
What to do next
Take the two lowest bids and request a labour return from each: gang sizes, weeks, named supervisors and output assumptions. Ask both bidders for the daily record and absence register from a recent Borama job, then walk one of those sites and count the crew against the return. Award only when the numbers match the programme.
Frequently asked questions
Does a low bid always mean the crew is underfunded in Borama?
No. Cheaper plant hire, local materials or a shorter haul can lower a total. The crew only looks thin when the labour return cannot show enough people to match the programme, so ask for the return before you judge the total.
What is the single document to ask for?
A labour histogram: gang sizes by trade, one bar per week, tied to named supervisors. It exposes peaks and gaps that a lump sum or a schedule of rates hides.
Local reporting: this article is written for building work in Borama and Somaliland. Ground conditions, prices and rules differ between places; confirm the details for your own site.