Having arrived at the price for which the contractor is willing to do a certain piece of work, all that remains is to send a formal bid for the work to the architect, owner or whoever has the letting of the contract. When all points regarding the work are fully covered in the plans and specifications all that will be needed is a little tender like the following:

Philadelphia, Pa., May 14, 1908. Howard & Grove,

496 Penn Avenue, City.

Gentlemen - We propose to furnish all labor and materials according to the plans and specifications for the plumbing work in the twelve-story office building, corner of Wayne and Perry streets, Hall and Johnson, owners, for the sum of Six Thousand ($6,000) Dollars.

Respectfully yours,

Ferris & Co.

There are a number of conditions which must be considered, however, before an estimate is submitted. For instance, if such a bid were submitted to the owner, or to the architects who were authorized to act for him, and it were accepted by sending a line like the following:

Ferris & Co., City.

Gentlemen - Your offer to furnish all labor and materials for the plumbing work in the twelve-story office building, corner of Wayne and Perry streets, Hall and Johnson, owners, for the sum of Six Thousand ($6,000) Dollars is hereby accepted.

Very truly yours,

Howard & Grove.

These two letters, together with the plans and specifications, would constitute a contract, and the plumber can be held to the terms of the agreement. If, now, no plan of payment was mentioned in the specifications, no money would be due, according to the agreement, until the entire work was completed, when the contractor would be entitled to the full Six Thousand Dollars.

When figuring on large operations where no form of payment is mentioned in the specifications the plumbing contractor can protect himself from such a possibility by stipulating in his tender how the payments are to be made, or by leaving the payments open for further consideration until the time of signing a formal contract. This he can do by stating in his bid that the time and manner of payments are to be decided later if awarded the work and a formal contract be entered into. In that event notice that he has been awarded the work does not constitute a contract, because something is left open for further consideration, and the work is not formally awarded until the contract is signed.

When a bid leaving something, such as payments, open for further consideration is submitted, either party to the agreement can withdraw up to the time when a formal contract is signed. If, on the other hand, a definite offer is made and the offer is unqualifiedly accepted - for example, as indicated by the two preceding forms - the contract becomes consummated as soon as the acceptance is mailed, and thereafter neither party can withdraw without the consent of the other party. If the owner then wishes to insist that the plumbing work be finished before payment, that is his privilege and from the terms there is no relief, although he may waive that privilege and make payment as the work progresses.

There is another phase of the matter which is worth remembering. In the absence of a definite statement as to how long the tender shall remain open it may be accepted within a reasonable time, and that reasonable time might be construed by the courts to be anywhere from one to twelve months. The significance of this lies in the fact that a bid might be submitted, be forgotten for awhile, then, after the prices of material had all gone up and the other contractors had withdrawn their bids or otherwise protected themselves, the only remaining contractor might, to his sorrow, have his estimate accepted. To avoid any such contingency each estimate sent out should have a time limit stated on it. If the markets are unsteady and prices constantly rising, or threatening to rise, estimates should have stamped conspicuously on the face: "For immediate acceptance only." When conditions are settled, and there is no danger of losing by leaving a bid open for a reasonable time, a time limit of thirty days should be placed on the estimate. That should be a sufficiently long period of time in which for the owner to make up his mind, and at the same time it affords the contractor reasonable protection. For such cases estimate blanks should be prepared or the contractor should have a rubber stamp bearing the statement: "This estimate good only for thirty days."

An energetic contractor will have many estimates out at all times, and if he should find himself loaded up with all the work he can reasonably handle with the capital invested in the business he should immediately withdraw all quotations. This can be done by consulting his estimate blanks and sending out to each person who has not accepted his offer a brief note stating that his quotation, or estimate, of a certain date for certain work is withdrawn. This will protect him from being swamped with contracts for work which he cannot perform.