Not easy

The construction season has begun in Central PA and Gillam Constructions phone is not ringing off the hook. We have had the opportunity to bid two jobs this spring and we were underbid on both of them.. The one job that we were underbid on the individual wanted a mountain moved and we said we could do it for 5,000 dollars. When i say a mountain i mean a mountain. He explained all he wanted and i thought for sure we would be the winning bidder. In the next couple of days i ran into this individual and he proceeds to tell me that he received a bid from another local excavator for 1,600 dollars. There is no way. How in the world can this guy move that amount of dirt for that price. He also said he was going to do it two days. Impossible!! If i have to face people like this there is no way i will be able to make this work. This guy might be giving the person a low initial price to seal the deal but then slap them with a higher bill at the end. Not good business in the long run but he will always sucker people in with the initial low bid. I tried to explain this to the property owner but he like that initial low number. What do you do. This year is shaping up to be a tough one.