LETTER TO THE EDITOR | Locals are price competitive

Published 4:36 pm Friday, October 9, 2009

To the editor:

As a Whidbey Island general contractor, it is important that I say something about my experience with the prices of local subcontractors.

I feel that my perspective is a qualified one, since I have been in the construction industry for over 35 years and I have successfully bid on Whidbey Island construction projects and also mainland construction projects. Some of the Whidbey Island bid projects that I use as my basis for perspective are St. Hubert’s church remodel, Clinton fire station remodel, BeachFire Grill and club house addition and remodel, Whidbey Island Center for the Arts (initial construction), Langley Post Office and the Barn 2 renovation at Green Bank Farm, to name a few.

In this bidding process, we have relied on our local subcontractors to have a low bid. Quite frankly, if it were not for our local subcontractors, we would not have had the low bid on these jobs. This means the local subcontractors have competed against off- island subcontractors and proved to have a lower price. We have also outbid off-island contractors on projects on the mainland, and we have used our local subcontractors on those projects as well. Therefore, it is obvious to me that our local subcontractors can be more competitive than off-island contractors, and I can prove it.

The local subcontractors and general contractors need not be given work just because they are from Whidbey Island. What is important is that all are given the opportunity to bid and work on our local projects. This will help our fragile local economy. When proven to be the low bid, the local workers will have the opportunity to spend their paychecks in the local stores.

And by the way, our subcontractors operate on Real Time, not Island Time.

Ed Gemkow

Gemkow Construction