unitek global services

[paintitnow]

has any one ever heard of these guys?

[orangeboots]

Nope checked out the website. It looks like they picked up a locate contract.

[paintitnow]

Nope checked out the website. It looks like they picked up a locate contract.

by all the regional manager job posting I am thinking the same. I think thy might of picked up the centurylink contract.

[yahoo]

I have never heard of this name down this way .

[Tom Edward]

they are not a locate company, they have been trying to get all the small companies to subcontract and help out. They ended up with 5 states I beleive, WI, MN, NC, SC and idk what the fifth would be. From what I gathered Century Link screwed them on pricing and someone didnt do their homework. less per ticket then what usic was getting and no project time until 2 hours. Centurylink is mostly rural so that sort of pricing scale will bankrupt them unless they get away with hiring at 9 bucks an hour.

[yahoo]

they are not a locate company, they have been trying to get all the small companies to subcontract and help out. They ended up with 5 states I beleive, WI, MN, NC, SC and idk what the fifth would be. From what I gathered Century Link screwed them on pricing and someone didnt do their homework. less per ticket then what usic was getting and no project time until 2 hours. Centurylink is mostly rural so that sort of pricing scale will bankrupt them unless they get away with hiring at 9 bucks an hour.

Thanks for that info Tom . 9 bucks an hour ....kids working at Burger King/Mcdonalds have starting wages higher than that down this way . What type of people would they pick up for that amount ???

[ProfessionalLocator]

Thanks for that info Tom . 9 bucks an hour ....kids working at Burger King/Mcdonalds have starting wages higher than that down this way . What type of people would they pick up for that amount ???

Actually he said he thinks on the contract terms they would have to pay that amount to make a profit.

[ProfessionalLocator]

they are not a locate company, they have been trying to get all the small companies to subcontract and help out. They ended up with 5 states I beleive, WI, MN, NC, SC and idk what the fifth would be. From what I gathered Century Link screwed them on pricing and someone didnt do their homework. less per ticket then what usic was getting and no project time until 2 hours. Centurylink is mostly rural so that sort of pricing scale will bankrupt them unless they get away with hiring at 9 bucks an hour.

These really low contract payments offered were started by the locate companies and I heard referred to as layering.

It comes from locate firms in an area where they have locators because they have a contract there. The contact they already hold provides the profit. Their idea is to keep competing firms from by making profits by bidding so low they themselves will not make a profit on the new contract. While they do not make money from the new contract they use it in their advertising to make them look bigger, stabeler and more profitable than they are.

The fault in doing this is when they loose the contract where they do make money they immediately start loosing money every day they are in operation. They then try to cut costs by getting rid of locators and results are late tickets. At this time locators are pushed to cut corners and quality goes down and damages goes up.

They often loose the preexisting contract because they want more profits. They do not hire additional locators, or too few new locators, and push their locators to cut corners resulting in lower quality and higher damages.

Now the client companies are stuck with the legacy this creates. They know that for such a low bid they will get unacceptable service. But most of these client companies are regulated by the state and can only get rate increases or maintain current rate with state permission. If they turn down the lower bid the state may come back with they are spendthrifts and demand they cut rates charged their customers or deny rate increases.

This was started by the locate firms themselves. The lead to stop this must come from the locate firms to simply refuse to make unreasonably low bids coupled with the clients to make the effort to avoid them.

[Tom Edward]

I cant say for sure what they can afford. With the spacing of rural locating and the length as well as how horrible ive heard the CL prints are itl be rough to make a profit on a one way ticket. I hope for the best for the new company. USIC really hurt WI this year. Ide go as far as saying they had a negative effect on the states economy. Something has to be done to correct the issue and this is a start but shame on CL if they arent going to correct their own faults, like not paying for quality. A lot has changed with WI dig laws to help with what happened last summer.

[orangeboots]

Tom Edward what changes have been made in the laws up there. I am starting to here more states are looking to tighten up the laws.

[ProfessionalLocator]

Tom Edward what changes have been made in the laws up there. I am starting to here more states are looking to tighten up the laws.

Until both the client company and the locate firm are fined for mismarked lines, late tickets, etc. they are wasting their time. All these fines were due the client companies prior to locate firms coming on the scene. Unless these fines are due to the client firms for what their subcontractors do the clients will continue to knowingly not pay at levels good safe marking can be performed.

[paintitnow]

Until both the client company and the locate firm are fined for mismarked lines, late tickets, etc. they are wasting their time. All these fines were due the client companies prior to locate firms coming on the scene. Unless these fines are due to the client firms for what their subcontractors do the clients will continue to knowingly not pay at levels good safe marking can be performed.

I know up here in Wisconsin my old locate company had been harping on late tickets. They were getting fined or had to pay the client for late tickets, but I am not sure if only if the clients gets notified of it. Like with USIC we had to do some billing on it and put it in project. I kept getting flagged for no pictures on duplicate tickets or notes on them. After they hit a fiber that usic didn't mark, one of the companies working on the interstate called in a relocate every day for like 6 weeks. Every time you called they said they wanted everything marked. I hardly ever saw a USIC locator last year. When I did they were locating tickets days behind what tickets I was locating.

[paintitnow]

When I was in IL and we got the charter and comcast contracts I think they were paying $6-7 a ticket. The theory was we are already there marking the electric, gas so they could mark the CATV that low and make money in the volume of it. Because we were there, there was no increase cost for gas and vehicle just the 5-7 minutes in time added to the locate.

[ProfessionalLocator]

When I was in IL and we got the charter and comcast contracts I think they were paying $6-7 a ticket. The theory was we are already there marking the electric, gas so they could mark the CATV that low and make money in the volume of it. Because we were there, there was no increase cost for gas and vehicle just the 5-7 minutes in time added to the locate.

Yup, layering. This a destructive way to bid. Lose the contract where the profits are and immediately go into the red. Your company took the contract at $6 to $7 a ticket to prevent another company from getting it, not to make profits.

[ProfessionalLocator]

Expanding on this further. The few dollars more seldom makes money and is licky to brak even. The extra 5 to 7 minutes must include the time to do the paperwork. Adding these detail to the drawing, etc. Do 10 tickets like this and you have spent an extra hour to the days workload. Do more tickets more hours which increases overtime costs so the same work cost 1 ½ times the labor cost cutting into the already low charge in and the profits from the other contract. If enough time is lost and overtime is not the answer then the workforce must be increased. The added employees are again a ding in the profits. These employees must be equipped so more vehicles plus their added insurance and maintenance costs.
More locate equipment, more phones, laptops plus the inventory of spare must be increased. These employee add to the payments to unemployment insurance, etc. Get enough new employees support staff like offfice personell, office space and supervisors need be increased. These added expenses management needs to understand and do not want to be told about. Consensus staff that points out these expenses are deemed as obstructionists and not team players so objection are not raised.

Overall picking up another contract at maybe a break even pay is rarely a good move.