𝗔 𝗥𝗼𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗘𝗢 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗶𝗱𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟭𝟴 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀. 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗱 𝗡𝗼 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮. Gregg Wallick ran Best Roofing in Fort Lauderdale for over 20 years. Won Commercial Roofing Contractor of the Year in 2018. Last week he pleaded guilty to a $3.5M bid-rigging scheme. He coordinated with a competitor on who would win each job. They took turns submitting fake high bids so the “winner” could charge inflated prices. For 18 months. On commercial roofing projects. In hurricane country, where owners can’t skip roof work. Every customer thought they ran a competitive process. They collected three bids. Picked the lowest. Followed the steps. So let’s invert this. If you wanted a contractor to rip you off, what would you do? Use the same 3 vendors every time. Assume the lowest bid is competitive just because two others were higher. Skip independent cost estimates. Never compare scope language across bids. Now flip every one of those. Rotate your bid pool. Get an independent cost estimator or owner’s rep to run their own numbers on big jobs. If your “lowest” bid is still 15% above independent estimates, something’s off. And compare scopes, not just prices. Colluding bidders often submit suspiciously similar scope documents because they’re working off the same takeoff. That’s the forensic tell nobody talks about. One more thing thing to consider here… rigging the initial bid is just the entry point. The real damage compounds through change orders and maintenance contracts you never re-bid. Once a colluding contractor is on your roof, switching costs are real. And prequalification wouldn’t have caught him. He had the track record, the award, the institutional backing. He was the contractor you prequalify others against. Trust your vendors. But verify like they’re stealing from you. Sometimes they are! https://lnkd.in/euJsCWPQ