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School Of Hard Knocks For Buckeye Customers: They Experience Delays, Lawsuits, ‘Inflated’ Change Orders lowest bidder isn’t always best for job Customers who have used Buckeye Electric have been subjected to delays and complaints about the use of substandard material and, in at least one case, attempts to make "unreasonable profits" by ordering cheap fixtures and withholding the actual purchase price. In fact, at least one public agency customer has found Buckeye Electric to be "uncooperative" and to use "inflated change orders." Buckeye Electric knows there are few public resources to investigate its practices and hopes to get away with cutting corners, this customer reported to the State of Ohio. Delays caused by a company’s legal troubles and failure to order the right materials are often very costly and disruptive. The use of substandard materials, particularly in electrical work, can lead to electrical failure, serious injury or even death of employees and students. Wright University in Dayton, Ohio, was forced to delay final payment to Buckeye Electric in October of 2000, because a complaint was filed with the Wage and Hour Bureau of the Ohio Department of Commerce that the company failed to pay prevailing wages in 150 instances while performing work for the university. Wright University should have learned a lesson from Buckeye’s long history of failing to comply with state law while working for public agencies. After all, the state Supreme Court ruled that Buckeye could be charged criminally for failing to pay workers in accordance with state law. Wright University could also have learned from the experience of Miami University. Miami University of Ohio experienced delays in the construction of its Biological Sciences Building when Buckeye finished low bidder on the project in 1984. Buckeye and the university did not get off on the right foot—in fact, Buckeye sued before the job even began. Miami University balked at hiring Buckeye because the company tried to bilk employees out of $50,000 in wages at jobs at the Preble Shawnee High School in Preble County, the Cincinnati Public Library, and at other Miami University projects. When Miami University denied Buckeye Electric’s bid, the company filed three lawsuits against the State of Ohio. As a result, a judge said Miami University could not rebid the electric portion of its $20 million biological sciences project and the entire timeline for completing the work was placed in jeopardy. finally, the work got started The suits were settled when Buckeye reluctantly paid the back wages and also agreed to post a bond guaranteeing that it would abide by state law and pay prevailing wage. Responsible companies aren’t required to post such bonds. Responsible companies follow the law without being forced to comply by their own customers. As part of the settlement of the suit, Miami University was forced to use Buckeye Electric for the work.
Miami University could have avoided the long delays and the lawsuit from Buckeye had it paid attention to the warnings of its former director of the Physical Plant Department in a strongly worded letter in 1979 recommending that Buckeye Electric be eliminated from making bids on future Miami University of Ohio projects. "Miami University continues to experience major problems with Buckeye Electric in fulfilling terms of competitive bid contract work," university Physical Plant Department Director Richard Engle wrote in September of 1979 to Donald Welsch, at the office of the Ohio State Architect and Engineer. "It is recommended that Buckeye Electric be eliminated from future contract awards until they can fully demonstrate they are a responsible bidder able and willing to diligently pursue in a timely fashion the work and comply with all contract requirements," Engle wrote. "Buckeye Electric continues to be uncooperative and extremely difficult to work with on scheduling of work and coordinating with other contractors and the engineers. Most change order prices are inflated. They seem to pursue a policy of violating general and special conditions of the specifications to suit their needs, recognizing the university or the state cannot always pursue the matter due to the time required and the expenses which may be incurred," Engle warned. Engle said that in a project involving lighting and power controls at a gymnasium and other campus buildings, Buckeye Electric: • Refused to purchase equipment specified in the plans. • Refused to wire some machines. • Delivered undersized conduit repeatedly. • Delivered wire with a lower and less expensive insulation class than specified. • Ordered substandard substitute fixtures and complained they could not work the bid price if they had to furnish specified fixtures. • Attempted to have a fixture supplier withhold the true price of substitute fixtures so that Buckeye "could make an unreasonable profit" on a change order. • Created delays that forced construction to continue into the school year, disrupting campus. Clearly, this was one customer who was "shocked" by Buckeye Electric’s methods of operation.
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