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oreosfly t1_j7jefwv wrote

Reply to comment by pk10534 in MTA spent twice as much on Second Ave subway consultants as it did on its construction by NYY657545

> drew up station designs so bespoke that each of the three new stops has escalators made by a different manufacturer

That is fucking insane.

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Glitch5450 t1_j7jfper wrote

Sounds like competitive bidding. You can’t let one manufacturer get all the work bc you’re too lazy to manage 3.

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KingofthisShit t1_j7jhfdc wrote

Don't think it's competitive bidding since each station should have similar escalators, so one manufacturer should have the capacity to make the 3 of them for the same price. If you're getting them from 3 different manufacturers, the price very likely varies between them and you could've gotten more cost savings by ordering the 3 of them in bulk from the same manufacturer.

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TheGazzelle t1_j7kivbd wrote

Each of those stations were probably bid separately and went to different Sub-contractors. Could the city have gone to just one Sub? Yes. But there are multiple factors that could stop that from happening. MBWE requirements or bonding and insurance requirements that are based on the value of your work vs the worth of the company.

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Could the city have used one manufacturer and saved 5-10%? maybe; but these other regulations for minority/women/small businesses would need to go away.

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volkommm t1_j7khcfk wrote

Consider lead times too. One manufacturer may not be able to produce 3

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chuckysnow t1_j7ky4um wrote

Meh, If you can't build three stations worth of escalators with a year's lead time you probably shouldn't be building escalators.

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volkommm t1_j7l39mo wrote

It's not that simple, this is a fairly complicated system. They also have other projects and may not have the ability to scale easily.

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chuckysnow t1_j7l9jcc wrote

Do you know the AMC Lincoln square theater? I was involved in the construction of that place. Ten escalators that I can think of, including, at the time, the longest unsupported escalators in the city. All one company, all installed pretty much at the same time. Contractors did everything else- all the escalator guys had to do was install the escalator into the space provided by the contractor. Despite different lengths and widths, it was all pretty straight forward, and even the free standing unit was off the shelf stuff. I didn't personally work on the escalators, but I remember them showing up in crates and getting assembled pretty damn fast. The four story free standing ones were the only units that took over a week to build.

The guts looked for all the world like giant erector sets. Build the frame to length, choose the right size motor, assemble the links in the stair chain, cut the railing to size. It seemed pretty universal to me, and quite the opposite of bespoke.

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Important-Ad1871 t1_j7lmtvl wrote

I’m not trying to discount your experience at all, but in my experience the general supply chain doesn’t really work the same way it used to. Things that used to be readily available off-the-shelf have a 4 to 26 week lead time now, including specialty fasteners, electronic components, mechanical components for electronics, etc..

Companies are quoting me 6-9 months for small testing equipment, PCBA’s were over a year lead time, etc..

This is more a manufacturing perspective than a construction perspective, but IMO it’s just more difficult/takes longer/more expensive to make things right now.

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oreosfly t1_j7m4tjl wrote

These stations were built between 2007 and 2016. I don’t think the supply chain issues of the past 3 years were applicable back then.

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