19

Moving

We're finally moving offices, tomorrow. When you bid out a construction job, there's always one guy who comes in with a bid that's way less than the other guys. It's almost always a bad idea to accept this bid. Anyone whose bid is that far off either doesn't know what he's doing, or is cutting corners in some scary way, or will go bankrupt in the middle of the job. Or they're lowballing to get the work, and they plan to make up the profit by overcharging you for the inevitable changes. But it can be incredibly tempting. “You can buy an awful lot of aspirin for $35,000,” you tell yourself. As a client, the best way to use a lowball bid is to get the contractor you really want to lower their bid.

In the software industry we're always saying things like, "scheduling software is inherently difficult because it has never been written before, so it's science. It's not like the building industry, where everyone involved has done the same thing 100 times before and it's possible to make good reliable schedules. The software industry needs to become more like the mature trades with predictable schedules and budgets."

Well, what I've learned from my first large construction project is that this is hogwash. The building industry doesn't know how to do anything on schedule or on budget, either.

The Good News

The good news is that our architect has done an incredible job designing what I consider to be the ultimate programmer's workspace. I'll write up a full report after we move in.

My new book is here! Apress has just published a new collection of 36 essays from Joel on Software, aptly named More Joel on Software. Get yours today! Available from Amazon.com or wherever fine cheese is sold.

About the Author: I’m your host, Joel Spolsky, a software developer in New York City. Since 2000, I've been writing about software development, management, business, and the Internet on this site. For my day job, I run Fog Creek Software, makers of FogBugz—the smart bug tracking software with the stupid name, and Fog Creek Copilot—the easiest way to provide remote tech support over the Internet, with nothing to install or configure.

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