With a jolt you pull your car to the side of the road and read the job sign that can't be more than one day old: New Home of ABC Inc.; General Contractor, XYZ Construction Co. You think out loud, "I knew the property had been sold," and your eyes roam over the real estate sign with the angled "sold" sticker proclaiming that the agent has been successful. "Thought the job would have come out on the bid list by now," you mutter as you move back onto the road and head for your office. Later in the day you get the agent on the phone: "Jim, how did XYZ get the ABC job? I saw nothing on the builders' exchange about it." "John, XYZ has been negotiating with ABC for the past six weeks. They did one fine job of selling the owner. Under­ stand they just called on him out of the blue asking for a chance. They put the whole package together, plans and all." "Didn't he get another price, Jim?" "Sure did; two, as a matter of fact. He asked me to get two other contractors capable of doing design-build projects. He liked XYZ better. I don't know the prices, but I really feel those ix x Preface boys impressed him by going to him. Were you planning to bid the job?" "Thinking about it," you answer, trying to sound very casual.