Owner-furnished, contractor-installed: how to price OFCI
Owner-furnished equipment looks like free scope: the owner buys it, you hook it up. In practice it is where electrical bids lose money on receiving, storage, return trips and connections nobody sized. Here is how to find every OFCI item, what to price and what to put in writing.
Owner-furnished equipment is rarely in one place. It is spread across an equipment schedule, plan notes, the responsibility matrix and a few spec paragraphs. If you only read one of them, you miss items.
Read the owner-furnished or responsibility matrix if the package has one, and note every row where you install, connect or both.
Search the drawings for 'OFCI', 'OFOI', 'by owner', 'N.I.C.' and 'furnished by others'. Each hit is either your labor or a scope boundary to confirm.
Check the equipment schedules on the mechanical, kitchen, medical and technology sheets. Owner equipment often needs a feeder, a disconnect and a final connection from you.
Read the Division 01 sections on owner-furnished products. They usually say who receives, stores, protects and warranties the equipment.
Build a short OFCI list: item, quantity, location, what you do (receive, set, connect, test), and the drawing or spec reference.
2 · Price the labor, not just the connection
The connection is the part most estimators remember. Receiving, handling and waiting are the parts that cost money.
Receiving and unloading: who meets the truck, signs for it and checks for damage? If it is you, carry labor and possibly equipment to unload.
Storage and protection: owner equipment that arrives early needs secure space. If the site has none, off-site storage and double handling are real costs.
Setting and anchoring: large items like transformers, UPS units or switchboards may need rigging, pads, housekeeping bases or seismic anchorage. Check who carries each.
Connections: feeders, disconnects, terminations, control wiring and grounding to each item. Price them like any other connection, from the actual location.
Testing and startup: if the manufacturer's startup is owner-furnished but you must be present, carry the hours to attend.
3 · What the owner rarely sends on time
Your price depends on information the owner controls. When it is late or wrong, the cost lands on whoever assumed it would be right.
Cut sheets and connection data: voltage, phase, amperage and connection type. Without them, you are guessing at feeder size and termination.
Delivery dates: OFCI items that arrive after your crew has moved on mean a return trip. Ask for the delivery schedule or qualify a remobilization.
Missing parts: owner equipment often arrives without mounting hardware, cord caps, whips or lugs. Decide now whether you carry an allowance or exclude them.
Changes: owners swap models late. A different unit can change the feeder, the breaker and the disconnect.
4 · Put it in writing
Most OFCI disputes come down to an assumption nobody wrote down. A few lines in your proposal settle them before award.
List the OFCI items you included by name or schedule tag, and state what you do for each: receive, set, connect, test.
State that owner-furnished equipment is assumed complete, on time, undamaged and matching the connection data in the documents.
Exclude warranty of owner-furnished equipment, and repair of damage that happened before you took possession.
Carry an RFI for any OFCI item with no connection data, and send it before bid day if time allows.
Keep the OFCI list next to the estimate
Treat the OFCI list as its own small takeoff. Every item on it should tie to a labor line, a connection line and, where it applies, a line in your proposal. When an addendum adds or swaps owner equipment, update the list first, then the estimate. The same items belong in your clarifications: see our guide to electrical bid exclusions and clarifications for how to word them.
Questions estimators ask
What does OFCI mean on an electrical bid?
Owner-furnished, contractor-installed. The owner buys the equipment and the contractor installs or connects it. On an electrical bid that usually means labor, feeders, disconnects and terminations, but not the equipment itself.
What is the difference between OFCI and OFOI?
OFOI means owner-furnished, owner-installed: the owner buys and installs it. Even so, the electrical contractor may still owe a feeder or a junction box for the connection. Read the notes and the responsibility matrix for both.
Should I mark up owner-furnished equipment?
You are not buying it, so there is no material to mark up. Your labor, handling, storage and connection materials are still yours, and they carry your normal overhead and profit.
How can I find every OFCI item in a large bid package faster?
Search the drawings and specs for the owner-furnished terms and the equipment schedules on other trades' sheets. Bidprobe reads the whole bid package and flags scope gaps, spec conflicts, missed addendum items and exclusions; most reviews come back in 5 to 15 minutes.
Find the owner-furnished items before bid day.
Bidprobe reads the whole bid package and flags scope gaps, spec conflicts, missed addendum items and exclusions. Most reviews come back in 5 to 15 minutes, and your first bid check is free with no card.