He pulled out his pen. On the bid form, he wrote his total: 48,720,000 lekë. Exactly 5.8% above the manual’s baseline, but justified by four attached invoices and a notarized exchange rate statement from the Bank of Albania.
The first thing Ardi noticed when he walked into the state tender office was the silence. Not the calm kind. The nervous kind. Three contractors sat in plastic chairs, each clutching a worn tablet or a folder of printed spreadsheets. They weren’t looking at each other. They were looking at a single, spiral-bound book on the clerk’s desk.
His phone buzzed. His foreman, Lazi: “Shef, çmimi i hekurit ra 3% sot. Po e blejmë?” manuali i cmimeve te ndertimit 2024
The school rehab was only 8 months. No indexing.
That was the real story of the 2024 Construction Price Manual. It didn’t save anyone. It didn’t make building cheap. But it made the game honest . And for a small contractor like Ardi, honesty was the only foundation that didn’t crack. He pulled out his pen
“Your number?” the clerk asked.
Ardi stepped forward. He had a small construction firm—just 14 workers, two excavators, and a lot of debt from a stalled apartment building in Kamëz. He was bidding on a school renovation in Durrës. Small job. Low margin. But if he won, it would keep his crew busy through July. The first thing Ardi noticed when he walked
He opened his own copy of the manual. Page 47: Çimento (CEM II 42.5R) – 9,800 lekë/ton. Page 112: Gips karton (12.5 mm) – 720 lekë/m². Page 203: Dorëpunimi për muraturë tullash – 1,450 lekë/m² (përfshirë ngjitësin).