Quote on 6 big box stores

Sunshine

Sunshine

New member
Hey Guys,

We have just been asked by a company to bid on 5 Big box stores in town and 1 out of town.

The bid is to cover:
The underside of the canopies
The storefronts and windows including garage doors and area
All elevated sidewalks etc (I'm going to look, but I'm thinking gum, gum and more gum!)
Firelanes
All curbing in parking areas

They will power sweep the parking lot

I have some ideas on pricing but would like a couple of other opinions. I hate this part of the job being fairly new! We would like to price reasonably as I'm sure that they are asking for other quotes and I also think it would be great to get in with a company like this! However, I would like to make money on it too.

We only have the one truck with 5.1 GPM and 3500 PSI.
We have a 16" SC.

Anyways, if you have a realistic recommendation on what we could charge per sq ft please send me a PM or e-mail at admin@spraywave.com.

Thank you!!!
 
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Come on guys!

25 views and not one suggestion?

All I'm looking for is some guidance to make sure I'm on the right track. I'd hate to bid it too low and lose my shirt!

Curbs I'm thinking something like .50 cents a linear foot, any takers??
 
We have done these in the past and we charged them $500.00 to do all the concrete and I would throw in the under canopies. As far as curbing we get 12/15 cents a linear ft. We also come thru with 3 8gpm hotwater machines and a 600 gal water tank?
 
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The Cleaner said:
We have done these in the past and we charged them $500.00 to do all the concrete and I would throw in the under canopies. As far as curbing we get 12/15 cents a linear ft. We also come thru with 3 8gpm hotwater machines and a 600 gal water tank?
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Thanks Nick,

I am wayyyy higher than that, although you are going in with much bigger guns than us...
 
Sunshine said:
Thanks Nick,

I am wayyyy higher than that, although you are going in with much bigger guns than us...
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U got to remember that everyone on this board is doing things with different equipment and there are all different pricing for different states let alone countries? I am trying to give u a place to start, what might take u 2 nights to complete will take us only a few hours.

Thats why it is so difficult to put pricing on a job for someone else. Sometimes u may have to charge by the hour sometimes u charge buy the sq ft sometimes u charge buy location. It's something u learn as u go and eventually u will be able to drive buy a big S/C and know exactly how long it will take u and have a price ready in your head.

There are guy's here that can fiqure out pricing just by GLA then go on google earth and check out the S/C and shoot them a price, I for one have been doing it that way for awhile now. There are so many variables to working and bidding this buisness that there is no one way that works best for everyone.
Hope this helps.....:thumbup2:
 
MHasterok said:
Soleil, just curious how the company found you? I'm looking into new advertising and want to be found by more commercial customers.
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I have been getting everything off my website, some of the traffic is being driven by the YP's. My search rankings are coming in really well. Typically if it's not my www.spraywave.com coming in first or second it is www.pressurewashingcanada.com There are times when I am 5 or 6 down the list, though rarely with another PW ahead of me. I give most of the credit for this to PWI.
 
The Cleaner said:
U got to remember that everyone on this board is doing things with different equipment and there are all different pricing for different states let alone countries? I am trying to give u a place to start, what might take u 2 nights to complete will take us only a few hours.

Thats why it is so difficult to put pricing on a job for someone else. Sometimes u may have to charge by the hour sometimes u charge buy the sq ft sometimes u charge buy location. It's something u learn as u go and eventually u will be able to drive buy a big S/C and know exactly how long it will take u and have a price ready in your head.

There are guy's here that can fiqure out pricing just by GLA then go on google earth and check out the S/C and shoot them a price, I for one have been doing it that way for awhile now. There are so many variables to working and bidding this buisness that there is no one way that works best for everyone.
Hope this helps.....:thumbup2:
Click to expand...

I totally get that Nick :)
I always look at a guys equipment first :wink2:

I think I'm getting it down, we just haven't really had to compete with anyone on anything good yet. So as comfortable as I'm becoming on my pricing I still have no idea how we are matching up to others.
 
The way i see it is, if you are getting every job you bid on, your price is to low and you are cheating you company out of money. I try to stay at about 15%-20% of bids that say no due to price. You adjust as you go. but you have to remember you wont get rich off of one job. On jobs that big i would bid by the sf. find a price that makes you money.
 
I would agree with you there if I was getting every quote I put out there but I'm not. I only get about 70% of what I put out there. What I meant was that most quotes I have done have been based off of cold calls or referrals. I have not really been bidding against others before this point. My actual concern is that I might be too high, which could lead me to compensate and go too low.
 
So I spoke with the General Contractor on this one and we were about 25% higher than the company whose bid he went with.

Now we are at least starting to get an idea as to what our market can bare. They had to have sealed bids in on March 31st.

I received a call from a company out of Alberta yesterday asking us to quote the same job - maybe they weren't happy with any of the quotes?

Gotta love second chances! We brought our price down somewhat but not as low as the other guy was though. I think we are keeping it fair, we are still clearing a pretty good daily rate if we have estimated our time correctly.
 
So I got an e-mail from the contact in Calgary today and we were awarded 2 out of the 6 contracts. I know that there are other parts to the bid that he put in, but I was quite surprised that they broke it up.

Is this typical? I really thought it would be all or nothing.

I'm not sure if I should be happy or disapointed..
 
They are probably doing a test. Three different contractors, to see whose work they like best.
I had this happen once with a fleet. It was nuts. They were going to have three different contractors come in and wash the vehicles. They had not been washed ever. I was the first. It sucked, you would not believe the stuff that we found on the interiors of these trucks, and the interior was part of the deal. Dust literally a quarter inch thick on the dash, Prophylactics on the floor, (No, I did not ask), and other even nastier stuff. We spent hours. Of course, the next week a different crew came in. They said they were not as clean as the week before, so they wanted us to come in and do another demo, and then let the third contractor come in. I told them to stuff it. I never felt bad about that.
 
That would be nice if you guys are right, I was looking forward to having the main course, not just appetizers :)

I appreciate the feedback, I was not prepared for a 1/3 of the way result.
 
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