Commercial account bidding

[grassmanak]

I'm looking to expand business a bit next year, i currently only serve 25 residential accounts which has been great, but would like to step into the commercial door. im just curoius how you go about bidding on these. I have insurance and such just wondering how i go about it.

[TurfProSTL]

I'm looking to expand business a bit next year, i currently only serve 25 residential accounts which has been great, but would like to step into the commercial door. im just curoius how you go about bidding on these. I have insurance and such just wondering how i go about it.Why commercial? If residential has been 'great' why would you want to go commercial?

[JJLandscapes]

Why commercial? If residential has been 'great' why would you want to go commercial?


why not ??????

[TurfProSTL]

why not ??????
:rolleyes: Lower margins?

[PMLAWN]

Grass is grass-- Mowers are mowers and do not have any idea what is going on in the building that sits on the land that they are mowing:laugh:
Time is time- Gas is Gas- Bidding is Bidding-- See the trend?

The work you do must support your business so bid all jobs the same- To make the money you need-
I do not make a difference between RES. and COM.
A house on a 8000 foot lot may be a rental -- that is commercial
As far as margins-- I see the larger lots working down a little in the per hour you can charge-- but you can park a truck once and never move it all day-- so overhead is lower too.
On lots that take 15 mins for 2 guys it is easy to get $35-- but add drive time
On properties that take 4 guys 10 hours I fight to get $1600-- all day no driving

[Mowin&Coachin]

I would like to know how to bid on commercial properties as well. I really have little idea how that part is done so please, any reccomendations will be greatly appreciated.

[topsites]

I will advise anyone looking into commercial accounts to do so only after you have at least 4 years in the business full time.

The reason for this is experience, a big company doesn't care if you go broke. Granted, neither does the residential, but a small business finds a loss of a few hundred dollars easier to tolerate than when said loss amounts to several thousand.

If, however, you wish to find out how fast a big money account can drain your account, then by all means, I'm all for leading you by the hand right into the lion's den as I'm first in line to see less of the competition.

I speak from experience, I took on my first larger commercial account this year (my 5th), and it was by all measures a small account (only 6 thousand dollars). Keep in mind, it only lasted 90 days before they fired me, but that's because I was losing money and I stopped / discontinued some services until such time the budget would level out (which it never did, since they fired me). Imagine what might have happened if I had not discontinued those services, thinking I would recover this in the summer instead (watch out for that), I could've lost my shirt. As things stand, I still lost about a thousand dollars, so if you can afford to lose 400-500 dollars / month (who knows, maybe more), again then by all means, please do.

Last but not least, with commercial accounts it's the same as with residential, you have to weed them out.
Translation: 9 out of every 10 accounts are no good for you (it's a rule, they're no good for me either).
What do you do when a contract binds you to a pita account? Do you have the nerve to hang up on the association's president when he calls to complain? I do... But as you can see, even a guy in his 5th year isn't always successful.

[grassmanak]

Is what im looking to do is pick a couple of apartment buildings or townhome complexes to mow. I am a one man crew. I would like to try it out, if it doesnt work then it doesnt work.

[AAELI]

Is what im looking to do is pick a couple of apartment buildings or townhome complexes to mow. I am a one man crew. I would like to try it out, if it doesnt work then it doesnt work.

Just like PMLawn stated: grass is grass. You know your costs, or should, in order to arrive at a price that allows you a fair and reasonable profit. Topsites may have bit off more than he could sucessfully chew but that is no reason for you to do the same.

I took on my first commercial contract, a shopping center/mall during my first year along with a federal contract to maintain a military installation. Made money on both that year along with bidding and winning the next ten years several more federal contracts for additional military bases. It required a bundle of paperwork and attention to detail. I knew my costs and bid accordingly. Federal contracting is demanding with bulky contract documents and regulations out the wazoo but they can be lucrative as there are always change orders.

Again, KNOW YOUR COSTS.

[grassmanak]

okay but is what i need to know is how do i bid these jobs, do i contact them and say hey id like to mow your property for 225 a cut, can i have the job???

[PMLAWN]

okay but is what i need to know is how do i bid these jobs, do i contact them and say hey id like to mow your property for 225 a cut, can i have the job???

Well Yes! kind of--
What do you consider commercial- Mom and Pop gas station on the corner.
Or HOA with 500 homes-- Or Industrial park that takes 100 hours a week.
For the small business owner that works the store-- walk in and talk, drop a flyer. For an HOA you need to find out the way it is managed (talk to a real estate agent - they will know most) Self managed will require you to meet the board. Management company- you need to become a vendor with the company, and that can lead to other jobs.
Yellow Pages will list Real Estate companies- property management companies- facility management companies- you need to sell yourself to them as a preferred vendor and they will sell you to their customer.

The best one word answer to your question--- NETWORKING---

Selling is hard work and good accounts can take years to find and sell to. That is why sales people (good ones) make good money. If you do it (sales for your company) make sure you get paid for it. I do!

[TNT LawnCare Inc.]

Is what im looking to do is pick a couple of apartment buildings or townhome complexes to mow. I am a one man crew. I would like to try it out, if it doesnt work then it doesnt work.


Appartment complexes and townhome complexes have lots of sidewalks and driveways.. this means lots of trimming in most cases. I not putting you down but a one man crew on a 4-5 man crew job. Brother you better have thee equipment. I don't think you'll handle a couple of each of these a week:hammerhead: You'll also need more equipment than what you have Listed..Good Luck !;)

[DuraCutter]

Topsites is right on with that piece of advice. You stand to lose way more with larger accounts. The downside is dangerous but if bid right, the upside is great. If bid right, commercial is always more profitable. You stay longer at the same spot, less driving, and if done right, good profit.

I too had 5 large accounts this year that went bad cause I bid according to the same standards as other accounts but these bastards wanted more, and that's what's hard to predict. Their expectations. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes mistakes to learn that. I was losing over 4k a month after we did the math. That was a large loss because of the other profit we weren't able to make being stuck there. Yes, if you make nothing on a job, it's a large loss, larger than what you're actually losing because you aren't making profits at that time... the hours you spend making nothing.... anyways, like topsites, it's a never ending learning curve.

Also, we are lucky to have spent years gathering equipment that is dual/triple duty, meaning it's good for snow, lawncare and landscape.

Your equipment will make you or break you. We have 6' mowers, and several backup 4' mowers. Many small tractors to pull various implements etc...

Selling is tops. Sending faxes, lettering your truck, quoting constantly are all necessary. Just do it. Quote till the cows come home!!!!

[mblackburn]

are there any laws against faxing solicitations? or you just meant faxing documents that were requested? I thought about emailing to network, but many people take offense to that so I havent tried it

[DuraCutter]

The laws governing faxes vary from state to state and here in Canada. We fax a small number of management companies, some developers and real estate agents.

We simply state what we do on the fax and make it easy to read within a 10 second time frame. Most managers never see it, and that's the challenge. Getting them to notice. We found it best to call first, ask if the manager wants to know more about our services and then we can send it directly to the manager with their name on it. That way, it's more effective.

Mailing them too would work. Just get the all the names of the different managers in that office. With mail, you're safe. With my dealings over the years with property managers, I've found them to be extremely busy with too much work thrown at them from management. The more properties they manage, the more the management company profits. Suffice to say that their desk is often cluttered with mountains of paperwork much like my insurance agent...;) Take adantage of this by making your letter/fax really easy to read. Do not load it with reading as the manager has no time for it.

Send it often as they won't even see it due to lack of time, gatekeepers like receptionist throwing them away, or at that moment they don't need your service and they throw it away or lose it in the pile.

Once you do work for a manager, they usually will use your services on a regular basis if they hear good things from their projects or you prove your worth with timely service. Price fair, but you can easily make tons of money on very simple projects.

[PMLAWN]

are there any laws against faxing solicitations? or you just meant faxing documents that were requested? I thought about emailing to network, but many people take offense to that so I havent tried it
No laws against mass faxes