Bidding on Commercial Jobs?

[zephyr]

Hey guys I am just starting to bid on commercial jobs and need to know about the difference in bidding between that and residential. For instance, if you are comparing a commercial property and residential, and you have the same amount of square footage, what you charge commercially compared to the residential yard. Is there some figure that some of you out there use or what? Any help is greatly appreciated.

[lawrence stone]

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There are no hard rules. You need to measure and do time studies plus know you’re exact per hour overhead costs. Geographic area, climate, median income, labor rates, insurance etc etc are all variable.

"The Frugal Agronomist"

[Scaper-S2k]

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E-mail me your location and I'll try to help out as much as possible.

<<Don't Fear the Green!>>

[zephyr]

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Stone, I understand all of that. What I mean is what is the mark-up on profit that you want to receive once all costs have been met. For residential you may want to make 10-15$ profit per yard once costs are met, what do you guys want to make per commercial yard once these costs are discarded?

[Matthew W. Morgan]

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<font color=red>One thing to consider is this. Many comercial accounts want one price to pay for all services. In this case, if it rains, you profit less because you mow more and if it is a drought, you profit more due to less mowing. If this is the case, be sure to keep yourself covered if you end up mowing a lot. With comercial, depending on the quality levels expected, there is good money to be made with the extras like mulching, bed maintenance, spraying weeds in parking areas and sidewalks etc. Some of the low cost extras that take very little time to do while you are already there can help the bottom line very well.

As far as comercial being more than residential, sometimes that is true, sometimes not. What kind of comercial account is this? A bank or resturant, offices, aparments, industrial site?? All are different. Some will pay top dollar for premium quality and others want the cheapest price going.

Just remember this. Commercial is a game. You MUST be a "player". Know your numbers to the last cent and have a "walk away price" in your head. Be flexable with them. Work with them to suit their needs AND budget.

Good Luck!

Matthew</font id=red>

[zephyr]

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Good advice Mr. Morgan. Getting some of the banks around here would be hitting paydirt. I am bidding on some small office buildings, doctors's offices, in other words small offices and private businesses. Some of these places have very little yards. I mean takes 10 minutes to mow at the very most. Probably wouldn't take me more than 30 minutes to do mow, trim, blow and possibly pull a few weeds here and there. For a residential account of the same size I would noramally charge 30-35$ each time and if it is a high class neighborhood maybe 40-45$ each time. For commercial should I charge 50 or even more or do I bid it out like a residential? My quality of work does not depend on the account I have. I try to give high quality work to all my accounts so this is not a difference maker when I bid.

[dm]

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I am from Chicago, where I operated a small residential lawn care service. I've recently moved to Naples, FL. to open a lawn care service. I would like to focus on apartment complexes, condos, and gated communities(200-300 units). I'm having problems with pricing large accounts. Do I need to add into the price hedging, trimming? Or do I charge separate for these services? Does anyone have a simple method for pricing these accounts?

Also, what should be included in the direct mailings to these property managers for the solicitation of the accounts?

[GrassMaster]

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<b>Welcome to the Lawnservicing Forum Community, dm!</b> []