Develop Relationships With Existing Contractors
Being a subcontractor for other contractors can increase your chances of winning bigger accounts of your own down the road. Not only does it give you the experience and client roster, which is especially important if youre just starting out, it also allows you to get your foot in the door and make new relationships.
You never know when a commercial account youre subcontracting for might become unhappy with their provider and look to you, someone who has already worked on the account who they trust and know does good lawn care. Dont pass up these low hanging fruit opportunities to build relationships and make money while youre at it!
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Commercial Lawn Care Quotes And Estimates
Quotes and estimates for commercial lawn care contracts will need to consider factors such as time, labour, and equipment, among others. There are guidelines to follow when quoting a lawn mowing job, but there are some key differences when it comes to commercial work.
Some of the major considerations when quoting commercial lawn care include:
- Time Whether you will be working on a multi-property project on a new development or just a maintenance job on a corporate site, knowing how much time to commit to the project is critical. Ensure youre covering your employees wages on large-scale commercial jobs as well as any travel time involved. You may need multiple staff on site each time to cover all the grounds maintenance tasks the client requires and will you have the time to meet your existing commitments too?
- Labour When it comes to lawn care, employee or subcontractor labour will be one of your biggest expenses. Also consider your hourly rate as the business owner or operator. With limited profit margins in commercial mowing, you want to make sure youre compensated for your efforts. If youll need to hire staff or contractors to meet the new clients needs, this can be costly.
How To Bid Your Next Commercial Lawn Care Contract
Getting a commercial lawn care contract means one thing: big money.
But it can also mean a big headache if you do it wrong:
- Charge too much, and you lose the contract.
- Under bid, and you could lose money.
The goal is to WIN the account and make a PROFIT, right?
In this guide, I will show you EXACTLY how to bid more commercial lawn care contracts FAST, which means big money for your lawn care company. Let’s do this:
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How To Enter Into Commercial Lawn Care
While you may think that moving your business to include commercial lawn care should be easy, realize that youre dealing with a different type of customer. For example, you may need to sell to a condominium owners association , a homeowners association , or a POA .
Conversely, you may work with an asset or a property manager. And how you find your clients will be different too. You may do a lot of marketing on Facebook for residential customers, but youll need to become LinkedIn savvy to connect with your new audience.
You also have to bid to land clients rather than leaving door hangers. And property managers and HOA boards have different lawn maintenance needs.
They want pristine lawns to keep current homeowners or tenants happy, and these commercial entities also need to be inviting people to want to live at their properties.
Youll have steady and long-term contracts, especially if you provide snow removal services in the winter, but youre also competing with other commercial lawn care companies for bids.
Finally, your commercial accounts demand that your crews show up every time on time and get the work done as promised in the contract. Your clients also want a one-stop lawn and landscape company to work on their properties.
And all your customers need to trust you because theyre busy with a million different tasks. Show that you have a proven track record of service.
Here are some of your new clients needs:
How To Get Started With Commercial Lawn Care Contracts
Commercial lawn care contracts are centered around building relationships. From the very beginning, you should be focused on getting to know the property managers and real estate board members in your service area.
1. Make contact with them.
You can do this through phone calls, emails, postcards and flyers, or meetings.
Even though some property managers wont necessarily be looking for a contractor right now, they might be in the future. The objective is to build a relationship so you can ensure youre the one who gets the job.
2. Make sure you have quality references from previous clients.
Ed explains that referrals are one of the most important parts of landing commercial clients.
If they offer a fixed contract, theyll want an established company for it. Theyre not just going to hire anybody to do it. They want to see a reputation.
Most commercial clients will want to call the property managers youve worked with in the past. So, tailor the references you give based on the client for the best results.
For example, if youre trying to land a contract with a condo property manager, try to find a referral from another condo property manager youve worked for before.
How to get started without commercial experience
If you dont have referrals yet, Ed suggests getting your lawn care name out there by doing some basic industry discovery.
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When Do You Mow Your Lawn
Weekly mowing is the rule, but some lawns require more frequent mowing. However, some grasses grow more slowly and will only need mowing every ten or two weeks. In general, dont jack off more than a third of a grass blade at a time. More than that could be detrimental to the grass.
One of the easiest ways to create a professional landscape bid is using software or a template. If you dont have an idea and time to create one, use the given tips and templates above. They are not only accessible, but they are also easy to use. So, dont hesitate to download them now!
What Do Most Lawn Care Companies Charge
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Can I Upsell Work To Make A Profit On This Contract
Maybe you lose money on the mowing, but you can make 200% on the fertilization package.
In this instance, you might be able to accept the job with the right upsells.
Keep in mind, even when you’re dealing with a high-profit job, you should ALWAYS be looking for ways to upselleveryone.
A great job costing tool, like Service Autopilot, will be able to tell you if a job is worth it.
Residential Vs Commercial Landscaping
Before jumping into commercial work, you need to do your homework.Its a totally different animal, says Gib Durden, vice president of business development at HighGrove Partners in Austell, Georgia. Its still cutting grass, pruning and planting flowers, but commercial landscaping is a totally different mindset.Switching between it and residential work can be difficult. Dont try intermingling the same guys doing commercial and residential work, says Jim Schill, vice president of Schill Grounds Management in North Ridgeville, Ohio.One major variant is that you rarely deal with the owner in commercial work. Your point of contact is probably not the decision maker, could be replaced at any time and has little say in what gets approved, says Terry Delany, president of ServFM in Fayetteville, Arkansas.Profit margins are typically lower with commercial, but they are counter-weighted by higher contract dollar amounts. Its a low-margin, high-quantity set-up, Delany says.For all of the things that are more difficult with commercial landscaping, its still easier, he adds.
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What To Look For When Visiting The Site
If your customer is comfortable with you and sees you as a professional, you are more likely to experience success when you bid on landscaping jobs. Make sure you have a chance to visit the site in person and try to meet with the property owner or the person in charge of hiring a landscaper.
Ask questions about their goals and vision for the project. Take notes and ask for clarification when necessary. Youâll use the information you collect during your first visit to the site to address the customerâs needs and wants in your bid.
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How To Give Lawn Care Estimates From Anywhere
Lawn care estimates can be a pain because you have to:
- Schedule the appointment
- Drive out to the clients property
- Take time to measure the property
Then, after all of that, you might not even win the bid. What a wasteâ¦
However, theres a faster way and better way using the best lawn care software.
When you choose Service Autopilot, youâll have the ability to unlock tools like Smart Maps to measure properties from anywhere.
Get precise property measurements to find the gross, net, or turf square footage. Create estimates with the utmost accuracy â without ever leaving the comfort of your desk.
Give estimates while youâre on the phone with a clients to improve your closing rate and capture clients more quickly with timely estimates.
Plus, you can utilize Service Autopilotâs rapid route optimization to increase your route density â instantly saving you money and increasing your profits.
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Bidding On Commercial Lawn Maintenance And Landscaping Jobs
After youve laid the groundwork, its time to turn your attention to the bidding process.
If youre bidding commercial maintenance and landscaping jobs like you bid residential, you wont get the work, Schill says. Most commercial accounts are chasing the bottom dollar. Thats why its so important to have a good grasp on every aspect and expense of your business.Youre better off trying to take the scientific approach, Durden says. That includes taking good field measurements and knowing the number of man-hours the task will require.It costs time and money to put a bid in on a property, so make sure you truly understand the specs and the clients expectations, Schill says.When working on a contract, Delany says to add a clause giving you the right to pause work until you get paid. If you dont have that in your contract and you stop working, youve breached it first.One of the main numbers to look at when bidding commercial lawn maintenance and landscaping jobs is your profit. Since all landscape contractors are paying approximately the same amount for trucks, mowers, labor, overhead and fuel, the deciding factor is often how much profit do you want/need to make on this job, Delany says. Here are some questions Delany suggests asking yourself when deciding how much profit to add to your bid:
You may not be able to answer all of these, but the more you think about these, the better chance you have of winning the account, he says.
Determine Your Desired Profit
How much do you want to make from your business each year personally? Run the numbers to see what you need to cover your living expenses. You can download an Excel budget spreadsheet at My F.I.R.E. Facts to help you plan your expenses.
If that number comes to $50,000, you need to earn more than a $50,000 profit this year. Remember, you have to pay taxes on your total profits. Talk to a tax professional to find out what you can expect to pay in taxes in your state.
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Dont Forget To Price Special Services And Materials Differently
Special services like mowing, mulching, and weed control and fertilization application should be priced accordingly, rather than lumped into one cost.
Jason explains that these are actually very different services because they require different types of labor.
Weed control and fertilization, for example, is typically a one-person operation, so your labor is cut downand that one person can actually generate a lot more revenue than one person can mowing, he explains.
But there are expenses in the weed control: the actual fertilizer, weed control product, labor, and drive timeall those things are factors.
The main thing Im concerned with is how big the actual yard is, and the actual amount of turf that Im going to be applying the fertilizer or herbicide to. The bigger the yard, the more of the product Im using. Thats my biggest expense, Jason explains.
So, Im pricing strictly based on the square footage. I need to get an accurate measurement of the square footage of the lawn so that I know how to price it. Then I use a pricing chart that shows square footage from 2,000 square feet all the way up to 30,000 square feet.
I can then look at my pricing chart and give them a price quickly. So as the square footage goes up, the price per square foot actually goes down.
Commercial Mowing Contracts: How To Price Bid And Win Them
If youre in the landscaping or lawn care business, you know that commercial mowing contracts can be a great source of revenue. But how do you price them? Bid them? Win them? Today, well teach you the basics of commercial contracts so that you can start landing more jobs and boosting your bottom line.
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What Is A Lawcn Care Bid
When talking about a lawn care bid, it is an offer created by an investor, dealer, and trader. They use this to purchase services, products, and many more. It specifies the price the potential customers are willing to pay and the quantity of the services they want to avail. Thats why if you are a business owner, its critical to accurately estimate landscaping work if you desire to run a profitable company.
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Confirm That Fertilizer Is Included
Fertilizer and products that control weeds and disease add cost to a landscape proposal. Some contractors do not include this cost because they want to outbid competing companies. Or they include it, but forget to provide the service.
In the end, you’ll pay more because your Kauai lawn will struggle with no fertilizer .
Then, you’re dealing with lawn repairs that are much more costly. Not to mention, the decline of your property can impact business and scar your reputation, especially if you depend on guests choosing your property for shopping, lodging, dining, housing or recreation.
If there’s no mention of fertilizer in the bid, ask about it. If fertilizer is listed with a lump sum price, find out how many applications your property will receive. And remember, it always costs more in the end when you cut corners with fertilization.
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Whats Included In A Commercial Mowing Contract
You commercial lawn care contract should include the following details:
- Your businesss and your customers name, address, contact information, and the date.
- Your businesss license information.
- The time period in which your services should be rendered.
- The frequency of your visits.
- The number of workers assigned to the project and the amount of hours they will work per day.
- The equipment that will be used.
- An outline of the services you will provide, along with a list of exclusions.
- Clauses to indicate which party takes responsibility for damages incurred to things like fencing, irrigation systems, etc.
- An agreement on the application of pesticides, including the names of pesticides to be used.
Pros Of Commercial Lawn Mowing Contracts:
- Consistent Cash Flow Commercial projects are generally based on a contract with terms that stipulate a monthly payment. This can be preferable from an income and budgeting perspective, allowing you to predict and plan your financial outlook months in advance.
- Scheduling One of the biggest advantages of commercial lawn mowing is the predictable schedules. The routine of commercial lawn maintenance is usually the same every week or month, with some seasonal variation. This means your team can learn the routines and manage other weekly bookings around these reserved slots, making your business more predictable and efficient.
- Multi-year Contracts In the landscaping industry, a majority of the clients are willing to sign multi-year contracts. This means that during seasons with low or no new clients, your business is still guaranteed to make revenue. This makes it easier to grow or maintain the business and enables you to predict your revenue a few years ahead.
- Year-round Work If youre looking to generate more winter income as a landscaping maintenance business, you may benefit from having commercial contracts in your portfolio. This is because clients prefer to have one provider locked in for the entire year, regardless of the weather, giving you predictable work even through cold and rainy periods.
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Charging By The Square Footage
Consider charging by the square foot if you offer more comprehensive services, such as edging, fertilizing, and weed control.
This is in addition to your basic services. As a result of this method, it may take a little longer than charging by the hour, but there are a lot of advantages associated with it.
It is not difficult to calculate how much lawn care should cost in the first place. If you know the size of the yard, then all you need to do is multiply it by the rate you are charging per square foot.
In addition, you can also use this method to determine the price of your services based on the level of service you provide. Last but not least, it encourages your customers to use more of your services, which can, in turn, lead to higher profit margins.
