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How To Bid On Commercial Lawn Maintenance

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A Word About Keiths Tractor Mowing

How to bid COMMERCIAL LAWN MOWING

There is no job too large for Keiths Tractor Mowing, from farm lot mowing to airport mowing to pipeline mowing, weve been there, done that, and continually deliver to Fort Worth businesses what they expect at a fair price. Call us for a price quote. The name is Keiths Tractor Mowing. Excellence is the only tagline we need.

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Seasonality Is An Imperative Factor To Consider

As a side note, lawn care tends to be cyclical, so it is wise to consider this. A surge of business is usually experienced in this industry during the spring and summer months. Drop-offs typically occur in the fall and winter, so keep that in mind when calculating your budget.

Frequently Asked Questions

Landscape Maintenance Lawn Care And Snow Plowing From The Gardener Richmond Hill

Are you looking for reliable landscape maintenance services at a reasonable rate? The Gardener is your solution! We take pride in providing our clients with anything from a single visit all the way to year round maintenance. Our professionally trained staff are prompt and courteous and willing to take on any job regardless of the size. For over 25 years The Gardener has been providing award winning services to each property just like it were our own

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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.

What Not To Do When Expanding Into Commercial Lawn And Landscaping Work

Lawn Service Proposal Template Free  emmamcintyrephotography.com

Part of taking the right steps to be successful in the commercial landscaping market means avoiding some costly pitfalls.When youre first starting out, it may be tempting to buy a job to get a foothold with an account. But, thats a lose-lose situation. Stick to your set profit margins.You also have to educate your employees. Just because your sales team is good at landing residential accounts doesnt mean theyll be as successful in the commercial sector. In fact, without the right training, they will probably fail miserably and quit, Delany says.Commercial lawn accounts and landscaping contracts can bring in large checks, but make sure your business isnt too dependent on one account. You need to have a good mix of property types. You dont want to have all of your eggs in one basket, Schill says.With the right business tools and preparation, you can make commercial accounts a profitable part of your landscaping company.If you have the patience and are willing to deal with slow payments and losing/replacing large accounts, Delany says, go commercial.

Want more sales insight and advice? Enter your email below to receive new articles instantly . And be sure to check out our Tip Sheet with practical advice on how to market and sell commercial landscaping work.

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Cons Of Commercial Lawn Mowing Contracts:

  • Pricing Pressures The commercial lawn care market is driven by price, and its usually a race to the bottom. Businesses compromise on lower and lower profit margins to win a bid or try to renew their current contract. Working in commercial lawn care will not yield the same hourly rate as small-scale and residential projects.
  • Unstable Business Relationships Business relationships in the commercial market are vastly different to residential or small-scale markets. Property managers, HOA board, and facility managers can retire, change, or be fired at any point. This means any long-term contracts could also be jeopardised if theres a change in management, especially if they have preferred contractors from their previous role.
  • Multiple Bosses If you are granted a contract for a retirement village with 150 unit owners, thats 150 people you need to keep happy! On paper, youre only accountable to the property manager, of course. However, as a growing business, you dont want to risk having a resident take an issue with your work or noise. This will never be easy, especially if youve accidentally disturbed someones afternoon nap with your routine mowing.
  • Inflexibility Flexibility can become an issue because you are locked into a contract that may last for years. You are legally bound to complete work for a certain amount of time, even if you are trying to change industries, or the business can no longer be sustained financially.

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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Protect Your Lawn Care Business From Potential Liability

Since the best clients care about lawn care businesses being licensed, bonded, and insured, theyâre willing to pay more for your lawn care services.

Plus, mistakes happen and just one lawsuit can break your business.

In other words, you have zero excuses to avoid it, and you NEED to get your lawn care business licensed, bonded, and insured BEFORE you service another property.

Plus, if youâre licensed, bonded, and insured, you can easily charge more for your lawn care service.

After all, the best clients donât want to hire a lawn care business that doesnât protect itself.

To find out more about protecting your lawn care business, read our complete guide.

The Advantages Of Working On Commercial Contracts

How to Bid Commercial Lawn Mowing, Lawn care, and Lawn Maintenance

I always liked commercial work because youve got a contract. You know how often youre supposed to visit in a month, what height youre supposed to cut the grass to, what your responsibilities are, and what your responsibilities arent, Ed explains.

Your client will be clear about their expectations, so your focus should be making note of that, and giving that information to your crew. If something goes wrong, there is inclement weather, or you need to return to finish the job, all you need to do is talk to the property manager.

So long as you care about their property, build a relationship, and do what they ask, youre golden.

Since youre dealing with a professional business, getting paid is a bit more predictable. That means youre not waiting for paychecks, and you dont need to re-send an invoice. Its very straightforward.

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How To Get Commercial Lawn Accounts And Landscaping Contracts

Landing a large commercial account is at the top of many landscapers wish lists.

But transitioning into the commercial landscaping market requires more than just buying larger mowers and trucks. You have to change the way you and your team manage projects to truly be successful.

Here are the dos and donts of bringing in commercial lawn accounts and landscaping contracts.

Choose The Best 10 Keys To Comparing Commercial Landscaping Bids

Posted by Abby Santos

All commercial landscape bids are not created equal, and you know this if you have solicited contractors for proposals to maintain your Kauai landscape. Prices can vary widely, and so do quality standards, companies expertise, and the service they actually provide.

Comparing bids apples-to-apples is impossible if you get bids that address entirely different scope of work.

For starters, to choose the best commercial landscape contractor for your Kauai property, you should provide an accurate scope of work that details what services your site requires.

Ask contractors to bid specifically on the services you need. That way, you can compare bids by line item.

Price isnt everything, and we have had clients leave us for another company that offered an unrealistic bid. They do come back when their properties appearance declines and it impacts their real estate value and ability to attract visitors.

Remember, your landscape creates a first impression, and its a reflection of how you care for employees and customers, too. So take this decision seriously, and consider these 10 pointers for accurately comparing commercial landscaping bids.

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Take A Professional And Scientific Approach

When bidding for a project, make it a point to be systematic and clear about what exactly you can provide.

Make sure your proposal is professionally made, with a strong and cleaning branding. Ensure that it is formatted so that it can be easily understood as well.

You can also check out our landscaping estimate template for a guide on delivering a consistently accurate estimates.

Dont Forget To Price Special Services And Materials Differently

Editable Lawn Care Bid Proposal Template Database Maintenance Proposal ...

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.

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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.

The Jack Of All Trades Bid

The Jack of all Trades bid is from a bidder that does a little bit of everything. They not only handle all of your commercial landscaping needs, but maybe they offer janitorial services, or security, or even some other contracting work, too. Theyll throw all of it into a proposal and try to sign you up for as many of their services as they can.

Whenever you are dealing with a Jack of all Trades type of company for your commercial landscaping needs, you have to question whether youll get the best results since its one of so many different services that they offer.

Most of the time we find that clients want a commercial landscape contractor whose core competency is landscape services because they dont want to risk subpar results.

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Commercial Landscape Maintenance Bidding Tips

Gary Goldman talks about five critical components to bidding commercial landscape maintenance: fact finding, site take-offs, understanding your numbers, preparing your formal bid, and follow-up.

I have bid hundreds of millions of dollars of commercial lawn maintenance in my career. If I learned anything, it is that there is more to the RFP than what is merely written in the document. Much too often you are so excited to be invited to bid on a project that you fail to fully understand what you are being asked to propose.

1. Focus on Fact Finding. Once you receive an RFP, your next job is to go on a fact finding mission to find out what the client is really looking for. Hopefully you will be asked to attend a site walk with the client. If no site walk is scheduled, take the initiative to call the client and set up some time to meet them.

This presents an opportunity to ask the client some very important questions:

  • What did you like the most about your current vendor?
  • What are some things that you would like to see improved upon?

Prior to the meeting, make sure you have reviewed the specifications and site so you can have the client clarify any questions or concerns you may have. Show the client that you have taken the time to make yourself familiar with the propertyand that you are trying to resolve any concerns they may have. A proactive approach leaves a very positive impression.

Top Tips To Bid On Your Lawn Care Contract

How to Bid Lawn Care Jobs in 10 Minutes or Less

Most companies are only focused on their bottom line. To make sure your prospects choose your company, use these strategies:

  • Give them a say in the landscaping projects collaborate with them to create the perfect yard or garden.
  • Explain why letting inexperienced landscapers to work on their property is a horrible idea.
  • Show them that youre prepared by handing in a professional, well-written landscaping proposal.

Image credit: Shalev Cohen via

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Preparing For Commercial Lawn Care Contracts

Despite being in the same industry, commercial and residential lawn services are two very different things. Therefore, you need to plan your approach differently when it comes to the commercial lawn care game. Here are four ways you can prepare before seeking a commercial lawn services contract:

  • Obtain the relevant licenses and certifications since property managers are less likely to trust landscapers with few qualifications to their name.
  • Get ready for intense competition. Rival companies may offer significantly lower lawn care bids and take contracts from under your company. We have a great guide on how to price your commercial lawn care bid.
  • Find what sets you apart from the competition so you have a leg up during the bidding process.

Image credit: Petar Tonchev via

Nailing Your Pricing Strategy For High Margins With Less Mistakes

Youre just about ready to go out there and start growing a thriving new business!

However, this chapter is a critical key to making sure that you succeed. In fact, I can safely say that this is the most important chapter of this blueprint.

Whats that? Ive already said that a few times?

Youre right and thats because all of these chapters are the most important. I called this a blueprint for a reason. When a construction crew puts up a building, they base everything they do off of an engineers blueprint. Every single piece of that plan is required to make sure the building is solid.

Leave out an important support pylon on the ground floor and that 23rd floor will come crashing down.

Thats what these chapters are the support structures that go into making your lawn care company a solid structure thatll last for years to come.

The way that you price your services is absolutely critical to your success.

Price yourself too high and you wont be able to close enough new customer to sustain yourself. Price yourself too low and youll find that youre working your Mean Green off and not making any more than any old dead end job.

The bad news is that there really is no exact formula to figure this out. Even more bad news is that you will make some mistakes. The good news, though, is that this isnt a big deal. Youre going to get good at pricing your services by doing it.

Maybe youll go over or under but with a little experience, youll very quickly develop a feel for it.

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What Is The Difference Between Residential And Commercial Landscaping

There are a few key differences between residential and commercial lawn care jobs:

  • Scope Residential yards are almost always smaller than commercial properties. This translates to smaller lawns and fewer plants to maintain. As such, the maintenance of residential properties takes up much less time, while commercial lawn mowing can be an all-day affair. Commercial lawn mowing can include vast acres of land, so quoting and scheduling appropriately is important.
  • Billing Methods The billing process for residential lawn mowing is usually simple: the lawn mowing company charges for a one-time service, paid on delivery. On the other hand, commercial lawn care often involves monthly invoicing. This means commercial contracts provide a more stable and predictable source of income, but setting the correct payment terms in the contract itself is critical.
  • Profit Margins Profit margins for commercial lawn mowing contracts are smaller than those for residential lawns. While the scope of the work is larger, property managers are motivated to find the lowest-cost solution, meaning commercial lawn care quotes are very competitive. While the reliability of a monthly maintenance contract is appealing, operating expenses are equal compared to domestic work, so reducing the profit margin is one of the few ways to beat competitors bids.

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