How To Bid On Lawn Jobs

Details About How To Properly Bid Lawn Mowing Jobs

Career growth isnt the only reason many people work in the how to properly bid lawn mowing jobs field. Its also a field that lets you help many people. We have already gathered 204 of how to properly bid lawn mowing jobs that you can use as an helpful resources to attribute to your career selection. View more

Where

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!

Account For Overhead And Markup

Estimates are primarily calculated based on projected labor hours and other landscaping costs. Its crucial to get that part right, but its far from the last step. Adding the correct amount of overhead and markup is what helps your business continue to grow and thrive.

Overhead includes everything thats needed to keep your business running, from rent and electricity to marketing expenses, office supplies, software subscriptions, and insurance. Understanding these costs allows you to factor them into every job you bid, so at the very least you bring in enough money to keep the lights on.

Assuming youd like to do more than just break even, though, adding the right amount of markup can be a critical balancing act. Too much and you could price yourself out of a job too little and youll stunt your own growth.

While theres no perfect answer for exactly how much to mark up your services, its important to base the rate on more than just a national average for similar commercial landscaping jobs.

Knowing what other landscapers charge for similar work is important, but you also have to consider what a particular job is worth to you in the final price.

Is the client easy or difficult to work with? Are they known for delivering payment on time or late? Are they likely to send more work your way in the future? How easy will it be to integrate the project into your current workload? Is the property outside your normal service area? How much revenue will they bring in overall?

Recommended Reading: When Do You Air Raid Your Lawn

Where To Find Commercial Lawn And Landscaping Accounts

Once you understand the difference between residential and commercial accounts, you can start looking for potential customers.Use your network of existing residential clients to see if they have any connections to commercial accounts. A lot of the time, if youre new to the business, it might take time to gain traction, Durden says. Start small, and start working on that.You can also drive around your service area looking for businesses with points of entry, such as a sign that needs replacing, windows that need cleaning or lawn needing repair. That can help get you in the door for maintenance work. When trying to identify prospective commercial lawn and landscaping accounts, look for locally owned places. These are the best because you often have a chance to deal directly with the owner, Delany says. You can also try to find properties that have the highest up-sale potential.As for accounts to avoid, he says hotels, restaurants, low- to mid-income apartment complexes and nursing homes tend to be the worst.Once you decide on a type of business youd like to approach, go online and collect information on all of them in your service area, Delany says. Then, create a pamphlet aimed at that market, and start visiting the properties.We offer to bring lunch by for the office staff, Delany says. That nearly always gets us in the door.

How To Write A Commercial Lawn Care Bid

Posted: Sep 26, 2017 · To secure jobs, a business owner must be able to write a commercial lawn care bid. Create a header and title for your bid. Use Microsoft Word or a similar word-processing program to do this. The heading should have your company name, address and contact information presented in a clean, professional-looking manner.

Recommended Reading: When To Apply Tick Control To Lawn

Discuss Potential Issues In Advance

When you’re working outdoors, there are many potential problems that might arise on the job. Make sure you discuss these possibilities with your customer in advance and let them know how this could affect the cost of the job. For instance, if you discover a dying tree upon further inspection of a yard, you might need to delay your work to address this issue.

Grow Your Landscaping Business With Skynova’s Bid Template

As the owner of a landscaping company, there’s more to running a successful business than having a green thumb. You also need to keep an organized office and stay up to date on your paperwork, which is a tedious job for most people. This includes providing accurate bids for potential jobs, which is essential to growing your customer base.

Thankfully, Skynova is here to simplify your paperwork. Our bid template lets you easily create professional documents to submit to customers for their consideration. Once the job is accepted, it immediately converts to an invoice for your customer. If you’re hired by a customer for the upkeep of a property, we also have a program that lets you easily create and track landscaping contracts and recurring invoices.

Our wide range of products is ideal for small and midsize companies. Our software takes the burden of office work off your shoulders and lets you focus on your real passions. With templates for all of your needs – order forms, receipts, maintaining your company’s accounting – we’re here to help your business grow and thrive.

Don’t Miss: Why Do I Have Grubs In My Lawn

How To Bid On Landscaping Jobs And Win More Business

Even the most successful landscaping companies have to fill their pipeline with a steady supply of new customers. When you know how to bid landscaping jobs, you have a chance to make a great impression while setting your service apart from your competitors’.

When choosing jobs to bid, look for projects that match your expertise and price accordingly. Even if business is slow, entering into a race to the bottom by trying to offer the lowest price may not pay off in the long run.

Incorporate Seasonal Factors Into Your Bid

Since you’re working outdoors, the weather will be a factor in how and when you complete landscaping work. So, consider seasonality when creating a bid. Some plants and other supplies might not be available at certain times of the year. Also, if your crew is working outside in extreme heat, you might choose to increase your hourly rate.

Don’t Miss: How Much Does The Average Lawn Care Business Make

The Secret To Bidding And Getting More Lawn And Landscaping Jobs: Build Relationships

If the idea of making cold calls or showing up at a business to talk to the manager sends chills down your spine, you’re not alone. Cold leads are difficult when looking for paying customers. Instead, you want to cultivate warm leads by getting to know the decision-makers.

Again, you can go to networking events or brainstorm all of the companies you go to on a regular basis. For example, does your hair salon have a stand-alone building? What about your local grocery store?

Ask the people who’re in charge of the business how they feel about their current commercial lawn service.

Conversely, you can focus on a niche and target one commercial client typeincluding warehouses or a shopping plaza.

You can also include pictures of the professional mowing equipment you use on commercial properties.

Speaking of commercial mowing equipment, do you need replacement tires, tubes, or parts to keep your mowers and other lawn equipment humming this spring?

Then, you need us at MowMore.com. We’re your one-stop online shop for all of your commercial lawn care equipment needs. If you have any questions about your landscape equipment and replacement parts, call our customer service today at 1-800-866-9667 or fill out our contact form.

Identify Businesses In Your Service Area That May Need Help

This method of finding potential clients is almost too simple, but it works! Just hop in a car and drive around your neighborhood to look for properties that look like they may need help in the landscaping and mowing department.

Make a list of the types of properties you find and their addresses, then create targeted ads aimed at these very businesses.

Read Also: Where To Buy Ringer Lawn Restore

How To Setup Recurring/vacation Lawn Mowing

Setup recurring lawn mowing and well automatically dispatch service for a set duration, at the frequency specified by you. No contract and can be cancelled at any time. This is great for vacations, or can also be setup for the entire summer season.

Important Note: The taller your grass, the more time and effort it will take to cut. If you select an infrequent service frequency , please ensure you set Current Grass Length to Long or Overgrown for accurate pricing.

• Open the MowSnowPros app and tap Create Job at the bottom of the screen
• Tap the property you want serviced
• Tap Select under Job Name and select Lawn Mowing
• Tap Next to proceed to step 2.

• Tap Select under Service Delivery and select Recurring.
• Tap Select under Start Date and End Date to tell us when you want service dispatched, if required.
• Tap Select under Cadence and select a value between 4-21 days. This is how often well send someone to perform the service.
• Tap Select under Job Attributes and check off the attributes which apply to your job.
• Tap the checkmark in the top right when you have completed your selections.

• Tap +Add Service under Add On Service to review the optional add-on services. These are available at the prices indicated.
• Add-on prices are standardized, and apply in addition to the bid price for the base job.

Bidding On Government Lawn Mowing Contracts

Before you bid on a Government lawn mowing contract you should be aware that Government contracts follow a different code of conduct than many other requests for proposals. Ive made a short video for you highlighting a few finer points of an example Code-of-Conduct manual. Understanding and agreeing to this manual is the first step in getting your lawn care company on a Governments bidding list.

Proposal Forms: I want to highlight a few finer points of this contract bidding instruction booklet. The first point is the Proposal Forms. Most bidding packets come with a series of bidding forms. You must complete the bidding forms that come with the bidding packet. Do not fill in your own forms or simply write your prices on a sheet of paper. Your bids may be rejected if you fill them out on anything but the bidding forms that come with your bidding packet.

Submittal of Bids: Bids must be presented in a special bidding envelope that comes with your bidding packet. The envelope will be time stamped by the Purchasing Agent as proof that your submittal was within time cut off of bid acceptance.

Also Check: How To Thicken And Green Your Lawn

Key Steps To Estimate Landscaping Jobs Accurately And Win More Bids

You already know how important estimating is for landscaping businesses.

Good estimates allow you to flawlessly toe the line between competitive pricing and comfortable profit margins, while bad estimates can get you into all kinds of trouble.

While that much is probably old news to you, the question of how to move from bad estimates to reliably good estimates is less straightforward.

If youre a business owner, account manager, or estimator seeking to improve the estimating processes for your landscape company, youve come to the right place.

Building Relationships When Seeking New Accounts

A big part of finding commercial lawn and landscaping accounts is connecting with the right people. You cant just call companies out of the blue and expect them to give you the commercial landscaping contract.Cold calls and emails dont work that well, Durden says. Instead, he says attending community events or meetings will allow you to talk directly with the property managers. Then, if you follow up with a call, its a warm call.There are also several organizations that can put you in contact with the decision makers. Durden suggests getting involved with real estate groups, such as Commercial Real Estate Women . Another organization he recommends is Building Owners and Managers Association International. Its members are building owners, managers, developers, corporate facility managers, leasing professionals and asset managers. Chamber of Commerce meetings, CEO forums and other networking events are also good places to meet potential clients. Build your sphere of influence, and the world gets much smaller, Delany says.

Dont Miss: Riding Lawn Mower Disposal

Recommended Reading: How Much Is Lawn Care Per Hour

Consider The Cost Of Initial Work Versus Upkeep

When discussing landscaping and lawn maintenance with a customer, be clear that costs for the initial work done and upkeep of their yard will be different. Generally, the initial work will cost more than upkeep, as there is likely more that needs to be done if a yard hasn’t been maintained. Your bid should reflect this.

Keep Customer Information Organized

When you have all your customer information in one place, you can respond to job orders, inquiries, issues, and special requests in a snap.

CRMs are great for keeping all client information in one easily-accessible dashboard. Instead of wasting your customers precious time looking for an invoice or a note, you can simply pull up all the information you need on one client and answer all their concerns in an instant.

Read Also: Do It Best Lawn Mowers

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.

Top Tips To Bid On Your Lawn Care Contract

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

Read Also: What Is The Safest Lawn Fertilizer

Basic Formula To Bid Mowing Jobs

Tags

Only show this user

Only show this user

Only show this user

Roger said:This is a “chicken/egg” situation. I’ve read many responses like this, “What is your cost of doing business?” I think one needs to have two or three years of experience to get a good handle on the “cost of doing business.” There are too many variables, too many unknowns, without any data.Nobody would get started if we suggested they didn’t extend themselves at the onset. Yes, pair up with somebody else, but how likely will somebody share all the information to make a decision to leave and get out on their own. This might happen if somebody is leaving the business, and wants to groom another to take over.

All equipment is wore out.

Only show this user

NicholasMWhite said:This is the problem with this industry. Guys come in with no knowledge of what it costs to be in this business. They start thinking “I’m making $25 an hour I’m doing awesome, I used to only make $12 an hour” they lower the prices for the whole industry and everyone loses.

he was considering hiring him again

How The Right Insurance Can Help You Get New Landscaping Jobs

Every company needs some form of business insurance, and entrepreneurs in your industry should look closely at specialized landscaping insurance.

Having a policy that caters to the needs of landscapers can help reassure your customers that no matter what happens, their property is safe. Landscaping insurance should fit into your company’s budget while delivering the exact coverages you need most.

If you don’t already have insurance for your landscaping business, get a quote online that’s tailored to the needs of your business. Landscaping insurance prices are based on the type of work you do as a landscaper, the number of people you employ, and the geographical area where you conduct business. You can pay upfront annually or monthly without extra charges.

With the 100% online landscaping insurance policies through Next Insurance, you’ll be able to share an unlimited number of Live Certificates of Insurance at no additional cost. You don’t have to pay for coverage you don’t need, which makes our policies easy and affordable. On average, it takes landscape business owners about eight minutes to get a quote and coverage through our website.

Business owners don’t have a lot of extra time, which is why it’s important for landscapers to have access to their general liability insurance policies online 24/7. If your customers have questions about your insurance coverage, you can answer them on-the-spot.

Recommended Reading: Is Roundup For Lawns Safe