Commercial Lawn Care bids question

[daddy03w]

I have been trying to put in a couple commercial property bids and keep getting denied do to the snow plowing as i do not have a truck to plow with, i mainly just want the lawn mowing part of the bids but can not find a way to get the bid. Would anyone have a thought on subbing it out and how i might be able to do it with out another company coming in and under bidding me on the lawn care.

[bruces]

Lawn care business tips

find yourself a snowpow guy that doesnt cut grass .

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Originally Posted by bruces

find yourself a snowpow guy that doesnt cut grass .

That sounds easy enough.

Your making it seem like you have to do the lawncare and snow plowing. I have never seen a contract like that. There both put out to bid. I have done lawncare for dozens of properties that I didnt do the snow removal for and vice a versa.

I imagine you could try subbing the snow plowing part but subs are extremelly unreliable. They will do their accounts first. Show up when they want. Lie about how long they were there. Then not show up at all. If you plan on using subs use a lot.

[Steve]

I have been trying to put in a couple commercial property bids and keep getting denied do to the snow plowing as i do not have a truck to plow with, i mainly just want the lawn mowing part of the bids but can not find a way to get the bid.

Have you considered looking for other commercial properties that don't require both in their contract? Wouldn't that make it easier on you if you don't want to offer snow plowing or deal with sub contracting it out?

[bruces]

My point was to find someone to bid with,somebody doing just snow removal in your case ,work out a plan that helps both of you ,then get the work .I have done this before and it worked out fine as it was work I wanted in the summer ,but couldnt do in the winter as I had a shopping mall parking lot to deal with in the winter .I treat any subs fairly ,my rates are always higher than theirs ,so I pay their going rate ,have no issues with them or their work ,and still make money on the jobs .Usually people having sub issues ,is because they beat the subs price down so the sub doesnt care if they do the job or not .

[SECTLANDSCAPING]

Originally Posted by bruces

My point was to find someone to bid with,somebody doing just snow removal in your case ,work out a plan that helps both of you ,then get the work .I have done this before and it worked out fine as it was work I wanted in the summer ,but couldnt do in the winter as I had a shopping mall parking lot to deal with in the winter .I treat any subs fairly ,my rates are always higher than theirs ,so I pay their going rate ,have no issues with them or their work ,and still make money on the jobs .Usually people having sub issues ,is because they beat the subs price down so the sub doesnt care if they do the job or not .

I agree with you on finding a plow guy but the problem is if he screws up you lose the spring work.

I always pay my subs what they ask for. I have never tried to offer them a dollar less. I just paid a guy $60 a hour for snowblowing. He claimed to work 5 hours and he worked 2 1/2-3 at most. He showed up at 10p.m, the storm started at 5pm and ended around 2am. He was at home at 12:30am and never went to the second location.

My driver told me he was done a little after 11pm and was sitting down. Then the PM called me and said a guy was sitting in their truck for a hour while the maintenance man was clearing the walks.

He cleared the first 4" at one place. My guy cleared the next 5" in a little over a hour with a smaller machine. Then we had to clear the whole 9" at the other place. The guy called me in the morning asking if I had more work. I had him move and a pile of snow in front of a dumpster while I supervised. Paid and said see a later.

I'm now looking at at 45" snow blower. It will be cheaper then dealing with a lying sub.

I wont even get into last year. I had a dozen subs and only two lasted. They still both work with me and were giving $15 raises. I'm paying subs between $70-$90 a hour. Thats higher then most charge to do it themselves.

[Steve]

I wont even get into last year. I had a dozen subs and only two lasted.

What are the top 5 biggest lessons you learn from dealing with them last year? How do you feel that experience has helped you get better at managing subs or has it taken you into a new direction for the winter months?