Bidding a school!?!?!? Need Advice

[devuono311]

A Local High School is accepting bids due by the middle of March for their mowing, trimming, and basic groundskeeping services. To keep it as simple as possible, I'm planning on using an hourly figure multiplied by the amount of man-hours total between myself and another worker. How Can I bid this accurately though with 2 foot of snow still on the ground? Also, do most schools (Michigan) expect weekly or bi-weekly services? I pick up my Bid-package tomorrow, but I'm nervous. Do they usually expect a seasonal total followed by a break down of that seasonal total divided by the amount of months of the mowing season, April through October? Or seasonal total divided by 12 months? I'm REALLY nervous as I would LOVE, I mean L-O-V-E to get this bid! As I'm sure all of you can more than understand. For example if they expect bi-weekly mowing, and I multiply 60 man hours by say $45 per hour for a total of $2700 multiplied by 16 mowing weeks for a total of $43,200 for the season. Do I break this down by seven months ( the mowing season) for a monthly fee of $6171? Or by 12 months for a monthly fee of $3600 ? I would LOVE any advice from someone who has in the past handled such accounts or is currently handling accounts similar.

[Steve]

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When you get the bid package, I think it's going to explain a lot of this to you. Let us know what it says when you get it.

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[boog]

how did you go about getting the info on the job ?? i want a couple schools im new to the bidding game i need more help with it i have tried bidding a couple motels no reply

good luck on the bid

[devuono311]

Around here, majority of the time it is a matter of watching the local papers. I mean EVERY week. Check your local Penny saver as well as the public notice sections of your classifieds in any other local paper. They publicly list the bid openings, however, around here, most school systems run on 3 year contracts. Good Luck Bud.

[devuono311]

Originally Posted by Steve

When you get the bid package, I think it's going to explain a lot of this to you.

Let us know what it says when you get it.

Well I picked up the package this morning..... Whew . What a new world it is to look at this package. Fortunately they have kept it EXTREMELY simple. It's a 3 year contract bid for mowing / trimming of five schools, football field, practice field, softball field, baseball field, soccer field, and the superintendents office and transportation dept.

3 schools can be handled in half a day along with the superintendents office and transp. dept, however, the highschool, middle school , and sports fields
( sports fields to be done twice weekly) will require a chunk of time.

They are requiring a list of equipment ( thats fine)
Seperate bidding prices for each season 2011-12, 2012-13, and 2013-14. (easy enough)
as well as a seperate bidding price for the Community education school.
( Again, easy enough)


I'm nervous as heck, and dont know what to expect. Trying not to get excited, and I'm worried that with my overhead costs I may not be able to compete with some of the bigger companies. Gas is my main concern though as far as overhead, just because of the prices increasing, but then again we ALL pay the same when it comes to as. Its not like they get much of a discount if they go to the gas station as opposed to myself.

Well wish me luck fellas, (and ladies) , and Let me know of ANY insight.

[Steve]

I do wish you the best of luck in this!

Could you show us what the bid package looks like? Maybe block out the contact information in it but I really think seeing all of what they want will help others thinking about getting into such work as well as help you nail down the bid.