competitive bidding
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If I had to bid I would not survive. Fortunately I have a customer base from way back when times were good and we didn't need to bid. Occasionally I have to bid against someone and I usually don't get it. Generally I don't bother with jobs where they are calling every Tom **** and of course Harry.
Commercially it is a different animal of course.
I agree. 100% of my work is negotiated with my subs or customers, which sometimes gets slow. I may have just picked up another customer, who is a designer. If I relied on winning competitve bids I would be better off going back to work as an employee.
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6,089 Posts
It all takes time to build your business.
I also bid commercial projects on a continuous basis and win just about the same percentage as Mrphil. As you grow, you will be invited to bid on closed projects. You will also learn that when there are a ton of ECs bidding, the one who forgot the most, is the one who gets stuck with it. I usually won't waste my time bidding those.
Having a good customer base for non bid work is great for cash flow.
Stick with and remember the following advice I got many years ago.
If you get every job you bid, you're too low
Better to not get the job, than get it and lose money.
You are absolutely right. I just bid a job with one of my contractors, my bid was 11,300.00. He said I was way off and came in at 6000.00. This house was bought by a millionaire investor who owns a home in LaJolla in San Diego and he doesn't even live there half of the year. I just countered with 10,500.00 final offer. It may be time for me to leave this state if I can't make reasonable money.
Without going into a bunch of details, it's a room addition, whole kitchen relocation and some moving of bathrooms along with a panel changeout. I've worked with this GC for a few years, and he has some peculairities that make the job much longer than it should be and I have to account for that. I might lose this one, but so be it.
Tell that to my GC, his budget is $6000.00. If he does'nt accept the 10,500.00 he can get another contractor.
We do strictly service, so based upon my business set up, it would be a complete loss to me. But even putting pen to paper, changing my efficiencies, and bidding it out as a remodel, that GC can stick it.
He only has 6k in it for you, but on his end he is charging at least 12 for you!
He only has 6k in it for you, but on his end he is charging at least 12 for you!
This is true. I know that the investor is not of the struggling middle class. The money is there. The only thing that i can do is stick to my guns.
First you said it "came in" at 6K.....then you said his budget was 6K....
Which is it?
$6000 was the GCs budget for the remodel, way low in my opinion
I make all the electrons line up for their Flu shots
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37,505 Posts
There is two directions to take that are good.
#1- Don't do any bidding when there are other's.
or alternate approach-
#2. Bid everything real high, but bid a massive amount of jobs, and catch the wounded slow fish in the school, while not giving the slightest damn about the ones that got away.
I became a very successful contractor using method #2.
#1- Don't do any bidding when there are other's.
or alternate approach-
#2. Bid everything real high, but bid a massive amount of jobs, and catch the wounded slow fish in the school, while not giving the slightest damn about the ones that got away.
I became a very successful contractor using method #2.
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