Got to vent a bit!!!!

matdand

TreeHouser
Joined
Oct 9, 2013
Messages
313
Location
Near Montreal, Qc
So, I got to get this out...

Large muni contract came out yesterday: 62 ash trees to take down, different sizes, a couple difficult ones with live wires, some stumps with soil replacement and grass, all the trees are completly dead from EAB, haul everything away.

I came in second, but the guy that won was almost half of my price! The rest were pretty close. These are all «competent» companies: fully insured, equipment requirements, ISA members, experienced, blablabla

I just don't get it, conservatively he'll be making 45/man hour at the best, might even be less. He'll have a bucket + chipper + loader + maybe chip truck or utility truck + grinder. I don't know how he does it. He's been around for 10 years too. It's the second time he cuts a large contract in half on me, he's leaving soooo much on the table, I don't even know how to compete. I get it's slow this time of year, but really....

Then, later in the day, same thing. I put a 3000$ bid on 6 ash trees, all climbs, no bucket access. Owner call me and says he got 1000$ and 2000$ bids!!!!

I don't see where I can cut that hard to compete...

Rant over, thanks for reading :)
 
I've always felt it is better to go broke sitting on the sofa watching Oprah than out busting your hump.
 
Some times we just screw it up. I just won a bid I was trying to be competitive on and left a buncha money on the table.
 
I think your experience matches the typical experience in muni contracts.

I posted something on this before, last winter I bid $19k on a town bid, I tried to bid it low but make a couple bucks. Another guy bid $800.00 less than me which would indicate being in the right ballpark. The winning bid was from a company based in RI (about 2.5 hrs away)….$7800.00. Perhaps they are happy to lose big bucks in the off season in order to keep their people employed. Their trucks and equipment and men look beaten half to death. They stay in a motel to do the work.
 
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  • #5
Pretty close to the numbers that came out on this particular contract Cory. I guess I'll go broke next to the pool in Mexico...haha!
 
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True Butch, but I just don't get how this guy is doing it. Something has to wrong, it baffles me. I'm not trying to be a millionnaire either, just make a little dough.
 
Is it kind of like a loss leader in a store? Do these guys think that a lowball bid will win them favor in future contracts?

Not good business, but I understand it. Tough deal to keep people working in slow times.

But yes, going broke working hard is tough too.

I told a guy once that I dont get out of bed for less than 25 an hour. He said I could start monday as Shop Foreman. I underbid that deal!
 
It always makes me laugh watching city council meetings, a project costing upwards to $2.85 million dollars will get the quickest review and approval. No time at all. Bang. Done. Do it. Then it comes down to small bids for repainting fence posts or new cutlery in municipal cafeterias and the bids are $15 000, $8 900 and $12 000 the council will debate, analyze, dissect, question and ponder the decision for 2 or 3 more meetings...... and then go for the cheapest bid!
 
Too many cheap bastids in the world that think it's reasonable to want to get good work for a lot less than it deserves.
 
Winter treework tends to be crazy, one way or another. And then summer arrives, and, more craziness...
 
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  • #15
Ya I wasn't looking forward to cutting those trees in -20 weather without a bucket, so I did put a little more than usual, but still I would never work for that cheap...

What I find funny is guys that charge dirt cheap in the spring and early summer and book themselves silly. Then in the fall they don't have time for those lucrative contracts and I'm laughing all the way to the bank.
 
Excellent point.

Climbing in -4F? Um, no.
 
It sure can make you wonder sometimes when you hear those prices. To understand how the cheaper setups are run has helped ease my mind- a local guy I know is way, way too cheap. His crew is constantly on the verge of mutiny and he loses $ on some jobs. He also works 6 days a week. No thanks.
 
I quit bidding municipal. One or two municipalities automatically give me emergency work but as far as the stuff that goes out to bid, I don't waste the time.
 
If there is emergency work to be done, don't your custys need you?
 
Last month i bid $23,000.00 to remove exotic invasives here in the keys. The winning bid was $9,000.00. No way he made money, no way! So I feel your pain!
 
Yeah its crazy. We all love tree work down to our soul, and crazy hard work is a big part of it, but to work till you're almost seeing double, to wear out your equipment, and not make money???

No.
 
It's hard to imagine the rational between the spread in the bids. I'm sure there were even higher ones. It leaves a lot to wonder.

Historically taking the lowest bid never gets the job done better, or without headache.
 
I figure that guys that can carry on by making very low bids, must have loving wives with good paying jobs
 
There ya go, that could figure into it.
 
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