Got to vent a bit!!!!

Let's hope you don't come back to us and say, "the good news is that I got a $240k job. The bad news is that it is worth $340k…)
 
Good luck, get that big job in the bag, and if need be, extend your business credit line. Those are some big numbers. Enough to sink a ship if the bid is substantially off.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #55
OK, so I have a bit of time, here is what I'm bidding on:

Removal:
20-39 cm DBH X 5
40-59 cm DBH X 5
60-99 cm DBH X 5

Stumps:
20-39 cm X 10
40-59 cm X 15
60-99 cm X 10

Pruning (systematic street trees, so crown lift + structure clearing + major deadwood)
20-46 cm DBH X 300
46+ cm DBH X 200

Pruning (random street/park trees)
20-46 cm DBH X 40
46+ DBH X 40

Hourly emergency work
3 man (2 certified) + bucket (spider lift) + chipper X 50 hrs
3 man (2 certified) + chipper + truck X 50 hrs

Hourly work (3 man (2 certified) + chipper + truck + with or withour bucket X 700 hrs

Stumps are cleaned but no seeding. They let us dump chips at the yard, but not wood. I have a guy abour 15 minutes away that will trade the wood for a parking spot. Muni is about 40 minutes from my place.
 
Ok, very few removals, lots of trimming, lots of hourly work. That would seem to allow for a somewhat greater fudge factor.

What if there are no emergencies, what then with those hours?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #57
These are rough numbers, could be more, could be less, I guess they just need numbers to allocate the contract. I like that they aren't requiring a huge consignment for the job: 3500$. I saw a job in Mtl to treat EAB with TreeAzin, they asked 50% on a 400k job!!! That's my mortgage!!!

Also, I called the manager and he was cool about us biding even if we had a spider instead of a bucket. I have one ready to go if I win!!! Gonna need another truck as well, if this all works out...
 
Good Luck. What is the time frame allotted for it?

Do you have some sort of Prevailing Wage, as we do here? You have to pay your employees a lot of money per hour. Nobody has ever explained to me what that wage is supposed to cover in a compensation package regarding benefits/ retirement/ etc.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #61
So we were only two bidders on this contract, for some reason. Last year, I think they were 6. I came in at 238k an the other 194k. We talked a little after, he said I was expensive, I said he was cheap! He the told me he just got refused a contract because he didn't have any certified employees, which he needed also for this job. So I'm gonna challenge his bid with the muni, maybe they will decline it.

Sean, the job was for 2015. Hourly wages aren't that high here, but cost of living is pretty low. We also have free health, so that isn't imputed to the employer, well, not directly.
 
Would be interesting to know how long this guy has been in business, how big his house is, how many vacations he takes and what restaurants he eats in. Something has to give.

Erik
Pro Cut Tree Service
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #64
Well, just found out the other guy didn't have qualified staff and the city rejected his bid. This should help me pay that new truck :thumbup:
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #68
matdand said:
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 :)
Click to expand...

Wow already a year, time flies!!!! Update:

I actually got this contract this year. Two close bids (me at 52k and another at 55) and the guy that cut the price in half last year (around 70k). I did lower my prices a bit, which made me get the work. We also got a whole bunch of private work from the city who refered us to homeowners. It basically gave two crews about 7 weeks of work, so now we are trying to catch up on the stuff we hadn't gotten done before christmas. All in all I think it was a good contract and I did make some decent dough!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #69
matdand said:
OK, so I have a bit of time, here is what I'm bidding on:

Removal:
20-39 cm DBH X 5
40-59 cm DBH X 5
60-99 cm DBH X 5

Stumps:
20-39 cm X 10
40-59 cm X 15
60-99 cm X 10

Pruning (systematic street trees, so crown lift + structure clearing + major deadwood)
20-46 cm DBH X 300
46+ cm DBH X 200

Pruning (random street/park trees)
20-46 cm DBH X 40
46+ DBH X 40

Hourly emergency work
3 man (2 certified) + bucket (spider lift) + chipper X 50 hrs
3 man (2 certified) + chipper + truck X 50 hrs

Hourly work (3 man (2 certified) + chipper + truck + with or withour bucket X 700 hrs

Stumps are cleaned but no seeding. They let us dump chips at the yard, but not wood. I have a guy abour 15 minutes away that will trade the wood for a parking spot. Muni is about 40 minutes from my place.
Click to expand...

Now this contract has also come up again. Pretty much the same numbers as above. Here is the catch: they no longer demand you have certified climbers on your crew, only workers with a certain amount of experience (15 000hrs for crew lead, 4000 hrs for second climber). So now I know the guy from last year won't have his bid rejected....

So we did get that contract last season, which was a huge step up for my company. I hired a full-time crew leader, three other guys and bought a new truck and spider lift. Looking back, I made alot of money on this contract, probably a higher percentage profit than normal. We also kind of figured out what the city wants: lots of hourly pruning work, we can use our small 7 inch chipper even if you're supposed to have a 10 inch, we can run and charge for a 4 man crew with only one truck and chipper, etc.

I really want this again cause it's like 6 months of work for 3-4 guys and I don't think I could keep everyone on board if I don't get this work. I worked hard at building up my crew last year and the guys were pretty awesome, well-tuned by the fall, we should be able to keep that momemtum going in the spring.

I can basically work backward with the other guys bid from last year, knowing what the final price was. His numbers seem low, but I'm fairly certain he won't be jacking up his prices. Should I try to compete to keep my guys and run that extra crew? I might have found a few ways to cut cost, notably hiring a local crew leader which would save in travel time. Thoughts???
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #72
Well, ran some numbers over the past week and tried to cut back where I could to get this contract. Turns out I came in 20% low!!!!! I guess someone will be venting about me tonight! Hahaha!

We should still be able to pull off the work with ok profits, plus I keep all my staff. Hopefully all works out!
 
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