Adding New Gear into Bids

Jamin_Mayer

Jamin_Mayer

Location
Longmont, CO
I'm aware that landscrapers and such need to add materials & labor into their bids. I'm starting to do this on a small scale.

For example, let's pretend you got a job where you need to drive on a long stretch of grass. Do you eat the cost and pay for plywood (or Alturna mats) on your own, or would you simply add that into the cost of that job?

Or, maybe there is a job where it would be effective if you had a Frog Walker system (if you don't already have one). Therefore you add the price of the Frog Walker system to your bid.

I can see that this principle can apply in some situations with us tree services, while bidding, but not all situation. Because, if we did this on every bid, we wouldn't be selling those jobs much.

However, if we can play our cards right, I believe we can acquire safety gear, climbing gear, or what have it... If we tagged on the price of something small for nearly every job.

Thoughts? Who's done it?
 
Unless it's a direct cost...no, plywood can be used again, so that comes from asset recovery. You determine how many times that plywood can be used, then divid that number by the cost of wood. Now take that and add it to your hourly price and recover it on every job. All my equipment has a life and will need to be replaced. That figure is part of my hourly price, not that i tell the client what that is, but you need to know it to bid competitively and stay in business.
 
I tend to add the cost of whatever it may be to the job cost. I have a job to do now that I need to get some equipment into the rear yard with plywood, and I added the plywood cost to the job. I know the plywood is going to end up in the chipper.
 
I used to work with a cabinet maker and he would frequently add the cost of a special or new tool into the price.

There are a lot of things I'll add into a contract price but they usually have a lower price.

As mentioned above, recapping hardware should be figured into your overall pricing. We also add a capital expenditure line item to our budget and figure that into our overhead.

I'd love to figure a GCRS into a heavy takedown but that would definitely drive the costs up!
 
I just put out a bid for an HOA. They had about 8 buildings, which they wanted clearance for (along with several thousands of dollars in removals). But, for the side triming I figured in the price of a new Silky Hayauchi 390. I typically don't like to use a pole saw on a lot of stuff, but it would be the perfect choice. I've got a smaller Silky Zubat 330. but, I'd have to lug around a ladder as well.

I also noticed a fence stake near an area were we would need to frequently walk by with brush. It is a safety hazard and would be a bother. So, I added in the cost of a DeWalt cordless reciprocating saw.

Am I going over board with this?
 
I think that adding materials is a different consideration than tools, e.g. brace rods and cabling (plus shipping and a little cost for ordering (mark-up for your time, fronting the money for the materials--I usually never take money up front)) is different from the drill and bits used, or the back-pack to carry them in. Charge directly for the materials, and work the tool cost into the many jobs that will be done with the tools.

I bought a power pole saw because I needed it to remove a bunch of large dead willow limbs safely, where the shaking of a manual pole would have been raining dead limbs onto a shed. I justified the purchase knowing that I'd be able to use the tool on other jobs, and priced the willow job as normal. Without the power pole saw, I would not have taken the job because I didn't think that I could have done it reasonably safely without lots of extra work that would have made it overly expensive due to the extra time involved, maybe $1600 instead of $1000. $300 for the Stihl Kombi pole saw and extension. I use it all the time now.


If you have to drive on $200 plywood that would be ruined by the truck/ chipper, and everyone else bids for no plywood and rutting the lawn, I'd give the customer the option to bid apples to apples, but would explain that I'd rather take the extra care to protect their property, then them having to spend the time and money to have someone repair the lawn damage..."and we'll need to charge for the plywood that we will need to purchase for this specific job, which we expect will not last beyond this job."
 
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Am I going over board with this?

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If you get the job, no. Though few would argue that the HOA should have to buy you a sawzall, we could also agree that you are free to bid whatever you want. The market will keep you in check.

love
nick
 
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Am I going over board with this?

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If you get the job, no. Though few would argue that the HOA should have to buy you a sawzall, we could also agree that you are free to bid whatever you want. The market will keep you in check.

love
nick

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I agree Nick.
 
Jamin as much as I love ya, I do believe that bidding that kind of "equipment" into a job is over the top. I feel that those are things that you should already have. You can bid the job how you want but you could bid yourself right out of the work by doing that. So just to clarify, you want to work the price of a Hayuchi and the price of a sawzall into the bid, or rather on top of the price? That just seems strange, but if you know you are going to get the job regardless than sure by all means throw 600 bucks on top and go get the tools.

The good thing is you will always have those tools to use if u buy them and get the job which is cool and convenient.

D.W.H
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Jamin as much as I love ya, I do believe that bidding that kind of "equipment" into a job is over the top. I feel that those are things that you should already have. You can bid the job how you want but you could bid yourself right out of the work by doing that. So just to clarify, you want to work the price of a Hayuchi and the price of a sawzall into the bid, or rather on top of the price? That just seems strange, but if you know you are going to get the job regardless than sure by all means throw 600 bucks on top and go get the tools.

The good thing is you will always have those tools to use if u buy them and get the job which is cool and convenient.

D.W.H
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Derrik. I agree it is over the top. (Luv ya 2 bra!)
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Oh boy, Stephan will get me for responding that way.
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I'm more or less testing things with this last example. I have done repeat business with the lady, I know I'm going to be very competitive with price ,due to efficiency with a crane (not many people are using a crane), and I'm very busy.
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When I do the math. The cost of those 2 tools will only be a 8.5% increase from my regular rates. I don't think that is wrong or too risky.

Anyone ever increase their rates before?
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I can see that this principle can apply in some situations with us tree services, while bidding, but not all situation. Because, if we did this on every bid, we wouldn't be selling those jobs much.

However, if we can play our cards right, I believe we can acquire safety gear, climbing gear, or what have it... If we tagged on the price of something small for nearly every job.

Thoughts? Who's done it?

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Please don't get me wrong folks. I'm simply starting a conversation. And what spurred on this thought was my observation with the new road construction in my town. When the stimulus package checks were distributed to each state, it seems like road construction popped up everywhere. And my observation was this; On one on stretch of road, I noticed 3 brand new excavators. They are so new they are purdy& shiney.
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Well, I wondered if they placed those excavators into their bid. And, I'm sure that happens in the construction industry all of the time.
 
Jamin you are correct. It may seem "bad" but when I have done repeat work for people my rates may go up slightly. Like if the last job I did was 2000 bucks and there is the same amount of work the next time I may go around 23 or 24 hundred. Simply because I feel that they were fully satisfied with my work and are not mainly calling me back out because of the price, but more because they were more than satisfied with my companies work and the quality.

D.W.H
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The other thing you have to remember with those good customers who after the 1st or 2nd time you do work for them dont really even get other bids, they just call you. Dont ever get carried away and "put the screws" to those people because they will know when you do and you will lose a lifelong customer.

D.W.H
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I agree with Nick, if you get the bid then it's all good. Any profit made from a job goes to something right? It seams to me that you are adding in a little extra "profit" that is ear-marked for a particular item. If the customer doesn't like the bid they will go with someone else.
 
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