Bid that tree!

After a little over 10 years I’m finally confident is bidding jobs. It’s an art . So many factors to consider. Drive time, wood disposal , obstacles, hazards, septic, power lines , location of the tree, lawn damage , work schedule , good client or random bum shopping around.
Feeling out people is huge also. Sometimes you know they are shopping around so I started asking people what other prices they got and they usually tell me. Best not to be the first person to look at the tree. I like to let the job simmer for a couple / several days before I bid . (Unless it’s an emergency ) People can wait. Nothing worse than underbidding a job but sometimes you got to do what you got to do. No more mister nice guy moving forward. Operating cost are just too high
 
So true with looking at the trunk first . Look at the tree bottom up, the trunk doesn’t lie. For whatever reason we tend to bid low , you need to be true to yourself and realize how long tree will really take. What ever the day rate is / hour rate , add it up plus wood disposal and that’s the price. Then take that and cut it in half if you want the job haha jk sort of
 
bck said:
After a little over 10 years I’m finally confident is bidding jobs. It’s an art . So many factors to consider. Drive time, wood disposal , obstacles, hazards, septic, power lines , location of the tree, lawn damage , work schedule , good client or random bum shopping around.
Feeling out people is huge also. Sometimes you know they are shopping around so I started asking people what other prices they got and they usually tell me. Best not to be the first person to look at the tree. I like to let the job simmer for a couple / several days before I bid . (Unless it’s an emergency ) People can wait. Nothing worse than underbidding a job but sometimes you got to do what you got to do. No more mister nice guy moving forward. Operating cost are just too high
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I agree but don’t care what others prices are
My price is what it is period
I perform 5 star work I don’t complete with fast food
Sounds cocky but that line and reviews sells it to the ones I want to work for
 
I keep getting emails from Angi's leads saying they've been turning away customers in my area and are flexible with promotional prices for their services....Who's heard of a highend customer not being able to find a tree service?! The corporate profiteers have a lot of dough to shell out on the "very dangerous" tree work with lots of liabilities working around trophy houses with power equipment.....Meanwhile I get customers wanting estimates on small jobs after giving them great deals previously!
 
tomstrees said:
I keep getting emails from Angi's leads saying they've been turning away customers in my area and are flexible with promotional prices for their services....Who's heard of a highend customer not being able to find a tree service?! The corporate profiteers have a lot of dough to shell out on the "very dangerous" tree work with lots of liabilities working around trophy houses with power equipment.....Meanwhile I get customers wanting estimates on small jobs after giving them great deals previously!
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Angie's list is a scam don't sign up.
 
One of the guys that works with me lives in an HOA with their own water treatment plant there's a massive pine 50+dbh probably 150ft tall and fat all the way up, it's only 3 maybe 4 ft from a 500k gallon water tank that if damaged would dump water into go several homes. The main lines going out from the tank are directly below the tree as well along with the water treatment building a few feet away opposite the tank. How high do you think you would price it? I don't have the equipment for a job like this but I wouldn't do it for under 20k I feel 10mill or more insurance would be the minimum if something were to go wrong disposal costs alone here would likely be over 2k. Some company bid it at $6,200.
 
Vicente said:
One of the guys that works with me lives in an HOA with their own water treatment plant there's a massive pine 50+dbh probably 150ft tall and fat all the way up, it's only 3 maybe 4 ft from a 500k gallon water tank that if damaged would dump water into go several homes. The main lines going out from the tank are directly below the tree as well along with the water treatment building a few feet away opposite the tank. How high do you think you would price it? I don't have the equipment for a job like this but I wouldn't do it for under 20k I feel 10mill or more insurance would be the minimum if something were to go wrong disposal costs alone here would likely be over 2k. Some company bid it at $6,200.
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$1.25 per pound. $1.85 additional per pound of clean up
 
I typically do not bid real large removals like this as I primarily do more pruning work. But I would say somewhere between $1,500 - $2,500 sounds reasonable. Would depend on the size of the operation, equipment used, overhead, how long it would take, etc.

I tend to put a lot of thought into my bids. Usually I start by taking pics during the initial visit, and then allow myself 24 hrs to write it up. Occasionally a little more time for really big projects.

Often times I will have a price range in mind when I first look at it, but like to give myself some time to come to a number I’m confident in.

There’s both pros and cons to this. While putting a lot of thought into what you do and wanting to make sure you get it right is a good thing, overthinking to the point that it’s taking up too much of your time or you struggle to make a decision is counterproductive. If you find yourself in this situation, one thing that can help is to give yourself a deadline for when you have to make a decision. You may not always be one hundred percent certain or comfortable, but sometimes you have to just make a decision and stand by it. This is something I personally am working on.

You may not always be spot on with your bids, and that’s okay. Learn from it, don’t be too hard on yourself, and move on to the next job.
 
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We have started doing a flat day rate. People have been more receptive than I initially thought.

Repeat customers usually know our work and don't have a problem with this way of bidding. Saves a lot of time when it comes time to send out the quote. I tell them we expect the job to take x amount of time at x rate. With all the work itemized that we will do. This day rate includes wood removal aswell.
 
Helmstein said:
We have started doing a flat day rate. People have been more receptive than I initially thought.

Repeat customers usually know our work and don't have a problem with this way of bidding. Saves a lot of time when it comes time to send out the quote. I tell them we expect the job to take x amount of time at x rate. With all the work itemized that we will do. This day rate includes wood removal aswell.
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Flat rate as in one day or nothing? I'm toying with this, currently for select clients I will do a "Day rate" with a half day min. The issue I'm having is billing for 0.75 of a day, and not having enough time left to transition to a different job to round it out. So I am currently thinking 1/2 day or full day. Nothing between.
 
We do day rates pretty much just half and full, typically though it's only for stuff like minor pruning if there's climbing maybe small non technical low/no risk removals, brush clearing, silky work just a general make things look nice day, wood removal would be additional unless it's hardwood that we'll use for firewood and fits in our trucks day of.
I charge more hourly for technical stuff or tough removals, it's more equipment risk etc and I don't want them complaining about me not getting stuff done they wanted if I need to sit there and think things through for a while.
 
Itemization pricing of work is not something I usually will do, and the reason why is because it’s always more affordable to do more at once then do a little at different times right? Because every time a truck goes out there’s costs. So you could have a $1,000 project with 5-10 different small things included, but if the customer decides they only want you to do x number of things and then come back at a later time for just one tiny thing, would it not cost more to come out to do just that one thing? Like if you have to drive an hour for something that would take 20 min, where by itself it may not be very profitable but as part of a larger project it is. So to go out for that one thing assuming you’re not already on the area, it may cost more to do it just by itself. At least that’s kind of my line of thinking.

I quote whay I think is fair and reasonable based off how long I think it will take and what I need to in order to be profitable. Once in a while I will get a project that I may be unsure of or it may be hard to tell exactly how involved it will be, so I will sometimes quote a price range instead of an exact quote with a minimum starting cost and a maximum cost.

Actually just did this with a hedge job. When I first looked at it I was unsure whether I could reach it with a ladder and extension trimmer or if I would need a lift. So I quoted it as a price range and went out today with our tools and ladder just to stage things out and see if it could be reached without the bucket. Turns out I don’t think I will need the bucket, and the customer saves a little money.
 
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