Opinions on bid for large commercial office

[sootsy]

Hi everyone ~

I would really appreciate some thoughts and opinions for a bid proposal I'm working on.

I live in Michigan, the building is in Oakland County, Farmington area. It's 50 miles from me, so about a 40 minute drive.

It is 8000 sq.ft. with 19 offices (they are all similar in layout and furniture, large mahognany desks at least 4 chairs, bookshelves and filing cabinets.

12 cubicles all with medium sized desks, a chair and various office equipment.

4 baths, 2 large, 2 small.

A kitchen area (fridge, micro, counter area all to be a wiped down and cleaned) medium sized conference room and storage areas that have to be swept throughout the place.

Several areas to mop, lots to vacuum, dust everything (blinds once a month) empty all garbages and generally making things nice shiny clean and pretty.

It's twice a week, Wed/Fri, it's a nice clean building. I was thinking $150 each visit. Does that sound too high?

Thanks much!

[rclllc]

i would charge 200.00 per week w/ the monthly blind cleaning included. i would also try to bid on the hard floor surfaces and include it w/ your bid listed seperately. if you get the hard floor surface at a good price i would give a small reduction in the weekly price.

[Grizzly]

Afternoon:
Maybe I'm picky but not enough info for me to give idea of price. I think we're just guessing here. What are the detailed specs. high dusting ? low dusting? only cleared desk area to be cleaned, or moving stuff? inside of microwave? fridge? stove? move dishes out of sink? wash dishes? responsible for paper products or supplied by client? responsible for replenishing paper products? You supply chems or client supplies chems? You supply garbage liners or client supplies? I may be sounding trite but these are all items that must be considered when pricing a job. Again, know your competition and labour +employer expenses+,materials +profit = price to charge. My two cents worth

Bill

[rclllc]

my answer was based on having a contract w/ roughly the same layout. low dusting and replenishing paper products are things that should be included in ANY proposal for regular janitorial services. high dusting, cleaning inside a fridge, doing dishes, supplying trash liners or moving things completely off a desk would obviously be extra. my answer was also based on two people @ roughly 10..00 per hour, chemicals are ALWAYS included in my bid for regular janitorial services, obviously not including chemicals for ADDITIONAL specialty cleaning.
if i can not see the property OBVIOUSLY i am guessing. just my two cents worth.
mike

[rclllc]

why charge for chemicals for regular janitorial cleaning??? the price for chemicals, if you buy in bulk, should be next to nill if you are charging the right price for services.

[sootsy]

Thank you both for your replies, they are both most appreciated

cynmar said:

Afternoon:
Maybe I'm picky but not enough info for me to give idea of price. I think we're just guessing here. What are the detailed specs. high dusting ? low dusting? only cleared desk area to be cleaned, or moving stuff? inside of microwave? fridge? stove? move dishes out of sink? wash dishes? responsible for paper products or supplied by client? responsible for replenishing paper products? You supply chems or client supplies chems? You supply garbage liners or client supplies? I may be sounding trite but these are all items that must be considered when pricing a job. Again, know your competition and labour +employer expenses+,materials +profit = price to charge. My two cents worth

Bill

My bid includes: both high and low dusting, moving items on desks to dust properly plus using a cloth to make it glossy (all 20 some desks and bookcases), inside and outside of fridge and microwave, move dishes from sink into dishwasher, washing down everything in kitchen, replenshing paper products (they supply though), I supply chemicals, they supply garabage liners.

[Grizzly]

Mike:
Obviously the price for chemicals are included in the price presented as your proposal but they MUST be considered. You're paying for them, using them for the job they are a cost of sales expense. Aslo any job has initial start up costs, especially if you're setting up the building and not loading and unloading every time you do the job. Buckets, wringers, mops, dilution system, chemicals, etc. etc. costs that should be amortized over the first year of the contract if there is one.
I am sorry if you took offense to my initial post . In this case, I would also try to amortize some costs for the mileage that he is driving. That's two hours either way and if he is doing the job himself it's worth a lot more than staffing costs. Only the gentlemen knows the market value of the service in that area and what the market will bear.

Bill

[logan5127]

If this were myself bidding; I would estimate time and cost of chemicals to do job and your profit. I would tell client "there is so much here that if possible we would like to do the cleaning at least twice to make sure we are at the right cost. If you are happy with our service we then could set down and discuss the contract to see if it needs adjusted either up or down on the price. " This will to thier advantage too. If you don't impress them they can let you go . Be sure to impress them though. We have done this on a couple of jobs and one we actually came down on price.

[rclllc]

i bid the jobs for regular janitorial services right on and chemicals only account for MAXIMUM 3% of the job on a yearly basis. this does not include specialty services as i said in a prior post. i would include a chemical charge for specialty services usually always. i charge 25-35 dollars per man hour for regular janitorial services which more than covers chemical costs and as far as dillution systems........ i don't use them.....right or wrong. i have built my business from the ground up w/ little start up money at the begining and i've had to be innovative and live w/ out certain things. now i am more established and i still live w/out things like dillution systems because i really don't think i need them. i'm not counting pennies but i should be.

dan, around here people don't want to deal w/ someone who can't give a firm price the first time and live w/ it. once you've bid enough jobs you know as i do that you can tell what is going to take what time and what the chemical usage amount is going to be. if i didn't give a solid price the first time, there are 75 cleaning companies in my city alone that are ready to give a firm price. it is cut throat around here and i've done what i have had to do to survive. that means i've lost my shirt on enough jobs to understand EXACTLY what the bottom price is going to cost me to service a property. i never loose my shirt anymore and if i feel i may..... i walk away or sub it to someone else who really needs work.

i hope everyone had a good turkey day:).....................soooooooooooooooo sleeeeeepy now...

[logan5127]

There are so many different circumstances to a lot of questions. Location; competition; type of chemicals required; equipment required;distance; and too there are a lot of different degrees of satisfaction in the customers. If the client does not know approx hours it takes to do their job they tend to understand, at least for me. Anyways this is why I said (If I were bidding this job.) To a newbie without the experience losing their shirt might put them out of business . My idea is just that ;an idea that worked for one company in a specific location. Maybe it would work for someone else also. Maybe not. As always there is wisdom by lisening to different opinons. Thats why this forum is so great.

[RJ Cleaning]

Sootsy
I think 150 for 8000 sq.ft is way to high.
its a small office building, the longest it could possible take is 3 man hours.
so your monthly price should be $650.00
that would be my price.


Rob

[sootsy]

Thank you all for your thoughts!

"around here people don't want to deal w/ someone who can't give a firm price the first time and live w/ it."

Agreed ~ there is a lot of competition here and businesses wouldn't deal with someone not giving them a firm bid right off the bat.

The business I'm dealing with is very unhappy with the service they are getting right now. They want all 20-some mahogany desks dusted and buffed along with the file cabinets, bookcases and chairs (all mahogany also) in all 20 some offices. There are also 12 cubicles throughout. The building is quite large and they are adding on more. There will be a crew of 2.

I think 3 hours may be possible after getting used to the job but not right off the bat.

I enjoy reading the posts here, I've learned quite a bit in a short period of time. I appreciate you all!