bidding & estimating Beginning The Bid Process: Part Two Industry professional and consultant Bill Griffin offers his expertise to help you succeed. By: Bill Griffin T This is a continuation of last month’s column. To review: No two buildings are exactly the same; proposals should be customized to meet the specific needs of each potential customer. A price estimate being prepared for a small office will require simple calculations and a short written proposal and agreement, possibly two to five pages, outlining when and what will be done and how much it will cost. You should be cautious about using figures from standardized square foot time and task tables or computer programs, as they can-not calculate special customer services and other variables that can impact the actual cost of doing the work to the customer’s satisfaction. Always make necessary corrections to your bid and proposal for unique customer and staffing situations. Variables such as layout, obstacles and the maintenance level desired affect the averages. Industrial complexes are dirtier and normally get less service than office buildings, which are cleaned more frequently. Older buildings are more difficult and time-consuming to clean than new or recently remodeled properties. 8. Single-story buildings versus skyscrapers 9. Small offices versus large, single-floor tenants 10. Retail stores versus manufacturing plants 11. Age and condition of the property 12. Maintenance provided to the property 13. Density of staff and furnishings 14. Skill of your employees and supervisors 15. Equipment needed and chemicals used 16. Your overhead costs and profit requirements 17. Production rate of cleaners 18. Geographic accessibility and location 19. Frequency of service 20. Payment terms. Crunching The Numbers With all the cleaning specifications, special demands and variables in mind, you are ready to begin crunching the numbers. Although there are several ways that experienced contractors calculate bids, perhaps the two most widely used are the price per square foot and the hourly rate. The price per square foot relies on historical data to verify how similar properties were billed and if the price was competitive and profitable. The hourly rate requires accurate projections of the nightly and monthly labor total multiplied by the desired hourly billing rate. There is a lot more to preparing an accurate bid than meets the eye at first glance. However, with practice and accurate notes about what you’ve previously bid, the process will go faster and become more accu-rate with less stress. Keep it cleaning and profitable out there. CM Projecting Cleaning Production Rates The only true test of how long a job will take is to actually perform the work with your staff and equipment. Since that is usually impossible, you must take into consideration all the potential cleaning variables. Here is a partial list of things that will affect your actual produc-tion rates: 1. Residential versus commercial markets 2. Upper, middle and lower income level residential markets/ Class-A, Class-B or Class-C commercial buildings 3. Office buildings, industrial complexes, warehouses, food processing, manufacturing 4. Laboratories and doctors’ offices versus patient care, isola-tion and intensive care areas 5. Hazardous waste storage areas, recycle collection, separa-tion and storage 6. Biohazard laboratories, genetic and specialty research labo-ratories 7. Cleanrooms, computer rooms, high-tech manufacturing Bill Griffin is president of the International Custodial Advisors Network (ICAN) and owner of Cleaning Consultant Services Inc. ICAN is a non-profit association comprised of industry professionals providing free consultation services through the Cleaning Management Institute (CMI). Comments and questions about bidding and estimating are encouraged: (206) 849-0179; [email protected]. 20 CM/Cleaning & Maintenance Management ® • April 2012
CMM – Archives Apr 2012: 20
