# advice on how to bid



## snowplower1 (Jan 15, 2014)

I have been having a lot of problems trying to make sure i'm bidding correct. I want to make sure i am not bidding too low so i don't make anything but i don't want to lose every bid. 
My question is, does anyone have a set formula based on maybe making a set hourly price you charge people per trip based on your bills, paying someone to plow for you and the typical things we have to pay for
also maybe a set formula for just doing it based on the size of the lot. 

I understand that it varies by areas but if you could share how you do it, any help sharing how you find the best price would be great. thank you


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## BRL1 (Sep 13, 2014)

Well this is how I do it... I only take jobs I know will make me money and that aren't a pain in the ass. One piece of advice I can give you is be patient the jobs will pop up all around you and then you can jump on them. My company is from a town of only 66k people and I still wont take a job if it is all the way across town. It just doesn't make sense to spend 20 min driving to my next job unless its a big lot that I will be making considerably good profit on. We have been in the landscaping business for 13 years and its all about picking and choosing your jobs. But to answer your question I just factor in the amount of time it takes by your hourly rate and when they want the snow removed by, as well as the trigger lower the trigger usually the faster you can get it done. Then add up all your materials and for you your hourly pay for your operators. then add on top of that figure what profit you would like to make for that specific size of job..


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

Need to add up what your monthly bills are first. Then figure out the among of goes and low among of hours .then divide it up . Then in the end you charge 190.00 for the season for driveways


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## Citytow (Sep 21, 2014)

you got to start somewhere . I started subbing for a large contractor for years until I was comfortable and large enough to compete. there are several factors to a business . me or anyone else here would be lying to you if they said there was a set formula or set price in this business.

for example , I could get double and sometimes triple the price for a large driveway in an affluent neighborhood than I could in middleclass one. (gouging)
you can charge by the push (per event), by the inch or season. iv always had good fortune charging by the inch . it seemed the easiest to estimate the time to clear snow and the fairest for both parties involved . 

iv noticed a huge scam over the years by snow brokers and corps taking advantage of the small contractor. BE CAREFUL when bidding . theres a reason your bidding ,most likely in this business they burned the last guy. reason being is they figure if they owe you say 34k , they know it would take you that much in litigation to see nothing . its called the sharks eating the guppies method . a food chain sort of .


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

Where he is located last I heard driveways are going for under 200 for the season.


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## peteo1 (Jul 4, 2011)

grandview;1833908 said:


> Where he is located last I heard driveways are going for under 200 for the season.


Wow and I thought we had it bad here


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## Citytow (Sep 21, 2014)

peteo1;1833923 said:


> Wow and I thought we had it bad here


 you'd think he'd think that one out before posting . but I guess that's why he has 13k posts


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## snowplower1 (Jan 15, 2014)

We do only commercial. 200 a driveway is about where it is actually. If anybody has a good idea how to do per trip bidding for 2" is the type of contracts we are usually interested in


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## Citytow (Sep 21, 2014)

snowplower1;1834023 said:


> We do only commercial. 200 a driveway is about where it is actually. If anybody has a good idea how to do per trip bidding for 2" is the type of contracts we are usually interested in


all depends . how many miles per trip (portal to portal). per push is what I think your interested in . that's a one time deal , usually the customer , who thinks you can come and push 2' in one shot , will pull that trigger .

try this 
ice -2''.................. $______
2.1-4''.................. $______
4.1-6''.................. $______ or 3-4'' increment pricing ...makes them realize what they're getting & for how much .

when you reach 12'' or 1' .......$______ + $______EA. ADDL. INCH OVER

have a binding contract and ensure the customer knows what website you plan on using for total accumulation. there are a lot of configurations to do business by . just make sure all the loopholes are closed . they'll find them for you . just bc we have plows , people think were making millions .

make any sense ? don't give it away just to get the work during winter . I know a guy who lost his pants doing that .


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## snowplower1 (Jan 15, 2014)

well actually how my contract spells out the per pushes is that we come every 2" so in a storm we'll be there every 2 inches so multiple times in a day. i just gotta figure out how to make sure im pricing it at a level thats making me money and isnt a price that gets turned away immediately.


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

Are you trying to take your long term debt and trying to pay it off short term?


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## snowplower1 (Jan 15, 2014)

no just trying to make sure im being reasonable with my bids lol


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## Citytow (Sep 21, 2014)

I never tried it like that . . just seems like your at their mercy returning. so if you have 5 bidded like that in a 20'' storm with in a 10 mile radius , you don't stop. seems ridiculous really. traffic jambs , trees down and accidents would be a nightmare . unless you have trucks on site .


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## snowplower1 (Jan 15, 2014)

well each of our plowers has a area that we have stuff in that they plow so they're not running around too much


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

Guess your thinking is, if all your expenses break down to a 100 an hr ,then you want to make that plus profit. But if your area only will bring in 75 an hr,you'll need to figure things out then. Go seasonal!


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## Citytow (Sep 21, 2014)

grandview;1834306 said:


> Guess your thinking is, if all your expenses break down to a 100 an hr ,then you want to make that plus profit. But if your area only will bring in 75 an hr,you'll need to figure things out then. Go seasonal!


you make an excellent point here. that's about what he is doing when the days said & done . Thumbs Up


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## springscapes (Feb 16, 2013)

I'm new to snow removal, all these idea's are awesome, never though of half this stuff, thanks all!

Stayner ON Snow Removal Services


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## snowplower1 (Jan 15, 2014)

yeah all good stuff. i have a long time before i make final decisions on bids so i have a long time to learn, i only put my input on how i think about the lot and what the price i would do it for but my dad is the one that makes the final decision but he has been doing it for so long he can just say how much it should be done for but doesnt have a way to teach me.

anyone bid by measuring the lot and just have a price per sq ft? if so how do you go about it.


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## Citytow (Sep 21, 2014)

snowplower1;1834658 said:


> yeah all good stuff. i have a long time before i make final decisions on bids so i have a long time to learn, i only put my input on how i think about the lot and what the price i would do it for but my dad is the one that makes the final decision but he has been doing it for so long he can just say how much it should be done for but doesnt have a way to teach me.
> 
> anyone bid by measuring the lot and just have a price per sq ft? if so how do you go about it.


basically it comes down to time and material.


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## snowplower1 (Jan 15, 2014)

yeah im gonna go in depth on how much we spend a month and try to find a good method


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## grandview (Oct 9, 2005)

snowplower1;1834658 said:


> yeah all good stuff. i have a long time before i make final decisions on bids so i have a long time to learn, i only put my input on how i think about the lot and what the price i would do it for but my dad is the one that makes the final decision* but he has been doing it for so long he can just say how much it should be done for but doesnt have a way to teach me.*
> 
> anyone bid by measuring the lot and just have a price per sq ft? if so how do you go about it.


That's it in a nutshell.


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## Citytow (Sep 21, 2014)

snowplower1;1834716 said:


> yeah im gonna go in depth on how much we spend a month and try to find a good method


wouldn't each month be different according to events ? I don't understand .


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## snowplower1 (Jan 15, 2014)

well we have almost all contracts so i know what is coming in every month. But once I see that we have enough coming in off contracts i want to bid things on per trip because having the contracts kills us when we have a winter like last year so the per trips will even up the bad winters and the winters that we see barely any snow we make money still. last year we had to spend more than we made because of how many times it snowed.


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## Citytow (Sep 21, 2014)

snowplower1;1835124 said:


> well we have almost all contracts so i know what is coming in every month. But once I see that we have enough coming in off contracts i want to bid things on per trip because having the contracts kills us when we have a winter like last year so the per trips will even up the bad winters and the winters that we see barely any snow we make money still. last year we had to spend more than we made because of how many times it snowed.


resulting in no profit ?


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## snowplower1 (Jan 15, 2014)

Correct. Not saying any of the bidding was off because we typically have a good profit but last year there were just so many events that we spent so much money and it's rare that it happens but my thinking is, if we have a good mix of per trips we will at least be bringing in more because we will be going out more in a winter like that, if that makes sense to you. It makes sense in my head haha


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## Citytow (Sep 21, 2014)

yep , up north there they love that per push deal . never could understand it .


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## snowplower1 (Jan 15, 2014)

Yeah its really funny though because it is so diverse. Up here in Rochester you find quite a lot of contracts but drive an hour to buffalo and I have an uncle up there who owns a business and he said his plow guy does all per trip.


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## snowplower1 (Jan 15, 2014)

But i want to thank you guys, i think i may have just set up a plan to bid on everything. I have to bid on a big one in the next week so it should work out good for it


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## canella ent (Oct 3, 2014)

*Price for square foot*



snowplower1;1834658 said:


> yeah all good stuff. i have a long time before i make final decisions on bids so i have a long time to learn, i only put my input on how i think about the lot and what the price i would do it for but my dad is the one that makes the final decision but he has been doing it for so long he can just say how much it should be done for but doesnt have a way to teach me.
> 
> anyone bid by measuring the lot and just have a price per sq ft? if so how do you go about it.


We have recently begun to expand our commercial bidding, which has brought its own headaches, but it seems we have found a neutral ground by pricing per square 1000 ft. the true test will come after winter is over and we see how everything panned out. Our BIGGEST issue is the bidding process itself. We have expanded by letting our work and word of mouth get us contracts in leu of actual bids. Now that we are going to another level, we have little idea how preparing and submitting bids works. contracts aren't a bid deal. Payed my lawyer to prepare a template, but bidding formats are a bit more difficult to obtain.


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## MSsnowplowing (Nov 1, 2012)

Here is a simple way to calculate your pricing hourly.

Lets say Your truck needs to make $100 per hour plowing only.

1/2 hour to 1 hour = $100 

Look at the property and calculate how long will it take you to clear the space for a 2"-3" storm.

If it will take you 2.5 hours of plowing then you charge $300. 

Wait a minute your saying if it's only 2.5 shouldn't it be $250?

You want to factor in your travel time and add in 1/2 hour so that brings it up to 3 hours.

For the bigger storms for the first 2-3 inches, you just open up the roadways, a few parking sposts, so your in and out, so you charge half of your $100.

2 - 3.9 $300
4 - 6.9 $350
7 - 9.9 $400

Anything over 9.9 is $100 for every 2-3 inches added on.

So you get a 12 Inch storm, you would charge 2" trigger $600, 3" trigger $500

For a seasonal rate, you need to know what your average snowfall is.
Let's say it's 54 inches a year.

For a 2" trigger, 54 divided by 2 = 27. 27 x $100 = $2,700
Now that's just for a one hour plow, 

if it's 2.5 hours and your charging $300 then;
For a 2" trigger, 54 divided by 2 = 27. 27 x $300 = $8,100

Remember this is just for plowing only, if your doing sidewalks and salting then you are adding to this price for both per storm and seasonal.

Hope this helps, Have a Great Season and be safe out there.


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