Bid presentations

Mike Dunn

Would be interested in learning from everyone about how you present you bid information to the client. Do you find more detail helps or hurts? Do you lists lots of options in your bids? Do you list lots of pros and cons?

If the customer asks for several different options how do you present that.

I am basically looking for the best way to submit my bid that will help illicit a yes response

Mike Dunn

Jamie Hall

Looking at it from the other side

if I have a job for which I have requested bids, I will have been very careful to spell out exactly what I want to have done, no more and no less (most of the jobs on the building I superintend are pretty simple -- sometimes less than a paragraph!; when I was a professional engineer, that spelling out sometimes went to a hundred pages or more!). If there are options, those will be spelled out, too. I like to have a chat with a competent fellow -- as it might be yourself -- beforehand, though, if I am not knowledgeable in the field, to see what might or might not be possible.

Then, having done that, I want the shortest bid possible: basically, something along the lines of 'we will do the job outlined in your specification for $x and be completed on or before date Y. Option A will add $Y, option B will subtract $Z'.

On the other hand, a homeowner who knows nothing about the field at all might want a more detailed description of what materials you are going to use, or what it might look like, or...

Paul Rohrs_4

Depends

Churchs or any facility with a board of directors, I ask for time before the board and give a simple powerpoint presentation. Visuals are the way to go.

Regards,

PR

The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)

I agree......

if a board is just looking for prices and has no specification to give to contractors, and is not willing to see a presentation, all they are probably looking for is a low ball price. People that are serious about having something done properly want to ask questions, even if they don't really understand the bigger picture. I don't believe I have ever not gotten a project in which I completed a personal presentation. I don't think I have ever gotten a project that I didn't present in person. When I get call along the lines..."We need a price to replace our boiler, can you have it by the end of this week?" I know no matter how well written the presentation and proposal is, most people will just look at the price on the back page and decide from that information only.

I write my proposals as though they are specifications, with, in bold print at the top, that all enginneering and design information is our property and that sharing or using this information will result in the billing for all design costs. It may be good to obtain signed documents to this effect when dealing with unknown clients before they can open the proposal... I haven'tried this yet. Prior to this point in the process, I am becoming increasingly tight lipped about design information, as I have seen flagrant theft of this information for use with other contractors, which then low ball my proposals since they spend little or no time designing the heating plant.


Boilerpro

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Jamie Hall

agreed

if someone has no specs and is looking for a price, there's a real problem. I wouldn't do that to someone!

The problem of swiping designs is an old one; I've had it happen to me more than once. One reason why, when I'm requesting bids, I give a performance spec and I really don't want to see the pro's design: how you do the job is your business! On the other hand, if I'm looking to be educated (e.g. by boilerpro!) I'll expect to pay the pro's time for consulting (or, back in the days before I retired and I WAS the pro, I expected to be paid for it!).

The whole thing can be problematic, though...

Jamie Hall

agreed

double post -- sorry!

Mike Dunn

I love

the commercial responses to this thread but I am looking at more emphasis on the residential side.

Thanks,

Mike Dunn

Norm Harvey

For something like a boiler replacement I usually detail everything that the customer with recieve new, and a description of the job I intend to do. I keep it fairly simple and readable, but I do list as many new components as I can. Right down to the boiler fill valve, backflow preventer, thimble on the fluepipe.

The thing that I find sells the best is my portfolio. It takes all the language of the proposal and puts in in a picture "Your new boiler will look like this"

I have yet to lose a bit that I wanted to get, and thought I would from the get go.



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The Steam Whisperer (Formerly Boilerpro)

I use the same practices both residential and commercial.

a specification and a detailed explanation of why and what and where.

Boilerpro

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