Hi everyone.
I've seen a few posts on this topic but just wanted to post about it anyway.
I don't currently offer a maintenance service as part of the business and just concentrate on hard landscaping. However, this is something that I am looking to set up in the near future.
I recently got offered the chance to put my self forward for a large commercial maintenance contact and would like a bit of advice on the next step.
Obviously commercial maintenance differs vastly from domestic and i am aware that I am going to have to have all sorts of health and safety, commercial insurance, operatives certificates etc in place to even be considered, not to mention an amount of capital to invest in machinery etc that this contract would need and also - more staff. I'm aware that I may not be taken seriously if i put myself forward without any of the above with the promise that it can be in place by the time the contract were to start (september)
At the moment I don't have any of this in place as I have never needed it up until now as the business is very small scale and caters only for domestic landscaping projects.
I'm keen to know what to expect and what I need in place if i were to put myself forward for this contract. It's a very exciting possibility but maybe something for the longer term to work towards.
Many thanks in advance
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Replies
Hello Sam,
Can you give us an insight on what they want maintaining for starters and the area size to?
If you really believe this is worth investing in i'd suggest becoming a memeber as most the things you will need are uploaded in the business operatives group and able to download as a member.
Thanks,
Mitch
Thanks for your response Mitch.
as far as maintaining goes:
grass cutting, weed control, fencing maintenance, mulching & fertiliser application, pruning, planting, hard surface maintenance, watering, litter picking, gritting, gully cleaning. It also involve snow clearance and chemical spill clearance.
The site is approx 20 acres business park.
What sort of scale of business are you at right now?
if you want my personal opinion i work mostly alone ive been doing this nearly two years and i wouldn't even waste my time with all the effort i would have to put in just to get a chance.
We're still a small business but turning over a lot of work. We only do hard landscaping though at the moment, no maintenance.
It does seem like a lot of effort to put in just to get a chance like you say and also a hell of a lot of continuous responsibility if it were to go through.
I would have to expand my team considerably to take on even this project i think
Plus all the machinery you would need to purchase. Your problem also might be expanding your team you may only need them two days every two weeks to do this job with you what about the rest of the work you will need to find for them.
If it's 20 acres of grass cutting there's been a recent thread on that
http://landscapejuicenetwork.com/forum/topics/cutting-20-acres-on-a...
Most of that sounds fine. The bit that would worry me is the chemical spill clearance. Sounds like a real can of worms to me. What kind of chemicals? What are the regs on disposal and clearing up of those chemicals? Do you need special training for the staff involved? Do you need special kit? It would just ring alarm bells with me. I can imagine a spill happening and you being required to clean it up, only to find that it's extremely hazardous and specialist, requires pricey kit and is very expensive to dispose of the contaminated waste at the end of it. Fine if they just want you to organise specialist contractors to do it. But if it is included in a fixed price estimate it could be a nightmare.
Also snow clearance. What do they want clearing? If it is all the roads, paths and carparks then that could be a huge job, if we get a substantial snow fall.
Hi Sam,
Firstly congrats that this opportunity has come around - you must be doing something right! One thing to expect is a price hike on your insurance. You'll have to alert them that you're now working on commercial properties (which could increase the cost) as well as getting some employers' liability which will also increase the cost of the policy.
There are no doubt plenty of reasons to not take on this work, but it sounds like a good opportunity for growth :)
Good luck with whichever decision you go with :)
As simply business has said, well done for even getting the chance to provide a quotation. 20 acres is a large site, this being so it's important to get the timing and frequency of visits right unless it's a tender contract already stating. Be aware that you may need to invest significantly in Kit eg... new ride on mowers, maybe new vehicle or trailer to be able to carry out the contract effectively. Also you may need to pay for extra staff and they need paying on time whilst you may not see the first payment from the contract until a couple of months later so cash flow can be a problem.
I don't mean to put you off because it's great when you get there, but all want to stress is that you may need to invest significantly before you start to see the payments rolling in.
Just go for it and see what happens! :-)
LeicesterGardeningServices.com
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