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  Kirsty Blair November 28, 2009 at 8:27pm

  Its a new office building - grass cutting once a week in summer so I thought 3hr visit for 6months, then 2hrs every 3wks sept to dec, 1hr every 6wks jan to march. It sounds a lot I'm not sure whether I'm over cooking it. Its quite a big site and none of the beds are mulched with anything at the moment.
  I'm trying to get them to put in a few big compost bins as they're keen on recycling kitchen waste as well so thought we could put some of the grass in there.
  I've put in the overheads, its a 20min trip but maybe not thought about the rubbish removal costs.
  
  Ace Garden Services - John said:

  Hi Kirsty,
  Can you be a bit more specific about the type of commercial site. Factory, Hotel, etc and the amount of visits per year, plus rubbish removal and travelling etc.
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  Kirsty Blair November 28, 2009 at 8:53pm

  Northish - fife in scotland (1/2 hr north of edinburgh)
  
  Ace Garden Services - John said:

  Whereabouts are you based Kirsty. North or South
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  Dan Frazer Gardening November 28, 2009 at 9:04pm

  Kirsty, you can be careful about producing waste and minimise it. You say you need material to mulch the beds...there goes the leaves and light prunings, once put through a light shredder. Compost bins are a good idea but will have to be discreet...office management simply do not want visible bins around their buildings like that.
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  Kirsty Blair November 28, 2009 at 9:25pm

  thats a good point, I'll factor that in and looks good as I want it to be as sustainable as possible.
  
  Dan Frazer Gardening said:

  Kirsty, you can be careful about producing waste and minimise it. You say you need material to mulch the beds...there goes the leaves and light prunings, once put through a light shredder. Compost bins are a good idea but will have to be discreet...office management simply do not want visible bins around their buildings like that.
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  Kieran Ray November 28, 2009 at 10:07pm

  ON the commercial estates we look after the monthly invoice is the same every month unless extras are requested. you'll find most people that work in the offices dont actualy cair what is going on you only have to inpress the company directors and whoever holds the contract for you.
  
  On our estates we mow the grass either discharge or mulch, it usualy cut every 7 days so doesent grow too long in that time. We dont dig over any boarders as we mulch them all with either wood chip or chipper bark, whatever the customer can afford. We then take out the large weeds in the beds by hoeing and weed spray the rest of the beds with a risidual weed killer and trim all of the plants into neat blocks that eventualy fill the beds right up the the kerbs so that then eliminates weeding, more profit.
  
  We also do a litter pick and vacume up all of the fag butts. We also offer many other services ill email you our list of commercial jobs we tend to under take.
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  Graeme @ BGS November 29, 2009 at 8:43am

  As Paul stated - best to find out what the clients wants. Assuming that this isn't a new build office / commercial prem then they must of had somebody already servicing it.
  
  Ask why are they changing - It could be down to price, quality of service or any other reason. Once armed with the reason you could then discuss the various options and get a better feel for what to include within your quotation. The key is to actually try and talk to the person who makes the decision which could be the accountant, business owner or facilities manager.
  
  As a general rule of thumb, most commercial sites don't want a full blown service - they want low maint. neat and tidy appearance at low cost. Nursing homes, hotels and more upmarket flats / apartments etc. can however be the exception.
  
  Your quote should set out the standard services for the year to give a basic monthly amount payable and also highlight any additional services and the prices which if undertaken would be treated as an uplift and invoiced accordingly.
  
  Be mindful that waste is an issue and cost money to dispose of. Don't offer fixed price for leaf clearance as an example unless you have a very good idea as to how long this will take and how many bags you will be taking away!
  
  This sounds silly but quote the correct price for your time and services! If you get it wrong and go in too low you will make a loss or try and cut corners to try and recover your costs. Eventually you will give it up or get kicked off.
  
  Finally, commercial jobs require a different outlook to doing Mrs. Jones garden and not to mention the extra paper work, risk assessments, H&S, environmential policy, increase insurance etc. etc.
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  Kirsty Blair November 29, 2009 at 10:19pm

  Great advice, thanks guys. Pricing it is the most difficult bit - I'm seeing them this week so will be entering into negotiations! If I go in high it should work out ok - I know the MD so I know I won't just get kicked out! I know they're not happy with the guy doing it at the moment - its the bare minimum he's doing so even if I improve the grass it will make a big impact. I'll suggest the waste shreddingetc and have to see what else they're prepared to go for. Going to do a wild flower meadow on a bit of unused land which is for future expansion - low cost way of covering it and making it look ok. Will have to get to grips with the H & S side, paperwork etc. cheers!