Grass cutting tender advice

Hello there I was on here last year getting valuable advice from you guys which I greatly appreciated. I had advice on starting a grass cutting service which I started late summer due to covid but got some customers who were very happy which is great. But I'd love some advice on how to put my name in for a grass cutting contract. My old work have grounds maintenance team that comes in and looks after grass cutting and hedge trimming etc. I have my old managers email address and was thinking of giving him something to think about with me maybe taking over in the future basically putting a tender in for grass cutting only but I don't have the first clue what to say? Basically I've not got the infrastructure to be a full ground maintenance buisness as I want to stick to grass cutting and large part of the job is grass cutting as it's quite large lawns. They just cut the grass with normal mower and leave the clippings over the cut lawn which I dont think is nice looking especially as it's a nhs accomadation and hotel site where first impression is important, I'd be able to offer a striped finish with my roller mower. So basically is there a way I could word it where I could cut the grass and they use the other maintenance company for hedges and trees etc? Thank you all so much and hope to hear from you again. Richard.

Replies

PRO

Adam Pilgrim March 20, 2021 at 1:12pm

A few things here - if this is NHS based site, then often they deal with tenders centrally and will allocate to the lowest bidder. This is likely why its a 'cut and drop' site as it will be priced and specified as such in the terms of contract.

Sad to say they are unlikley to be interested in a striped and rolled finish, they will just want the grass cut as quickly and cheaply as possible.

Also tenders are often but not always, desgined to be a 'one stop shop', ie the whole idea is that it saves them having multiple contractors to use. They want one that can do everything they need, grass, spraying, shrubs etc.

Sorry if that's not what you want to hear.
- Richard > Adam Pilgrim April 4, 2021 at 9:06am
  
  Thanks for the reply and sorry I'm late replying. The site is a housing association and the place has about 25% of the site dedicated to nhs staff. The old manager was keen on me pricing it up but I was not in a position to tender. It was my old work place and a friend of mine is assistant manager now so I'm going to be dropping an email to them. Thank you both so much for the advice I really do take it on board. Rich
PRO

Gary RK March 20, 2021 at 1:21pm

PRO

Also, highly likely you'll need to be SSIP approved to get any response looked at, unless it's a real local tactical need. We look after a Hospital and grounds around their accommodation units.