When you get the chance to bid a commercial property, how much information do you get before you put the bid in? Do you usually walk the site with somebody or are you sent there solo to figure out some details on your own? Is it typical to go back-and-forth a little bit by email before submitting a bid or are you expected not to waste much of their time? I want to do the best possible job I can do putting in a bid, but it’s all moving a little fast for me and any sort of pointers about what’s typical would be helpful.
My plan has always been to move into commercial property cleaning, but I was kind of hoping I would have a season just to run residential stuff and grow my experience with that and acquire bigger equipment (8GPM). But it seems stupid to pass up the opportunity to bid. Even if I don’t win it, it should be good learning experience for me.
Alright I got the address and I seen it on google street view. It’s big but single story so me and my 5gpm could potentially do it. Anybody want to mentor me through this one? I’d like to win it just for the experience it will bring. Not to mention the $$$ might be nice too
Just break it down by hours. I just recently bid on a big movie complex that might have been a challenge. They had a fair number of people bidding on it and a fair mount of moving parts to it. I asked manager if I could come clean a dirty section on back side to make sure I could get w/o a lift. I did, spent an hour of my time doing. So did one section, about 25’ it’s a big stand up stucco. He was enthralled with the results. I knew to the minute how long it was going to take me, counting moving, breaks, etc. Counted sections to be done and viola, had my costs. Put my ample profit margin on it and submitted. He told me couple of days ago I killed everyone else, now just waiting on corporate. No one else went to the trouble, and realistically, if I hadn’t gone and done the test I probably would have bid almost double what I did.
Plus I had some great before and after pics to submit with bid.
Racer, that’s amazing and I am impressed with your thinking it through that way. There’s a lot of moving parts here for me, I’ve just switched my LLC and got insurance in place for it (instead of being insured as a sole prop) and this company wants me to have a workman comp policy in place (so that means buying a ghost policy). Not a big deal because there’s another property management company that has told me they have house washes for me and that I can charge higher rates than I normally charge to offset additional costs (like ghost policy). I dunno though…I think putting a bid in would be a good idea but I’m also feeling a little overwhelmed by it all to be honest with you. Its a big step up from walking across the yard to the neighbors and ringing the doorbell offering driveway cleaning
Is workman comp policy common with property management companies?
I guess I’ll bite the bullet and buy a ghost policy. I tell you what, it’s kinda awesome to make such good money washing but you surely do spend a lot playing this game.
Forgive my ignorance what is a ghost policy? Recently had a big commercial prospect request workman’s comp but I don’t have any employees. Do I still need it anyways?
I’ve had two property management companies tell me I need a workman comp policy even with no employees (I’m just a solo owner operator and my LLC is structured like that). So a ghost policy is a way to satisfy the requirement and everybody is happy but the policy itself doesn’t have anybody listed on it, hence being called a “ghost” policy. I was shopping for one a couple months ago and looks like its around $800-$1,000/year - its kind of BS I mean the policy is literally empty, nothing will ever be paid out, you’re basically just paying for the “shell” of a policy with no substance to it to satisfy the requirements another company has for its contractors to technically own a workman comp policy (but their requirement obviously doesn’t stipulate that it has to have any level of payout to it or even contain an actual person on the policy)…
When I got quotes for commercial auto, general liability, and workers comp through my local agent, the workers comp portion was only about $850 a year. I’d definitely give your local agent a call and see what they can do. Paying $800 to $1,000 a year and getting nothing out of it doesn’t make sense… especially if something happens and you would need it.
Man, maybe I suck at shopping for insurance. I’ll double check things. I’m paying $1200 a year for commercial auto, $1100 a year for liability insurance and the ghost policy was $800 if I wanted to buy it. Which I haven’t yet.
Am I getting hosed?
I also think you should more carefully look at that Workmen’s Comp. policy for $850. Once you start actually adding people to the policy, it’s going to skyrocket in price. That’s just my basic understanding of it, perhaps you know more than I do. To me it sounds like you are getting quoted a ghost policy. And when you upgrade it to actually add yourself or people under you, then it’s going to go way up, thousands of dollars more per year per person. Just my hot take, I could be wrong.
It’s hard to say whether you’re getting hosed… there are so many variables that go into pricing insurance premiums and coverage options, it’s tough to make apples-to-apples comparisons between businesses.
When I last looked into it, the data suggests the national averages for a pressure washing business were roughly:
Commercial Auto: $2,000/year
General Liability: $900/year
I’m listed as a named “employee” on all my policies. I also keep everything under one broker who shops around every few years to make sure I’m getting the best deal.
Thanks, I’m going to do a little digging and I think getting a local agent like you suggest is a way to possibly unearth some savings/more benefits. Its like a neverending list of stuff to do administrative. If only it was just the washing work you had to do…
