How to bid 1,600,000 sq-ft parking garage?

Commercial
1

Hello,

I am bidding on a massive parking garage, and I am torn on how to bid.

For context, I have two methods of bidding: by the square foot if we are working alone, and by the hour if our work is dependent on the contractor.

I have cleaning times down to the minute that I have used for several years, so I know exactly what I need to bid to get to $125/hr, or $1000 for an 8-hour workday.

This method works great for smaller jobs like gas stations and parking lots, but this is far and away the largest commercial job I have ever bid.

I have my cleaning time calculated to about 40 to 45 days @ 8 hours/day = $1,000/day.

Bidding by time, I am looking at $40-$45k, but if I go by square foot at $0.10, my bid jumps to $160k.

This is for all the parking areas, three ramps, and 12 stairwells.

Here’s the fun part: They WILL NOT close sections of the garage to clean, so we have to clean what we can when we can. We will also be responsible for all the gravel that cannot be disposed of through the drains.

I would love to secure a six-figure job, but I doubt they would be interested. At the same time, we are going to be wasting a lot of time driving around and navigating this tight garage with an F350 and trailer, and shoveling gravel.

Does anyone have any experience with big jobs and how to bid them?

Please let me know if I am off somewhere or if I have officially gone crazy.

Thanks!

2

What kind of equipment do you have?
And the whole not closing an area is a no for me. If you clean around cars then those spots later become vacant, do they expect you to go back and clean them? Then chase all that dirty water to the drain?

3 Likes
3

4,000 PSI 5GPM hot water with 24" surface cleaner.

Good call on the double clean problem.

4

I clean some parking garages, why do you have gravel? What size equipment do you have?
A garage that big, they should be able to close off a small portion/day. Are there any cars in there at night?
At $125/hr you’re not making squat unless you’re running a 4gpm machine, which you’re probably not if you say you can clean 35,000 ft per day.

5

Have them close a level. 1 level at a time iant much to ask for. Start at top. They could have meant you are going to be reaponsible for closing sections.

6

Walk away….if they won’t close sections down. That’s ridiculous….never had to encounter that. You almost have to do so many floors a day…..

1 Like
7

They should be willing at a minimum to shut down levels at night. Otherwise the logistics will be a nightmare.

1 Like