Unsolicited bids - opinions

I’ve been pressure washing for about 10 months. I would says it’s been successful overall. Residential is about 90% of my work. I would like to get into more commercial work but have no clue what to do that I’m not already doing.

What are your thoughts on unsolicited bids? Gas stations, warehouses, strip malls, etc. write up the quote and address it to management. Enclose the quote and a card. Maybe a link to read reviews. Has anyone had success with this method of acquiring commercial work?

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For me that’s always been the best approach. It just depends on your comfort level. Most management companies will already have someone that they use. However, that person may not show up when they say they will, may do sloppy work, or the company just may not like that individual. If you present yourself as being a professional and A Cut Above your competition they may give you a shot. I used to set everything up on monthly contracts. I’m finding now that most commercial companies will only do quarterly. But, if you get enough quarterly’s you wind up with monthlies. A friend of mine told me to always start out asking for the whole pie but to take a slice if necessary and sooner or later with enough slices you have a whole pie

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Makes sense. I’ve joined some networking groups but so far it’s just leading to more residential. I’m going to give this a shot. I like residential, I don’t want to get out of it, but eventually I’d like to get some help if the workload permits it. Thanks for your input

The thing about commercial is it’s not seasonal. It can make the difference in making it through the winter or not. I’m trying to have enough commercial to make up the deficit between what my wife makes and what our cost of living is. That way our residential work will be gravy

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I’ve done this in the past and for this off season my goal is 8 unsolicited quotes per week. Mostly Apartment complexes and Condos.

Getting the info takes different techniques, especially since most places have gone to message boxes instead of giving out there email.

For apartments the plan is to go in person with a plastic hard folder with a detailed quote, map of there property, and a easy quick assessment on their buildings, Insurance info ect. Walk in, Tell the front office lady who you are and that you have a quote for them if they ever are looking to use your services and ask them if they can ensure the manager gets it.

For condos I go after property management companies and get there email through different methods. Easiest way is to look up the domain registration and if they haven’t paid the extra $ to hide their info the email will be right there.

For self managed condos, where there is no front office and hard to find out whose in charge I go to my states LLC look up database. Condo Assoc are registered (usually as a Corp) and the contact info will be listed. Snail Mail a quote to them.

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I’ve done this (in the printing industry) with mixed results. I haven’t done it for many years, but when I was starting out I’d blind quote recurring print jobs. Local monthly magazines, weekly mailers, things like that.

I got a few clients because of it, which definitely means it was a success.

But I later found out that on at least 2 occasions the client used my quote as leverage to make his current vendor drop their price. Kinda pissed me off then, but not so much now.

Have not done them yet, but many other companies that I talked too have and they gained a lot of commercial business that way. We are in the process of doing a bunch of unsolicited bids throughout the winter in preparation for Spring. Will reach back out and let you know my experience.

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Looking forward to your results