Hey Bigboy & all!
There are a few ways around being totally locked into a flat rate bid.
It's all in the right wording:
The trick is in stipulations - such as a price breakdown on materials where the crude oil prices can actually effect the cost of the chemical. In this type of situation you stipulate a low price on chemical and then raise it to market price.
How this can work: Lets say I pay $16.00 for a contractors price on a regular $20.00 chemical. I may price the chemical at a contractors rate. This allows me a little less loss if more chemical is required for a job.
There are those who do abuse this - this is NOT a reason to rob a customer. This is just added protection so you do not get hurt too much on unusual problem situations.
Another way to increase price is by basing your price on a time limit.
Lets say in a perfect job you can do it in 10 hours at $65.00 an hour. Lets say 1/2 way through the job you find that there are other stains under the stain you were hired to clean (like an adhesive spot under some clay & oil) To cover yourself in this situation you would bid $650.00 for upto 10 hours - additional hours will be billed at the rate is $60.00.
This is a way to protect you against any surprises!
A lot of jobs don't need this process - this is just for the hard ones!
Hope that helps someone!
Good Luck!
Originally posted by Bigboy:
As Scott stated,you have to honor the bid price for as long as the contract is for,weather be 1 year or more.Great care should be taken when bidding on something,chemical going up,labor cost up,ect.,ect. and in rare cases low bid want get it.
When I was milking we bid on school milk each year and I have seen milk prices go way up after the bid had already be accepted to the point where it was more then bid price,wow can't make money that way but you still have to HONOR the bid price.So great care should be taken when bidding.
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Cleaning America - One Job At A Time!