nice looking bid form

[Redbull]

Darnit!! I forgot to attach it. I always do that. Anyway, here it is.

 

[Nickrosis]

Nice. It's a good logo, too...

Question on the bottom of the form - will you be making those symbols in the body of the estimate to refer to them as footnotes? Or will you circle the applicable statements?

Just as an addition - I would put a clear sign & date portion on there, too.

How are you using it? Printing it in a carbon-copy book form or filling it out on the computer and printing it out?

Take care!

 

[TreeJunkie]

I agree w/ Nick make sure to put a sign and date line. Also, In my opinion i would get rid of all of the lines about leaving materials on site. If you have a job where this is needed you may just write it in. I personnally wouldn't want to advertise cheaper work. May include the term: complete cleanup on all jobs.

I know every once in a while you may do a job where debris stays on site. But for me it's so rare it would be a waste to put it on my bid sheet.

 

[Redbull]

Nick, those are checkboxes on the bottom of the form. It's more for my use than anything. It gives the customer a lot of options and helps me lay out what those options are. As far as leave lay vs. haul everything...a lot of customers like the option of saving a few bucks to do the work themselves. If I can save them a few dollars by letting them be involved in the cleanup, and save myself a few hours that I could be moving on to another job, as well as saving wear and tear on the equip., I think it's a win-win option.
I would like to get a form together that I'm willing to have printed on duplicates. In the mean time I'm just printing singles.
Brandon

 

[TreeJunkie]

I don't know about the rest of you. But i make over half of my money on the hauling and removal of debris. That's why we own the equipment. I'm not really interested in showing up doing only the take down/ trimming. We make money by owning equipment and by supplying the man power to remove debris and clean up a job site.

I think if you go in knock a tree down and leave one hell of a mess that your'e not really doing the customer a great service. Sure you save them some money but then they have a huge headache to deal w/. By the time they get done cleaning it up themselves they'll wish they had never called u.

Most customers you want will be more than willing to pay you to do the cleanup. Don't advertise to the clients you don't want.

 

[Tree Machine]

I have to agree with Junkie. I have left a mess in the past, at the customer's request, and what would take me two hours will take them all weekend. After they get done paying dump fees and figure how much time they've required of their friends helping, they've done everyone a disservice, including themselves.

Now, when I see this coming, I negotiate for them, on their behalf. It might go like this, "I can certainly appreciate you wanting to save a few bucks, but I've seen a few people get in over their heads. All I want to do is provide you world-class service, so how does this sound? Let me get rid of all the brush, and I'll cut up all the big wood into regular firewood chunks. Then I'm gone. Your job will be to move the firewood and stack it, and rake up what's left. For this I'll knock X% off the quote. This will save you X dollars and it won't cost you your weekend."

This is a win/win. All she wants to do is get 'a deal' and feel like she has some control over the bargaining. Our job is to make her look like a hero, and let her know you're reasonable, and that you care. This will get you the job, and get you referred on.

 

[Redbull]

Points well taken. Thank you.

 

[Aerial]

I do all my Estimate on a labtop in my truck with a wireless printer. I am able to attach pictures to any estimate I wish. After a customer approves there work by a check box on my program it under lines and bolds the approved work. We have a note area that I can put extra comments for me or our men "What unit,climb,if the customer has any problems.... We can do a computer drawing as well.

We have got a lot of jobs just by given our estimate and the appearance alone.

Aswell I have all of our estimates with me at all times, so if any one calls " crew or customer" I have them going back to 2001

When a customer calls to approve a job with in one min I have it infront of me.

With one click of a mouse I can look back over all the estimate I've given a customer for the past 4 years.

 

[Tree Machine]

You rock, Aerial. You probably have all phone numbers and addresses at a finger's touch. This would allow you to, for instance, follow up instantly on unsold jobs, or generate mailing lists for marketing during the Winter months.

You're on the cutting edge, man.

 

[Aerial]

You said it.

 

[Tree Machine]

You're on the cutting edge, man.

Dat's what I'm talkin about.

 

[Aerial]

That's what I'm saying as well DAT'S just at your finger tip. It's working very well for us and helps keep me in touch with any job. And like you said we can do mail outs to reach all our customers. We also track time on each job when finshed and add to our estimates for information on the next time were at an one job the second time. So if we are going to do the same work in 2 years we know if we made money or not and if we need to increase on our next visit.

 

[Redbull]

What do you use to track everything. Got any screenshots?

 

[Aerial]

We have a Job Site Hazard Assessment form for our crew to fill out at every job. With Emergency Response Phone Numbers on one side. And on the other side we have a Daily Time Reporting Form for our crews to fill out at each job. "Start,Finsh, what Equipment used,What men were on site. It has worked very well for us. It does take your crew alittle longer with paper work at each job but in the long run we come out ahead.

 

[Aerial]

Here is the two sided form we use.