Tree Maintenance Contract

[TomCat1]

Hey All, I currently have the opportunity to bid on a large, very sweet, job. Customer has asked for two parts to estimate. 1st part is getting her yard/trees in shape, looking good and growing healthy. No problem.
Now for the 2nd part... she wants an estimate for maintenance. :monkey: I've never written up a maintenance contract before and could use some guidance here. There are about 25 trees of various sizes. Alders, Maples, Birches, Liquidambars, Plumbs, an Olive, a Black Oak and a Flowering Pear.
This is in an affluent area and I don't get the feeling money is a problem. While I was there... there were gardeners, maids and window washers scurrying all over the place... unreal.
Customer wants to be billed monthly and just doesn't want to have to worry about the appearance or health of her trees, and doesn't care if I'm there every other month, quarterly, or whatever, as long as trees are being taken care of.
• What's the best way to calculate a monthly fee? Total estimated cost of trimming all trees divided by 12?
• How often should we make an appearance? Every 2 months?
• What all should be covered in maintenance contract? Anyone have a sample I can review?
• Anything else I'm missing?
Here's a link to pics of customers yard and trees.
http://www.arboristsite.com/album.php?albumid=603
Any help appreciated here.
Thanx,
~Tom

 

[pdqdl]

Sell service, not price. I doesn't sound like these people want to be bothered with chasing details, so let them know you will take care of them.

List plant inventory (to let them know what you are doing), then list services that will be performed on a schedule you recommend. You might include base rates for special requests or emergency service.

Good luck. I had a chance something like that once, but I didn't get the job. I didn't have enough polish on my credential, equipment, or proposal.

 

[lxt]

I had a maint. contract for awhile...untill owner passed away, similar situation as yours, heres what I did: after the initial trim cycle I would return by-monthly for a grounds inspection (I charged for this!!) at this time if there was work needing done....we did it.

usually a wind storm or some natural occurrance would heve us there for a couple days...however, the best thing I could come up with & depending on your customer was to bill hourly, Now if something major needs attention thats different & I set up a budget clause stating what their financial "ceiling" is, in just such a situation. Go over these items with the home owner first though!

Good luck.


LXT..................

 

[lxt]

I found out that the plant inventory idea is confusing, 1st...they have a rudimentary idea of what is on their property, 2nd...to put plant names, suggested trim practices, etc.. into a contract scares the hell outta em, think about it....you get handed 3-4 pages of arboriculture terminology, etc... & you`ll soon see what I mean.

Keep it simple, they just want their property to look nice & be maintained without having to go through a bunch of hacks selling their service as the best & bashing on the competition.

I did the initial trim under contract & told my customer if he liked what he saw then we could sit down & do a maintenance contract......Now if your trimming for a Twp or city?...then you might have to cross your "T`s" & dot your "I`s"...





LXT........................

 

[TomCat1]

All good food for thought...
My business partner suggests we go with an hourly rate, which makes sense.
I especially like the idea of keeping it simple.

"I didn't have enough polish on my credential, equipment, or proposal. "
Polished we "aint" either... what we do offer are results and excellent customer service. Scope of work is totally within our means. But I realistically put our chances of winning this one at around 33%. I just want to make sure I'm submitting an estimate in a format that will be seriously considered.

Grounds inspection and rates for special circumstances sounds good. I believe there are enough trees at this location to require actual work at least every 3 months, maybe every 2 months. My thought is to break it down into sections and do one section each visit.

 

[capetrees]

I would do hourly also. The owners then know you are working for every dollar as opposed to your profit on a priced job. They see you work for the hours, they have no problem paying it. I've done that scenario many times with customers when they want us seasonally to cleanup in the spring. Never had a problem with anyone paying and never lost a bid.

 

[pdqdl]

In my experience, someone of significant means ($$ !) that asks for a maintenance contract wants several things, and if you fail to provide them: No contract!

1. They want a dedicated service, with no questions asked.
2. They want to be able to set a budget, and know the cost of any given service before the work is done.
3. They want protection from cost overruns and price gouging.

Hourly billing doesn't really meet the expectations of #2 & #3.

 

[lxt]

Some one of significant means....? I have pitched sales & written many Maintenance agreements for upper end clientel/ golfcourses & large Business establishments.

The one thing they all said.....Keep it simple!!!! they want to know approx. how much time it will take for each cycle & they`re not worried about an extra 1-2 hours....just a good service!!! they know what the costs are approximately & they will know if your prices fall within what a good service charges.

Now... if its for a twp, city, park or state....then you will need to do a cost out analysis, hourly vs Bid, you will want to break things down....BUT, from my experience NEVER & I mean NEVER give them an itemization listing with line item prices......the reason for such is: some one at the ground level has a buddy with a tree service & sure enough (unless its a sealed bid) he will pass on the bid quotes to his friend!!!

Actually I have a very good connection with the state, I know what the current service charges per hour, I was asked to bid & refused because for a service to charge $112.27 per hour for: 1-bucket & chipper, 1- follow truck & a 4 man crew is ridiculous!!! Im not working that cheap just to get a state contract. SO........hopefully this helps!



LXT.................

 

[TomCat1]

Yes... this is all very helpful.
However customer emailed me today and said the guy she previously had doing her trees, who is retiring, just informed her she should only have them trimmed every 3 or 4 years now to avoid causing undue stress.

My recommendation was trimming trees as needed, light clean out and deadwood removal mostly, once a year or so.

She doesn't know me from boo, so now she's on the fence regarding a maintenance contract. But still wants her backyard trees cleaned up. I figure we'll bid on that and see if she's happy with our work, then go from there.

Everyone's input very much appreciated,
~Tom