So the story goes I just drove by a house today that I bid on a couple of removals. I noticed my out of town competitor was doing the work. I usually take pride in doing fair priced work for me and the customer, instead of getting greedy like my the other guy in town who is doing really well in wrecking his reputation on extreme pricing. I know you can't win all the bids and I'm not cut throat. I thought that I gave a fair price to these people and I am just a weekend warrior that has one or two helpers that i have to obviously pay, along with my overhead with equipment and what not. A whole lot cheaper for me would not be worth it and I dont see how it would be worth it for these guys? Do they just throw out a really cheap price to get this small community buzzing about how cheap they were? I know that they have lost alot of business in the past few years to myself and the other local guy. I have only been doing this for about two years or so. Is this part of the game to keep doing work in my area?
Varying Prices
- Thread starter RDAA
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I've given bids which I've thought were fair and been under bid by a good amount on jobs that I thought I couldn't get any lower on they must be making something otherwise they wouldn't be there... maybe dude has no work at all and is happy with making a 100 bucks profit for the job who knows.
A couple removals, where they big removals? medium? maybe he has a way of doing the job that will take him less time???
there are trees that I bid that the HO already has bids for and when I give my bid they are like that's it? and I'm thinking I could bid it higher if you want but I'm already making a ton of money on the job so I sometimes wonder where other guys get there prices
A couple removals, where they big removals? medium? maybe he has a way of doing the job that will take him less time???
there are trees that I bid that the HO already has bids for and when I give my bid they are like that's it? and I'm thinking I could bid it higher if you want but I'm already making a ton of money on the job so I sometimes wonder where other guys get there prices
Couple of possibilities:
1) More efficient equpiment means he can get it down quicker?
2) Poor calculation of overhead?
3) Doesn't pay worker's comp?
1) More efficient equpiment means he can get it down quicker?
2) Poor calculation of overhead?
3) Doesn't pay worker's comp?
I've been beaten by $2k on jobs, and subsequently been low bid by about the same on a couple of occasions. Whenever there is a discrepancy like that, I scratch my head and wonder what I'm missing.
What equipment is he running that you don't that will make it easier? If theres a long drag, is he using a miniskid, chipper with a winch...? Bucket truck when you have to climb?
Knowing your costs and overhead and bidding accordingly is all you can do. Some companies can make $800 a day and be profitable, others have to make $1800 or more.
