Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Ajpick on July 08, 2011, 07:02:10 pm
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Has anyone gone for a tender with a big company? I've been thinking about submitting a tender for a one year with options on three years if they're happy with the work. Is it as hard as the paper makes it out to be, and is it a step too far for a small young business?
Thanks
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If you are serious about going for this type of work, then I would employ the services of a tender writing company.
There is far more importance placed on how the tender is written, than your ability to carry out the work.
However, if you are tendering for a £250k contract but you only turnover £50k a year currently, then the potential client will have doubts about your ability to carry out a contract of that size.
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That's one of my biggest worries the turnover and bank statments as we've not been trading for long. I think this will let us down.
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thought you'd been kicked in the crown jewels when i read the title ;D
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hi
i have been successful on some national tenders. not with carpets but the principle is the same. they can be good but are extremely difficult.
firstly have they asked you to fill out a pqq. I dont want to knock your spirit but i think you may struggle here
they will be looking at your history of trading, your financials your relevant experience etc.
if you pass the ppq you maybe in with a shout. there are to more pitfalls.
1. time it takes ages to do all the paperwork on these,and i mean ages. i wished i logged it but i think i spent 80 hours on my last one plus office staff time.
2. price these tenders attract the big boys who can work cheaper than you. honestly some of the ridiculous prices i have seen it really isnt worth doing.
So if you have some time it and you think the prices will be worth it have a go. if your busy and the order value isnt clever i wouldnt bother.
cheers
john
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Have a go at it, if you don't get it just learn by your mistakes and move on. Give it a shot though, plenty of people on here with the big tender experience to help out
thought you'd been kicked in the crown jewels when i read the title Grin
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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A huge consideration with any big tenders is having the funding and cash flow to carry them out. Very easy to get bled dry as when your doing this work your not doing other work, large commercial work tends to pay sloooooow.
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is it just me or is everyone chuckling when they hear the words "big tenders" in a sentence. ;D
thought so, just me then. ;D
i'll get me coat.
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u been on the sauce derek? ;D
makes me think of big fire engines if you want to get abstract
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If you are serious about going for this type of work, then I would employ the services of a tender writing company.
There is far more importance placed on how the tender is written, than your ability to carry out the work.
However, if you are tendering for a £250k contract but you only turnover £50k a year currently, then the potential client will have doubts about your ability to carry out a contract of that size.
By heck Steve that would be some contract even Simons dealings with P & O wouldnt get any where near that, the biggest I have ever done was for £70.000 pa for a customer for about 6 years. Most of the work was done by myself so paying wages and waiting for money wasnt an issue really, I made the money and moved on to other things.
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^^ I wouldn't take what the fud above me is saying seriously. He talks crap 110% of the time.
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^^ I wouldn't take what the fud above me is saying seriously. He talks crap 110% of the time.
Ive never met you Tony, and I dont really want to, I have met Steve before, and he you and others can take my post any way you/he/they want to. A £250k pa contract is very big, hence my post. I dont talk any crap, get back in your £100 a day world and come back to me when you can earn proper £ notes ;D
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To be honest Paul I didn't even read what you wrote just wanted to annoy you :)
£100 a day! In one day? I wish.
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Big tenders are out there. Usually when you see £250k its probably a 3 year contract so that figure is split over that amount of time. High Schools or Universities mostly. With these you have to have 3 years accounts so that they can see that you can finance the running costs eg: wages, materials etc before you get paid for the 1st time. Sometimes that can be 2 months but after that payment is regular. The finance bit is in the PPQ (Pre Qualification Questions). If you get through that, which is hard as you only have to get one bit wrong, they will throw it out, then it will go on orice. they will sift thru the PPq's to get to between 3/6 last suppliers. Then mostly they will go for the cheapest because of Government cutbacks so you probably wont make any money in the 1st year but will after the 2nd. In the meantime standards have to be kept.
This type of business is good if you want to build your company with the idea of selling it in a few years time as the buyer will be looking at your gross turnover and contracts. This is how OCS, ISS etc built their business. Lots of contracts, small profits= big business.
To me, they are a load of headaches with little return. I know from experience because I have done them in the past. Constant monitoring but I wish you luck.
Denise
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There are lots of things to be considered before even contemplating taking on large contracts. If it is a national contract, how will you execute it, both technically and logistically? Will you be able to do the work in the time frame with your existing equipment, or will you need to invest in new equipment, a TM, for instance. What about staff costs, NHI, holidays, sickness? Are you prepared to be away from home a lot? Can you finance it? Would you survive if the client goes bust? Would it be a good thing to have almost all of your eggs in one basket? Will you be able to meet the H & S requirements without spending lots of money? Will you be able to live within the terms of the contract? And are you prepared to have your working life dicated to by the terms of a contract?
I always wanted to be in the commercial sector but started off small with a national contract for a clothing chain that was not actually a contract, just a working agreement over prices etc, but nothing in writing. We grew as they did and kept them for many years whilst building up other commerical clients. We tend to avoid tenders as they are only ever won buy the lowest bidder, someone prepared to exchange high profits for volume, or even prestige.
If I were you and you set upon a career in the commercial sector then start off small because you have a great deal to learn and the only place to learn it is on the job and if you f up you don't have so much to lose.
Hope this helps.
Simon
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Thanks for all the advice guys a lot to think about.