[Ian Rochester]

We do quite a few smallish contract cleaning jobs, mainly between 2 - 10 hours a week, with one larger one for 25 hours a week.
 
However I've been asked to tender for a much larger cleaning contract (200+ hrs per week) and I've to include all material and consumable costs as well in the tender.  This includes all cleaning materials and machinery as well as loo rolls, hand towels, soaps etc.
 
Any advice on how to calculate the expected costs would be greatly appreciated.

[martin19842]

hi there

cleaning materials cost in at between 3 and 5 % of the contract cost

consumables, hand towels, soap etc.   i would never quote inclusive of that

turn it round for yourself, asay to the client

if we tender incl consumables the cost will be high, but if you pay for what you use we can monitor better,  what you can do is quote the price per item in the tender

regards

martin

[Ian Rochester]

Cheers Martin,

This is for new premises with a large number of staff (several hundred) and I had no idea how to cost it.  I will use your 3-5% for materials, do you include machinery, buffers, scrubber driers etc within that 3-5%, or do you add them on and depreciate them over the period of the contract?

[leuthedog]

I have good knowledge (from those in the industry) that big companies prefer an open-book policy. The only profit you should charge is the percentage you stick on after you've calculated your actual figures/costing - this should also be noted within your tender/contract.

Most knowledegable companies will realise that you can not simply price/cost up consumables - it is better to state the cost of the items and state in your tender/contract that these will be priced/costed according to usage or something similar.

Since this is a big company they may well want from you method statements, COSHH, H&S, Insurances all included with your tender. You have some serious work ahead of you.

I wish you the best of luck! 

[Ian Rochester]

Leuthedog,

Cheers, luckily we already have H&S policy Envrionmental Policy, Business profile, Method Statements, Risk Assessments for all generic tasks and CoSHH data sheets for all products we use throughout the business.

I have also put all my staff through the 2 day "Safety Passport" training course and we are now covered for £5m Public liability.

I also have a HR/Safety man on call when I need him (we do his windows for free as payment!) he is also the local magistrate

I was looking at going for an open book policy with materials as I think the usage could vary dramitically and putting in a fixed price could kill the tender before it even gets properly looked at.

I was thinking about going to a national company for the consumables, any recommendations

[leuthedog]

lionheart

From the looks of things you need very little help here, you have certainly got yourself very well prepared - good for you!

I'm not really the best person to ask as to where the best place is to find consumables, sorry. Hopefully someone here, I'm sure, will be more knowledgable.

I am just starting out, though I have been in the industry for over 10 years I still have a lot to learn but learning quickly.

Just as a tip - though I'm sure you know - check out the consumables already in use, do your best to supply an equal quality or better - obviously companies would hate to change from something good to something....well, rather rough! 

I seriously wish you the best of luck with your contract though I doubt you need it!

[Art]

I was thinking about going to a national company for the consumables, any recommendations

Why don't you go with the company that you use at the moment?

[cruciblecleaning]

Cheers Martin,

This is for new premises with a large number of staff (several hundred) and I had no idea how to cost it.  I will use your 3-5% for materials, do you include machinery, buffers, scrubber driers etc within that 3-5%, or do you add them on and depreciate them over the period of the contract?

Hi lionheart,

The best thing I can suggest is to talk to your suppliers.  You are presumably sub-ing the roller towels to sunlight, initial or similar, give your rep the numbers of staff and ask them to advise on likely cost.  For the toilet roll ditto, your supplier should be able to give you a useage ratio per employee based on what sort of roll and cabinet you are proposing (locked 1 sheet at a time packs will be used at a much slower rate than an unlocked conventional single roll which will get stolen like billy-o for example) and the M/F staff ratio.

Then caveat your tender that it's based on a proposed usage of X number of each item per annum and further items over this will be chargable at Y.

Your cap-ex on machinery I'd keep seperate from your consumables, just write it down over the contract length and build it into your hourly rate accordingly.

cheers

Andrew

PS, I think I have a spreadsheet somewhere that I did a similar exercise on, not on this comp but an old one, drop me a mail and I'll see if I can dig it out.

[Cleaning Resource]

goodmorning disposables are cheap  although they can be a bit of a night mare 
in as much as they always want to send reps round to talk to you when all you want to do is order some toilet roll. but if you can put up with that, or your lonely then thay are cheap>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[gerrystyles]

I have an Excel Spreadsheet that may be of help to you. Email me at premier-klean@ukonline.co.uk and I will send it to you

[ColinD]

Materials usually come at between 3% - 5% of net wages.

Equipment, now that can be problematic. If it's high-end capital equipment then write it down over 156 weeks.

You've been offered an Excell spreadshett by somebody I sent one to the other day. If it's that one it's simple. But play around the with percentages after you have got the lowest possible materials costs you can obtain. Try three suppliers at least.

Good luck. It's nice to to see somebody expanding.

One final thought. With a contract of this size you may have to considere the management costs and debt ratio in terms of  your clients frequency of invoicing payments. Use the area on the spreadsheet that allows you to put in a percentage for factoring the invoice or interest charges for overdraft. Nothing worse than seeing an 11% net margin reduced 6% because of unforseen interest charges etc. I also hate to see grown men cry.