Your underfloor heating business will only be as successful as your bids are desirable. Click here to learn how to write a bid for your first underfloor heating sale and wow your customers with the benefits of this luxury.
With 28 million small businesses around the country, there’s a lot of competition for any entrepreneur in any industry. If you’re looking to install your first underfloor heating system, you need to make sure you arrive with a strong bid. If you know how to write a bid proposal, you’ll have a leg up on your competition.
Dealing with clients isn’t everyone’s forte. As long as you listen to their needs and translate it into a strong project proposal, you’ll win their favor.
If you’re interested in finding out the best way to write your first underfloor heating bid proposal, follow these 6 tips.
1. Check Out Your Client Before You Commit
While you might want to act in good faith, lots of people get burned by clients who seemed nice when they met them. Undertaking your underfloor heating project costs you lots of time and money up front. If your client is going to unable to pay, you need to find out in advance.
Check their credit by asking for a reference. If you’re a small company, you might not have access to their credit reports. For a big enough job, you might want to ask for at least half of the money up front.
If you find out that the client has a poor record when it comes to paying their bills, don’t bid on this job. You’ll be wasting your time.
2. Get a Scope of the Project
No two homes are the same and no two projects are going to be exactly alike. When you’re coming up with your bid proposal, make sure that you understand what your working conditions will be like.
If you’re working in a home that’s going to be used, with kids and pets running around, it could take longer than it would in an empty home. If a house is falling apart and your project is part of a bigger rehab project, you might want to wait until it’s structurally sound.
If the project is going to be more time consuming than is worth your time, either charge appropriately or move on.
Also, know who your competition is. If you’re going to try to win this job against a perpetual underbidder, maybe let them have the difficult job with diminishing returns. While they’re working on that, you can take a job that’s more suited to your ideal conditions.
3. Ask Your Client Lots Of Questions
You need to know as many details as possible before you start working. There will be expectations your client has about what they want out of the final project. If you listen to them long enough, you could pick out anything that sounds infeasible or impossible for you.
This is when you could find out that there’s asbestos in the house, electrical issues or any number of things that could throw a wrench into an underfloor heating project.
If your client asks you questions, help them find out more about what you’re doing.
4. Calculate Supply and Expense Costs
As with most bids, you’ll have a little bit of funding up front to start your project and then will have to pay for many supplies before you finish. Start calculating now how much you’ll need to spend on supplies.
This is when you should start comparison shopping. See which suppliers can offer you the best deal on what you need. If you get a high price from a reputable supplier and a low price from a less ideal one, quote the low price at the reputable supplier.
They might lower the price to keep your business.
Think about other expenses like insurance for any other workers or renting vehicles for hauling materials. You might need a few new tools if yours break so be sure you’ve got some cushioning in your budget for that.
Labor costs should be calculated into your bid. While you might not have any other employees, you should be charging a fair rate for your work. Otherwise, you could end up getting shortchanged at the end.
Be sure you won’t need any additional specialists or labor you haven’t planned for. That could take a serious bite out of your budget if you add someone at the last minute.
5. Triple-Check All of Your Information
If you think there’s something you might need, throw it in the budget now. It’s much harder to add something later than to take off a cost in the end. It might seem like a no-brainer, but be sure that you’re clearing a profit.
Overhead costs and expenses should be safely included in the budget.
Overhead is considered anything that’s not material or labor. This could be what you pay for your administrative assistant in your office. This could be your rental fee for a vehicle or for your office building.
If you’re working on a commercial building, make sure you’ve .
6. Put Together Your Proposal
Now that you’ve got an idea of what you need, make sure you outline your budget including a schedule.
List exactly what the job is, how big the space is, and what the goal of the underfloor heating system is. Knowing what you’re aiming for will help you determine whether or not the project was a success.
Let your client know of all the added value of your work. If you’re disposing of old materials, add that into the bid. This will make them feel like they’re getting a little extra work from you.
Let them know how many extra hands you’ll have on the job and what each element of the price pays for.
Add in a warranty and you’ll easily seal the deal.
Learning How To Write A Bid Proposal Only Gets Easier
Once you’ve made your first underfloor heating sale, getting to know how to write a bid will come naturally to you. One sale makes it easier to get another and then after that, you’ll find they’ll start rolling in to you.
If you need some assistance from specialists in a commercial HVAC, make sure you to hiring the right professionals.
