I have been given the opportunity to bid on Cleaning a Food Lion store 7 days a week. How should I bid on this project. I normally do new construction cleaning and bid by the square foot. Food Lion needs 7 days cleaning 5 hr per day. How much should I bid. How do I break it down by the month figure.

Good evening PPatti,

You could bid it hourly or by the square foot. I would choose the hourly, the bidding process would be easier.

Do you have a set of specifications, that tell you exactly what they want done each day? Are you responsible for the floor work?

The floor work will take most of the time to complete if this store is of any size at all.

Hourly; figure all your costs, break them down to hourly and add your profit and extend that to your monthly price.

Costs: labor, equipment, supplies, overhead (admin), etc

Profit varies by area, but I would suggest 10 to 15% to be competitive.

I hope that this helped some, your actual pricing is your responsibility though, this is only my advice and what the going rates are in my area with heavy competition.

Stringer

Thanks this did help, I live in virginia I forgot to include that floor care will be included mop everyday, spray buff once a week to keep the shine. Do to the volume of traffic should we strip once every 3 months, 6 months or sooner then that. Clean bathrooms, counters, register area and deli. I will be pricing for 2 workers. When I work out the price it seens to high. I think I'm doing something wrong.

Can you post how you did the pricing for me? Listing an explanation for each line item. It will help a lot to see exactly what and how you arrived at your monthly price.

Question; You stated that it will be 5 hours per night at 7 days per week, who arrived at the 5 hours per day. You or the customer?

The VCT floor will need to be stripped at least twice per year, possibly more depending on the traffic volume. If the stripping is done correctly and 4 to 5 coats of good finish is applied it will help. Especially if you spray buff religiously.

Do you intend to have the 'regular' crew that does the cleaning do the stripping or do you have a 'special' crew for this? If you can, you may want to consider separating the stripping out of the main part of the bid as an 'extra' as 'additional work' with pricing.

Please post your pricing breakout with a definition for reach item.

Stringer

Hi,
The manager of the store states the cleaner they have now works 5 hrs. 7 days a week. 11:00 p.m.-4:00a.m. My regular crew will also do the waxing. Both are certified in floor care.

If I work it out 5 hrs x 15.00 x 2 workers=150.00 a day x 7 days=1050.00 x 4 weeks =4200.00 a month. This will include my profit. If I stripp and wax the floor and do windows I will quote an additional price for that. (correct). When I do rough cleaning I normally charge .37 square ft. for stripping and waxing. Windows 10.00 to 25.00 per window depends on the size and height.

15.00 an hour do that sound correct. Is that too high or low. Remember this is the first time I had to do the hourly rates.

Thanks for your help
Patti

What is the square footage of this store Patti?

Are they providing any supplies or equipment?

By the way, $ .37 per sq ft for stripping that you are getting is good, we charge about $ .26 per sq ft. It works and allows decent profit. Mostly due to competition.

Stringer

15,000 sq. feet. I will be providing the supplies and equipment.

Thanks for being so patient

Patti

Actually that would be $4,562.50 per month Patti. ($150.00 per day X 365 days/year divided by 12 months = $4,562.50) This is the only true method to figure your monthly price, it allows for the extra 2 weeks in the year.

Please understand that I cannot tell you what to charge, you make the final decision on that, as it should be.

I do not know what you are paying your workers per hour (Although, I do highly suggest that you pay according to State and Federal Laws) or what your total 'costs' per hour are or what profit you have put on top of this rate.

Don't be afraid of price. You have to be competitive of course. But don't think small. The amount of time and the fact that it is 7 days per week warrants an adequate price. Price it as you feel it has to be priced.

I would suggest to you that you attempt to build a rapport and business relationship with the decision maker at the store as price is not always the only factor.

The only thing that bothers me a little Patti is that you are not getting extra to do the stripping. Can you charge additional hours for this special work?

Please get back to me on my points and my questions. And please tell me when this bid is due?

If I helped you, please 'rate' my answer.

Thanks,

Stringer

Thanks everything sounds good. I didn't think about the fact that the same crew will be doing the stripping good point. I will be doing my bid next Friday. I pay my crew 8.00 hr.
I figure at 15.00 hr for my profit. Did I do that right.

Thanks for all your help.

I think it was a great job!