Janitorial buisness

Anyone out their that knows the biz? Looking to start up a company and theirs tons of "kits" and bidding softwares to choose from are any of them worth the money?

If you're bidding nationally or globally software can help but for the most part you just need to do research to find out what various jobs have paid historically.

If I want to bid on a janitorial job in your town I'll start by emailing the purchasing agent and asking them how much they're currently paying. If you lose the bid ask them how much the winning bid was for and what the range of bids was. In most cases they'll tell you and you'll get an idea what various people in other states are bidding.

keep in mind that a lot of times the winning bid from an out-of-state contractor will fall through because they bid too low to hire anyone. So pay attention to what the work finally goes for.

Other than that it's just experience. I have bid thousands of jobs and have won thousands of jobs. I can walk into a building or even just look at measurements and estimate immediately what the work will go for. Practice is all. You learn pricing by research and practice.

other than that I've found the contractor's blue book to be a pretty good guide of what others will bid.

I personally bid about 20% less than blue book, but that varies by location.

i got that book that says all the local prices its very good for price referances, how do you develop a a good contract? The only thing im kinda nervos about is the paperwork. Also do you have any experiance with the cimes floor machine? The only thing i got so far is a pro team super coach 10 and i am trying to decide wich floor machine to get

Sorry for the spelling i ment cimex

>how do you develop a a good contract?
most clients have their own.
If not I just use a standard contractor's proposal/acceptance form that can be found at any office supply store in the US.

I have also written my own contracts and hired lawyers to write contracts but that's only if you're bidding multi-million dollar projects.

I don't have any experience with floor machines, I usually sub out hard floor work or do jobs with a lot of stripping/waxing rather than straight daily maintenance. I also sub out windows and carpets. I'm more of a prime contractor than an end-supplier.

I own a bunch of powrflite buffers, but nothing specialized. On the rare occasions I need something specific I'll rent it or more likely just hire a company that has it and knows how to use it.

I think we spoke a couple months ago when you told me about that book thanks for that advice bro i got my hard copy, my goal is to have this company up by august, theirs still some things i gotta figure out like do i charge the account the cost of one bottle/can of cleaner a month should i go llc or sole propritorship, how do i avoid hiring peoplethat would steal shit, paperwork, etc

How does sub contracting work, do you just agree you will clean the carpets and hire for example stanly steamer and give the account the receipt for their service and they pay you the money you paid the 3rd party sub

I wouldn't buy any floor machines until you've got a job that needs them.

Supplies are a negligible expense compared to labor. For example I spend about a thousand dollars a month on supplies and around $20,000 a month on labor. The cost of supplies is usually included in the bid and seriously your bid can easily go up or down in competition and negotiation than the supplies will cost.

The rest I can guide you on specifics but I'm no substitute for talking to a lawyer or accountant. I use both fairly often for advice.

hiring is always a concern, get a business services bond that covers employee theft from clients. If they steal from you just fire them and press charges if appropriate.

Personally I run a multimillion dollar company as a sole proprietorship using turbotax and a cardboard box full of receipts. How you choose to do it is your own business, there are better ways of doing things than I do. I just figure the accounting and legal entity aren't particularly important so long as your taxes get paid. Invoicing is a whole other deal, but most clients will tell you how they want that done.

Close, except Stanley Steamer will never know how much I charged for their services and the client will never know how much they charged me.

I submit my own invoice for their work and then pay them and keep a percentage off the top for my time and administrative costs plus risk.

nice, when it comes to cleaning the floors do you find out how much it would cost to subcontract and then include that into the bid or do you wait untill the customer ask?

If my clients want carpet cleaning they'll ask for it in the request for bid info.

I know exactly how much local carpet companies charge since I hire them regularly, and I just include their costs in my bid on top of my own costs for hiring them.

I also tell my clients that it's cheaper to hire the carpet companies directly than to go through me. Most don't care, it's a hassle hiring 5 different contractors when I can do that for them.

If the sub were to slip and fall in your account would that be on their company or would it be on you and your insurance would have to handle it?

both.

I'm required to make sure they have insurance. If they don't my insurance covers it. Even if they have insurance, both our underwriters will likely fight over who has to pay.

I don't worry about it though, somebody's insurance is going to cover it. I'd have to worry more about an OSHA audit in the event of an injury.

You seem to know alot about this did you learn from any "Janitor Kits" or books.

No, I learned initially from the person I bought my business from.

after that I learned on the job.

Lets say i said fuck the floor machines and decided to register my biz with the money instead, other than the vac, the chemicals and trash can on wheels is their any software or equiptment i should consider investing in to be ready to take care of a customers needs and provide better service than competition?

No, I'm a firm believer that your business exists to make money, not just spend it. I wouldn't buy a damn thing until you need it. Even then, consider renting or hiring it unless it's something you're going to use a lot.

What I personally do is bid the job, and then if I win it I'll go shopping but only AFTER the contract is signed.

One extreme example- I did some work for a mining company a few years back. They required their contractors to have new 4x4 trucks for insurance purposes. So I added the cost of 3 new trucks to the bid. Obviously I'm not going to buy $200k worth of vehicles for a job I haven't got yet. As soon as they signed the contract I went out and bought 3 new trucks.

get the money first and then worry about spending it.

I was thinking like going into the buisness with low quality equpitment is like going to battle with dull swords i was going to buy the best shit i can find but now fuk that il definetly read on subcontracting and just leave the work to the next guy and charge a little extra to get profit thanks for your input bro i gotta head to work il cya on Veeky Forums some other time

Il Def remember that advice

no problem, I'll probably be around.

don't get caught in the trap of planning for business rather than doing it. Get jobs first, buy better equipment later. Your clients don't care about the quality of your equipment, that's YOUR problem, not theirs. Get the work, then buy what you need. Better equipment makes YOUR job easier, it doesn't necessarily make the results any better.