How to Price a Bid for Snow Removal
Snow piles up in the winter and makes a mess on sidewalks, driveways, and parking lots. Snow removal bidding is one way that businesses and homeowners get the snow cleared from the ground. You don't want to over-bid and lose out on money, and you don't want to under-bid and risk loosing some revenue. There are some things to take into consideration when biding on the price of snow removal.
- Determine the size of the job to place the right bid. Plowing snow from smaller and shorter driveways takes up a lot less time and gas than plowing from a large parking lot. Ask the homeowner the length of the driveway and figure out the price by feet. For a commercial parking lot figure out the bid by the footage that you get from the business owner.
- Ask business owners if in fact they need their sidewalk cleared. Some stores use their employees to clean smaller areas of snow, such as sidewalks, while others need you to do the sidewalk as well. Factor into your bid the use of shovels or snow blowers for sidewalk jobs.
- Factor in the time that it takes to complete each job. In addition to calculating the hours spend doing the job, also calculate the gas that it took to get to the work site and to use your equipment for the job. This all helps to determine the amount of money to bid into each job.
- Consider how deep the snow is. A snowfall that is 5 to 7 inches will take a lot longer to clan than a depth of 2 or 3 inches. Determine if your bid should be increased or lowered based upon the depth of the snowfall.
- Offer discounts by contracting your work to businesses. Since contracts assure that you will have snow removal work, you can offer businesses a discount if they contract with you instead of a competitor.