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M

MRES

I have only been trading 12 months and upto now I have not taken on any contract work or anything of substantial size.

Last week I got an invite to tender from a medium sized construction company on a church refit. After viewing the site and having a meeting with the project manager I know I have the capacity to take on the work and I have started to prepare my quote. I am bidding against two other contractors of whome I do not know a lot about.

Any help would be appreciated on how to present my quote to the Quantity Surveyor at the construction company as it will be him that makes the decision on who to hire.

I understand the lowest quote is not always the way forward and that a correctly presented quote with content can go a long way with a QS.

I have a few ideas on the presentation of the quote these been:

section 1 - table of contents
section 2 - Description of the quote ie materials to be used, manufacturer of materials, installation methods etc personel qualifications ie JIB registered men etc etc a breakdown of the quote in 1st fix and 2nd fix terms & conditions.
section 3 - submit drawings showing circuit numbers etc and circuit schedules for DB`s
section 4 - copies of insurance certificates
section 5 - Governing body certificate (NAPIT) and some of the 'bumf' to go with it.
section 6 - Risk assessments & Health and safety statement

This is a could be a critical turning point for my small business and would appreciate as much info/help as possible.

Thanks in advance
MRES
 
Hi MRES.

Welcome to the site. Can't help you but just wanted to say good luck and hope all works out well for you.

Someone will be online to help you soon, many guys on here with this type of experience.
 
HiMRES,

First off welcome to the site and well done in getting the opportunity to tender on a project like this.

Tendering can be a bit of a minefield and daunting the first time, however once you have done one you have the basis for any others that come along.

I have, over the years, been involved in several tendering situations and will certainly help you if I can. I have a set format for what is included and the order in which they are laid out. If you pm your email address to me I will send you an email on how I have presented these in the past and the reasons for the way I have done it.

I am not saying my method is perfect however it has been successful. Combining some of my thoughts with the help and advice others on this site will give will allow you to produce a document which is not only right for you but also impressive to the customer.

This is your first official contact to the customer and, rightly or wrongly, he will form a judgement on your operation from what he receives from you.

Tony
 
Seek out the tenderer, send him free weekend tickets to New York for two people..(you got these for free from your merchant and no good to you.. blah blah blah) Next add approx £1800 on your price/quote..Bingo, the job is yours.

I thought it always worked like that?
 
Seek out the tenderer, send him free weekend tickets to New York for two people..(you got these for free from your merchant and no good to you.. blah blah blah) Next add approx £1800 on your price/quote..Bingo, the job is yours.

I thought it always worked like that?
and what happens if he takes the tickets says thank you very much but doesnt give you the job?:eek:
 
>>>and what happens if he takes the tickets says thank you very much but doesnt give you the job>>>

Oh my...well he/she never gets free ticket to New York again. Is that hard to understand?
 
mres.
You are right about presenting a good honest quote, but many many times that we have presented, basically a full and detailed quote and found that we were only making the numbers up, is unreal, and all your time and effort counts for nothing.
What we do is, ask if any other contractors are quoting have we all been given the same spec, as you could be quoting top of the range equipment and the others may not, and guess what, they will get the job, i will guarentee it.
Work the job out, and give an initial figure and then if you are there and there abouts, when they come back to you, then you can give them how you arrived at the said quote figure, you have not shown your full hand from the off-set, as you, and this does happen, you may well have done all the graft for someone else.
 
Depending on the site you may also need to add plant on i.e. scaffold tower for inside, cherry picker for outside lights. Although it may not be that geared up on health an safety. They are expensive to hire and you should bear them in mind just in case.
matt
 
Pete - drop me an eMAil to [email protected] and I'll sanitise what I've got.

I'll also pull some stuff of my companys internal site - they specialise in signal maintenance so there should be some crossover - working at heigth etc...

Tom Weston
 
Paul.

All Governemt bodies within the EU are mandated to procure goods and services through OJEU - basically the European Journal - it means if you so wish, you could bid for contaracts anywhere in the EU.

The tender will come out to OJEU if it's more than £155,000. You will have to naswer a PQQ (Pre Qual Questionaire) then some six weeks later you will be invited to tender and it's usually awarded 3 to 6 months after the tender is submitted.

You can view all EU Tenders at TED - Tenders Electronic Daily - just google it - enter the filelds you are interested in and away you go.

Also all local authorities should have a small business unit - they look to work with their community.

Government work is good work - but it is time consuming, you have to jump through many hoops and it has frustratingly long time scales and they want ever more paper work - so be warned.

Yours Tom Weston
 
Thanks tomweston, will look into that.

How can i target industrial work? at the moment all i do is domestic and dying to get my teeth into somethin big again

Paul
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi Paul.

It's all to do with branding! What value do you offer - look to risk or the loss of something rather than gain or enhancemnet.

You wouldnt thank anyone if they rang you at 2 in the morning to offer you free tyeres for your car. But, if someone rang you up saying someone is trying to steal the tyres from your car, you woukld be most grateful!

With industrial its about service - you must understand their needs - money is secondary - you will still have to be tight on price - but you must show value - otherwise you are just competing on price and there is only way that will go - down.

I'll get something off to you ASAP - just putting a presentation and bid at the moment so it'll be next week before I can get back to you.

Your Tom Weston
 

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