Bid Presentation

[bumperlt]

Hi there-

I was in the situation today where the owners supplied me with another company's bid (company over booked, couldn't get there for a couple weeks). I was impressed with it compared to mine. Looked almost like an invoice, but obviously wasn't. It had everything itemized and had a quantity for everything. All I really do is a itemized email. I then realized if I was this impressed when comparing the two, how must the average person getting bids feel?

So I need to shape up my bid presentation. What program do you guys use for bids?

 

[tkb]

What do you mean itemized?
Is this a parts list with item pricing or individual tasks with a cost for each, parts and labor?

I would never give a client an itemized parts list for a bid.
Just a lump sum total.

I would itemize certain tasks if requested for options to select for the project.

 

[dert]

Im curious and have been in this situation myself. I make my proposals in microsoft word. I do usually do an itemized proposal though.

Intersted on seeing what others may use.

 

[sd4524]

Seams like 80% of invoices I see for contractors are quickbooks. Itemized email isn't professional in my opinion. People see that and are gonna try and work your price down. A lot of small things go into looking like a top notch company. Invoices is one thing.

 

[Rick Christopherson]

Your bid is the first impression a potential customer has of who you are and what you do. I have been on both sides of the bidding process. As an engineer, when I receive a bid with virtually no information on it, my first reaction is that that will be the same type of service I will receive from that company too. When I was creating bids (in a different line of business) I would win many of those bids because I put in the effort to present the information that the customer wanted to know.

In most cases, a long itemized list of materials is not something the customer wants (unless that's what was requested in the RFQ). What they want is a solid description of the scope of the work, including any mention of out-of-scope parameters. Specific and big-ticket materials should be mentioned when they are critical to the scope. For example, load center make and model, but not a listing of lineal feet of #12 wire.

It doesn't take long to put something like that together, but it is going to get a lot more notice versus the bid that just lists a figure and a completion date. What your competition did was only marginally better. Unless a line-item BOM was requested, it is considered "fluff" to fill space to make a non-prefessional bid look more professional.

 

[Chamuit]

Can you scan the other contractor's bid so we can see what you are talking about?

I've done both ways.

Wire according to plan received 01/01/2001 (or dated 01/01/2001.)

Or, have listed out exactly what is to be done in each room or area. Which can help impress as to how many things or how much work is to be done.

 

[tkb]

There is a fine line of giving too little information on a bid and giving too much as to the client can use your proposed scope to solicit other bids from it.

 

[Besoeker]

Im curious and have been in this situation myself. I make my proposals in microsoft word. I do usually do an itemized proposal though.

Intersted on seeing what others may use.

I'm in a different field (and country) to most of those of you who post here.
But I also use Word for bid presentations.
I generally put it in several sections so typically the front page would look something like this:

7kA and 10kA Rectifier Systems

Further to my visit of (date), we are pleased to submit herewith our offer for the above project.

Section 1. Scope of Supply
Section 2. Exclusions
Section 3. General notes
Section 4. Equipment Specification
Section 5. Technical Description of Rectifier Panels.
Section 6. Price schedules
Section 7. Terms and Conditions

Then each of these sections would get an explanation in the pages following.
It might look like a lot of work but in reality, it is almost all cribbed from a previous bid using that as a template. And it's all on headed "notepaper".

The most work is in setting it up the first time but it does make it look a professional job. Rick C is right. Impressions matter.

 

[Besoeker]

Can you scan the other contractor's bid so we can see what you are talking about?

I think that would be unprofessional, unethical, and perhaps even illegal.
I would advise against it on any one of those counts, let alone all three.

 

[mkgrady]

I think that would be unprofessional, unethical, and perhaps even illegal.
I would advise against it on any one of those counts, let alone all three.

We don't need to see the contractors name. I assume that would negate your concerns? I think it would be very helpful in furthering this conversation to see the bid the OP is talking about.

 

[cdslotz]

I would never work for an owner or GC who handed me someone else proposal.
I'm sure he wouldn't think twice about sharing mine with my competition.

Having said that, we use Excel with templates that we can customize scope, price items, terms, qualifications, etc

 

[renosteinke]

I was once told that 'you don't sell the steak, you sell the sizzle.' There's a lot of truth in that statement.

We all see, in our daily lives, all manner of sales fliers, quotes, bids, contracts, invoices, etc. When we go to the mailbox, we all just 'know' what is 'serious' and what is 'junk mail.'

On the rare occasion we mistake a piece of 'junk' for something 'real,' we get mad. Not, IMO, a good sales technique (making the customer mad).

The OP was impressed by the format of the other guys' bid. You can be sure that this format has helped the business prosper. I think all of us would love to see an 'exceptional' format, so that we can copy what works.

With the variety of editing programs out, it's no challenge to obscure the irrelevant, personal material (such as exact prices, names, addresses.) A talented hand can even ape the typeface and insert "Acme Electric" or "Favored Customer" where appropriate.

Why ape the typeface? Because it's part of the overall picture. WHy do you think there are so many fonts out there? A style that works for an interior decorator might not be as well received by the customer base of a Harley dealer.

Let's take this opportunity to learn something from each other. I encourage all to post examples of both the great and the miserable.

 

[jumper]

I think that would be unprofessional, unethical, and perhaps even illegal.
I would advise against it on any one of those counts, let alone all three.

Spot on (great) analysis of the situation Mr B.

 

[petersonra]

Most of our customers only accept bids by email these days. Or at least strongly prefer it that way.

 

[bumperlt]

for the sake of advancing my business, im going to temporarily post this...

Compared to what I normally give customers, this is better. Given this, and mine, with a similar price, I don't see why they wouldn't choose this.

98% of the time I send bids out via email, which I could still do assuming this is a commin format. The original file was sent to me as PDF.

 

[mkgrady]

for the sake of advancing my business, im going to temporarily post this...

Compared to what I normally give customers, this is better. Given this, and mine, with a similar price, I don't see why they wouldn't choose this.

98% of the time I send bids out via email, which I could still do assuming this is a commin format. The original file was sent to me as PDF.

I find people want their proposal e-mailed and I prefer to send it that way over regular mail. I just write it up in Word and e-mail it directly from my e-mail software. Is anybody taking the position that doing this is less professional that sending it in the mail?

 

[bumperlt]

Did you really need to quote?

This wasn't snail mailed, it was a pdf format attached to an email.

And for the record, the only reason I have it is because this electrician double booked the job. I got the call, went to look at the job, and bid it in a matter of about 4 hours, and the owner sent me that just to make sure everything was in line with what he expected, in a timely manner. Cause I started it the next morning.

 

[jmellc]

For your sake, don't itemize materials on a bid. Something like "wire, conduit, boxes, light fixtures, switches, receptacles", etc. is OK and does look good. But a former boss of mine got burned by detailing materials too accurately. A customer we worked several jobs for started requesting quotes. We wrote them, and soon weren't getting any of the jobs. I began noticing when I went to quote one that the previous job had been done, and looking very sloppy. The guy was using our quote for a material list & doing the job by trial & error. He knew enough to stick it on the wall, sloppy as it was. His conduit & flexes were a joke. Often had wrong type of connectors, forced 1 way or another onto flexes.

For small on the spot bids, I either use an invoice form & mark it as a quote or use a lined paper with my letterhead. For a larger quote, I freehand a document in MS Word.

Glad you mentioned this. I should find a standard quote form or MS document to be consistent.

 

[Besoeker]

Most of our customers only accept bids by email these days. Or at least strongly prefer it that way.

There is an increasing trend for some of the larger projects I've come across to be an on-line bidding process. A so-called "e-tender".
They usually require a huge volumes of supporting documentation also to be submitted electronically, sometimes even before to you are invited to bid the project.

 

[renosteinke]

I like the arrangement of the sample document.

First off, it's quite readable.

Secondly, it lists the 'desired results." That is, it might say "receptacles .... 12," but is completely silent as to how the job will be accomplished, associated tasks, or the specific materials used. Best of all, there is no price breakdown.

I like it because it is immediately clear what final result is desired. One job, one price- all presented in terms anyone can understand.