How to Bid a Commercial Painting Job and Win More Clients?
Most painting contractors today are pretty intimidated by the process of estimating massive commercial painting projects. For one thing, they’re not confident in making accurate estimates. Now may I ask you, have you ever started a commercial painting job and then eventually realized it was going to cost you a whole different amount than you originally estimated? If that is the case, you need to avoid it and create a more systematic and thorough estimate.
Knowing how to bid for a commercial painting job is the first step to winning more clients and satisfying them. In fact, you don’t need to be a seasoned veteran to precisely bid on any painting jobs. This blog will serve as a practical guide on how you should put your best bid forward.
1. Use a comprehensive template
Bidding painting jobs using a template will help you consider every possible aspect of the job itself. The more details you will include on your actual template, the more precisely you can bid on any painting job. You are also given an option to search online. You can check many templates via the internet and find what works for you. You may want to create your template for the bidding process, especially for commercial jobs.
The template must include material costs and time needed for every task.
2. Accurately calculate the needed materials
One of the most vital aspects of knowing how to bid a commercial exterior, or interior for that matter, is precisely assessing how much materials the painting job will require. The right way is to measure and record each room and each surface you plan to paint. As a painting contractor, you don’t have to leave it as guesswork, although some commercial painters today make a gallon of paint go further compare to other painters.
Consider whether you’re going to prime any surface and if the painting job requires more than one coat of paint. Also, will you paint the ceilings and the trim and find yourself running out of paint to use? Apparently, running out of paint means running instantly to the store, running up to your initial estimate, and eventually wasting your time. No commercial painting contractor wants this to happen.
That is why you need to use online inventory software like Pro Crew Schedule to manage your tools, materials, and equipment properly. As the demand for your painting service rises and you bid on more projects, the necessity to have this specialized tool also increases.
Pro Crew Schedule gives you a FREE 30-day trial. Click here to request the FREE live demo!
3. Bring your credentials to commercial painting bids
Having the skill to bidding a painting job, especially a commercial painting, leads to excellent and consistent work. If you’re placing commercial painting bids, you may need a professional painter’s license, depending on the state you belong to. Having these credentials will ultimately help you to get more commercial painting jobs. That is why it is crucial to prepare a bid just adequate to cover all of the costs on a few initial painting bids.
4. Break down the time necessary for every task
Time is money, and it is essential to precisely estimate how much time and labor every painting job will require, especially when deciding how to bid on a commercial painting job. The more you can determine your estimate, the more clients will trust your expertise. As a result, they will be more likely to hire you again for the next painting job. Also, consider whether you need an additional subcontractor, for what tasks, and how many hours it will take. Having attention to detail is regarded as a vital sign of professionalism.
5. Find out if your client has special preferences
When you bid on a commercial painting job, always consider your client’s preferences and other requests. Are there deadlines or time constraints that will require bringing additional painters to help you? Does your client want a custom color created? Have you already found out if the client prefers textured, glossy, or flat paint? Make sure to discuss everything, including the drawbacks and benefits of each.
Clients most likely prefer to have many options, mainly if it’s an option of using superior quality products. Most options may include various brands of paints and textures.
6. Do your research
Who are you bidding up against? Do you, by any chance, know who has worked for this particular client before? If so, are they also bidding on this commercial painting job or not? Does the client pay their bills early or make contractors wait to collect? Obtaining as much information and details about a certain client as well as the competition will help you understand the overall landscape of the painting job. It can also help you determine if it is even worth making a bid.
And if you discover that it is worth it, getting a complete understanding of it means you can craft any equally beneficial bid for the client and on your own.
7. Demonstrate a value
If you’re proposal only offers commercial paint services, you are doing a poor job and offer compare to others. All things being equal, the lowest estimated vendor will win the business. In actuality, winning substantial commercial paint jobs usually takes more than that. That is why you need to consider many ways to add value and quality assurance to your offering that will separate you from your competitors.
You may want to offer design services during the planning stage or provide a discount for the materials and paint to your clients that other bidders cannot offer? Any add-ons will help you, and even though some commercial painting jobs are very price-driven, the client is usually looking for the top overall value and not just the cheapest painting service.
8. Submit your bid in person
If all at possible, make sure to schedule an appointment alongside the decision-maker of the painting project and present your final bid in person. Calling or emailing in your bid will most likely reduce your offering to a reasonable price, which is not a good idea. Even if you’re only going to meet any potential clients for a couple of minutes, presenting yourself is a sign of professionalism. It means that you have respect for them and also for your work. Being professional to anyone will go a long way into your career, solidifying your status as a commercial painter.
9. Follow up until completion
All too often, commercial painters offer a proposal, an estimate or a quote and then wait for the phone to ring. A client’s sense of urgency to get a painting service may not match your urgency to win the painting job. However, it doesn’t mean that you’re no longer following up and inquiring about the job’s status. In some cases, simply being available and visible while the potential client is deciding which provider he has to pick is enough to win the job.
It would be best if you reached out first to them. Next, let them know that the job is also equally important to you and additional offers. Doing so will affect the client’s decision process. The highly suggested action is to always follow up to three business days right after submitting your estimate:
· Confirm if they received it.
· Answer any questions and address any comments the clients have.
· Confirm if you’re still under his consideration.
Moreover, following up no less than twice every five business days afterward is an intelligent idea unless the client expressly tells you a changed timeline.
10. Use Construction Scheduling Software
You can provide a central location for viewing and managing the status of all bids by using a specialized software tool like Pro Crew Schedule. While this tool isn’t designed to calculate material costs and quantities automatically, it’s a compelling application for tracking and monitoring jobs from start to finish that will help you stick to your numbers. You and your team can also manage documents and files that make up the bidding package.
Documents for bidding are in different formats, including PDFs, specs, plans, spreadsheets, docs, and other file types to find all store quickly in the application. On top of that, there’s no file size limitation, so you can store large files as much as you can!
Pro Crew Schedule also offers you the following:
· Easier integration of new members
· Enhanced team collaboration and communication
· File sharing and document control
· Project management for construction
· Time-tracking feature
· Remote working
· Cloud-based storage
· User-friendly and easy to explore
· Can be accessed anytime and anywhere
Key Takeaways
Winning more clients and getting more large commercial paint jobs is essentially about doing things that separate you and your offering from the rest of your competitors. What makes you different from the rest of the painting contractors out there? What makes your offering the best value for any client? What can you dare to do that makes them satisfied that they choose your paint service? If you have the right answers to these questions, you can count on getting more clients and winning more bids.
