tendering for local authority work..third party.

[Czlowiek Drzewo]

thanks for replies. seems i have been mixed up regarding insurance as a sub-contractor.

 

yeah i might leave it for now after getting tips here. Will wait till i have more business accreditations to my name etc before applying for larger tenders.

 

they sure don't make it easy for small businesses to grow.

[Goaty]

I would like some advice on business choice here.

 

 

 

what i don't understand is why they can tender for tree works for local authorities if they do not have any background in tree work or any insurances for arb work??

 

It annoys me as they really don't care about the work / trees and are just trying to make money any old way...but why does the council let them tender?? I have written a letter today to ask to tender myself and have made it clear that it will benefit the council to have insured and certified tree workers working for them rather than a company that isn't.

 

Whats even stranger is that 2 off the other companies i have quoted against are even worse - one is a cleaning company!!! ...WHY DO THEY USE JACK OF ALL TRADES ( ROGUE TRADERS ) TO UNDERTAKE TREE WORK FOR THEM.?????

Do they not care about british standards?

 

 

In the thread entitled " Is it actually worth it anymore" these points were brought out by members here who were struggling at that time, and your views in this post seems to have swung the other way now from your views in that post in this instance.

It is everyman for himself, you could argue a cleaning company is undervalued, after all who thanks cleaners yet we moan when its messy. Yes life aint fair , the owner of the cleaning and security companies probably live well whilst paying staff a poor wage.

I too have be a jack of several trades as many on here are, diversify to survive. I do all my different skilled jobs to the best standard I can with professional pride.

No offence intended in my reply, but we need to be grateful we have work and the health to do it as Andy Collins pointed out in the thread I mentioned earlier.

[Pedroski]

Not biting the hand that feeds.

 

I am quoting the work ..but they add there large percentage on. When competing against another 3 companies for the work that can make a big difference to winning ro losing the work. I do all the work inc spending many days driving around quoting...so when work is lost they don't lose anything..but i do.

 

Also its stricly business Skyhuck so applying to tender direct is not back stabbing esp when i am the business with the skills / equipment. Thats how businesses grow. yeah i may end up losing out on both...but taking risks must be done to succeed.

 

You ARE, in fact, biting the hand that feeds. Often the local authority will require an organisation to have a minimum turnover of £x million in order to tender for certain works. For example, the local authority here required a company to have a minimum turnover of £9m in order to have their tender for maintenance of council housing stock to even be considered. This meant that the company who had done the work for years before, and had a turnover of £5m were not invited to tender. Instead it went to Mears Group.

 

NOW, here is the thing, the people who run Mears Group don't do the plastering, they don't do the electrical work, they don't do the plumbing, they don't do the tree work or anything. BUT they do organise everything and they get the work for their contractors who go out pricing it. The fact the council end up paying them £85 to change a lightbulb seems irrelevant. If I was working as a sparky for Mears Group, and getting regular well paid work, I wouldn't give a toss what they were charging the council for the lightbulb. I would also know for a fact that if I went to the council directly to offer my fully insured and skilled lightbulb changing service at a cheaper rate, i.e. £50. then I wouldn't get the contract anyway as I don't have a £9m turnover. It would also probably cost me the work I currently had through Mears Group as they would just get a different lightbulb specialist in.

 

At the end of the day, it's much easier for the council to have one organisation to oversee something like this. It keeps everything together. It may well be that the security firm you refer to is just in a position to supply everything the council wants through it's network of contractors, and you're fortunate to be part of that network.

[Czlowiek Drzewo]

You ARE, in fact, biting the hand that feeds. Often the local authority will require an organisation to have a minimum turnover of £x million in order to tender for certain works. For example, the local authority here required a company to have a minimum turnover of £9m in order to have their tender for maintenance of council housing stock to even be considered. This meant that the company who had done the work for years before, and had a turnover of £5m were not invited to tender. Instead it went to Mears Group.

 

NOW, here is the thing, the people who run Mears Group don't do the plastering, they don't do the electrical work, they don't do the plumbing, they don't do the tree work or anything. BUT they do organise everything and they get the work for their contractors who go out pricing it. The fact the council end up paying them £85 to change a lightbulb seems irrelevant. If I was working as a sparky for Mears Group, and getting regular well paid work, I wouldn't give a toss what they were charging the council for the lightbulb. I would also know for a fact that if I went to the council directly to offer my fully insured and skilled lightbulb changing service at a cheaper rate, i.e. £50. then I wouldn't get the contract anyway as I don't have a £9m turnover. It would also probably cost me the work I currently had through Mears Group as they would just get a different lightbulb specialist in.

 

At the end of the day, it's much easier for the council to have one organisation to oversee something like this. It keeps everything together. It may well be that the security firm you refer to is just in a position to supply everything the council wants through it's network of contractors, and you're fortunate to be part of that network.

 

You know thats what i had thought...but up here many Companies with turnover less than 250k tender directly to council for tree surgery work.

 

Might try to tender to different council first and see how that goes.

[Pedroski]

You know thats what i had thought...but up here many Companies with turnover less than 250k tender directly to council for tree surgery work.

 

Might try to tender to different council first and see how that goes.

 

Yeah, it all depends what the tender is for. What you could do, without causing too much problem, is to ask the council when the tree work is next up for tender and then, when the tenders are advertised, put an application in then. Doing like that you are doing nothing wrong. The way to come properly unstuck, though, is to approach the council now, while it's not open to tender, offering to do the tree work for less than they are paying the security firm.

 

Check various local authority web sites and see what is out for tender at the moment. Perhaps you could win a tender in a neighbouring authority.

[scotspine1]

I would like some advice on business choice here.

 

I quote and undertake all tree work as a third party company for local authority. e.g i hand my quotes into another company who then hand them to council whith there percentage on top.

 

I undertake all the work.- quoting the work, doing the work and giving my advice. The company who receive my quotes have nothing at all to do with arboriculture work as the are a security business and they do not have any qualifications, exp or tickets to undetake any tree work legally..thats why they use me. I have also called and asked them if they have relevant insurance as i am classed as a sub-contractor for them and they keep telling me that they will get back to me on this.

 

what i don't understand is why they can tender for tree works for local authorities if they do not have any background in tree work or any insurances for arb work??

 

It annoys me as they really don't care about the work / trees and are just trying to make money any old way...but why does the council let them tender?? I have written a letter today to ask to tender myself and have made it clear that it will benefit the council to have insured and certified tree workers working for them rather than a company that isn't.

 

Whats even stranger is that 2 off the other companies i have quoted against are even worse - one is a cleaning company!!! ...WHY DO THEY USE JACK OF ALL TRADES ( ROGUE TRADERS ) TO UNDERTAKE TREE WORK FOR THEM.?????

Do they not care about british standards?

 

the way I see it you dont have a choice. If it's decent work and your guaranteed good money within a month or so then it's all good.

 

But......if this company starts messing you about with payment then forget it. Let's say the payment starts to creep into 2 months or even 3 months, it's simply not viable, small companies like we run (you and me that is) simply cannot afford this kind of wait for payment.

[Jamie M]

Maybe I'm coming at this from a completely different direction from the original post. However, in my view, should we all not take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

What is being discussed is the fact that the same high quality service can be provided for a lesser cost to the council and therefore all of as tax payers.

 

I'm guessing we are all appalled at the waste of money in the public sector, rising council tax and cut backs in services etc and surely providing top quality service at a lesser price to all of us (through cutting out the middle man who takes a hefty fee on top) has to carry alot of weight.

 

Maybe not so straight forward to achieve in the real world but worth bearing in mind none the less.

[Czlowiek Drzewo]

Thanks for all replies, Jamies post hit the point bang on....the bigger picture.

 

Quote of inspiration for all negative folk on here - ' greatest mistake a man can make is aiming to low '

 

Anyways i after hours of phone calls a have found the key contact and will be tendering for the new tree works.

 

Biting the hand that feeds. Lol.

[easy-lift guy]

Thanks for all replies, Jamies post hit the point bang on....the bigger picture.

 

Quote of inspiration for all negative folk on here - ' greatest mistake a man can make is aiming to low '

 

Anyways i after hours of phone calls a have found the key contact and will be tendering for the new tree works.

 

Biting the hand that feeds. Lol.

 

I really do wish you the best, I hope you can pace yourself and work to a point where your the primary contractor and have the other service companies working under you, I think that may be termed as coming full circle.

easy-lift guy

[skyhuck]

Thanks for all replies, Jamies post hit the point bang on....the bigger picture.

 

Quote of inspiration for all negative folk on here - ' greatest mistake a man can make is aiming to low '

 

Anyways i after hours of phone calls a have found the key contact and will be tendering for the new tree works.

 

Biting the hand that feeds. Lol.

 

Don't confuse realism with negativity, a positive attitude is great and helps over come many obstacles, but its important to be realistic and know what is achievable.