pricing a property maintenance contract..any tips or help please

Welchyboy · Feb 4, 2012

I have to return a quote for the following maintenance contract and would like some help/pointers/ideas on rough costing allowances, they would also like a call out fee and per hour after charge, for when lamps need replacing, kids smash the light fittings etc.

Im based in Essex, my usual rates are £45 call-out, £25 per subsequent hour after, £120 half day,
£200 full Day(local rates)

However this will be a definate regular income and they also have asked me to do EICR quotes for each site, so i am prepared to drop the initial call out fee to £35 maybe even £30

I appreciate you havent seen the sites but heres the details:-

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Quarterly Maintenance checks (usually carried out in last week of each quarter)
· All sensors and lights surveyed
· Remove, repair and replace fitting/ re-lamp where necessary
· Survey and re set timers and sensors where required

In addition when any resident calls about a light not working, an initial call out for one hour and then a charge per subsequent hour

This is carried out at the following developments:

1. A Development of 81 flats with associated car park and stairwell areas (all external, stairwells are open)

2. A development of 12 flats in 3 blocks

3. A development of 10 flats in a block with one communal stairwell, car park and garden areas

4. 2 developments of 54 and 62 flats respectively

5. A development of 50 flats with 10 stairwells with car park, garden areas and garage blocks

6. A development of 11 flats in 2 stairwell blocks with garden and car park areas

7. A development of 30 flats in 5 blocks with car park and garden areas

6 and 7 also have emergency lighting which has monthly testing and then an annual duration test.

we would also require fixed electrical testing with these as a separate project.

Thank you

Kim

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Any input would be great as i havent had to quote for a maintenance contract of this sort before, and as much as i would like to win this job i dont want to stitch myself up by doing it too cheap.

i am visiting the sites next week so should have a better idea.

Many thanks!!

needasparks · Feb 4, 2012

Good luck with it mate, have done a few of these over the years. are you working via another person/company or direct to client ?
Think you will be suprized how low the maintenance charges are for these contracts as most companies that tender them send monkeys on peanuts to carry out day to day stuff and then earn off the call outs and deviations on extra works required. I lost a couple as i could not compete with the average day charge of £80 after i estimated what was required and worked out labour, that was two years ago on the last one though. Would be good to check liability also as most companies don't cover you working in buildings over 10 floors, I nearly got caught out by that.

Spazz · Feb 4, 2012

Work it out how much you would be happy with for the year then divide that by 310 (total number of flats)

For example:
Happy with £10,000 for 1 year contract with this based on each flat needs at least 1 bulb changing in that time
£10,000/310 = £32.25 - call out fee (round down to £30.00 call out fee)
£15 per hour after that

Same with the emergency lighting and car park lighting

Of course you would get more than this £10,000 because not every flat will blow a light bulb in 1 year, but some will blow more than 1 light bulb in that year as well.
Plus you have the emergency lighting, car park lighting as well, etc.

Parts are always on top then.

The other way is to do it as a fixed price of £12,000 per year and that includes unlimited call outs - only works if the flats are local.

This pricing structure is how I used to work out my government contracts.

alarm man · Feb 4, 2012

Welchyboy said:
I have to return a quote for the following maintenance contract and would like some help/pointers/ideas on rough costing allowances, they would also like a call out fee and per hour after charge, for when lamps need replacing, kids smash the light fittings etc.

Im based in Essex, my usual rates are £45 call-out, £25 per subsequent hour after, £120 half day,
£200 full Day(local rates)

However this will be a definate regular income and they also have asked me to do EICR quotes for each site, so i am prepared to drop the initial call out fee to £35 maybe even £30

I appreciate you havent seen the sites but heres the details:-

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quarterly Maintenance checks (usually carried out in last week of each quarter)
· All sensors and lights surveyed
· Remove, repair and replace fitting/ re-lamp where necessary
· Survey and re set timers and sensors where required

In addition when any resident calls about a light not working, an initial call out for one hour and then a charge per subsequent hour

This is carried out at the following developments:

1. A Development of 81 flats with associated car park and stairwell areas (all external, stairwells are open)

2. A development of 12 flats in 3 blocks

3. A development of 10 flats in a block with one communal stairwell, car park and garden areas

4. 2 developments of 54 and 62 flats respectively

5. A development of 50 flats with 10 stairwells with car park, garden areas and garage blocks

6. A development of 11 flats in 2 stairwell blocks with garden and car park areas

7. A development of 30 flats in 5 blocks with car park and garden areas

6 and 7 also have emergency lighting which has monthly testing and then an annual duration test.

we would also require fixed electrical testing with these as a separate project.

Thank you

Kim

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Any input would be great as i havent had to quote for a maintenance contract of this sort before, and as much as i would like to win this job i dont want to stitch myself up by doing it too cheap.

i am visiting the sites next week so should have a better idea.

Many thanks!!

is it general lighting in the flats or just communal areas and eml,how do you access the flats if so,

Welchyboy · Feb 4, 2012

this job is direct to me from the property maintenence company

sorry if i didnt make it clear, its only in landlords areas as they are privatley owned flats

I was not expecting to get rich off this job but it would be a regular income for easy work and would eventually be aiming to put a monkey of my own down there lol

Marvo · Feb 4, 2012

There's no right or wrong answer as there's many ways to structure pricing for this type of work. The most important thing is to communicate with the client and find out what structure they have in mind or what would work well for them.

We usually try to price according to a flat rate every month which is derived from all the predictable work like testing and certification etc across the year then divide by 12. We then quote an hourly rate for any call-outs as and when they occur, at a preferential rate. This way the income is directly proportional to the work on site. Also there's little scope for the customer to abuse you without paying for it.

Some clients prefer an 'all in' price but from experience if you quote a blanket price for everything then the customer will start taking liberties, why worry about getting you out on a Thursday when they can report it at 5pm on a Friday and it won't cost any more.....you know the story.

You can also go with middle ground where you have a monthly contract price that covers the planned maintenance and a certain number of call-out hours then an hourly rate for anything above that. Some clients prefer this because it makes their costs far more predictable.

There's no substitute for an in-depth survey of every point in all properties either, it's the only way to avoid nasty surprises. I've been burned on my fair share of contracts because of incidental things the customer didn't fully disclose (except in small print) such as the requirement for monthly renewable security passes for all contractors on site. This required lots of time plus each guy needed reams of paperwork including tax clearance certificates, police clearance, ID documents...the list was endless, all vehicles needed a pass as well and it cost me at least 3 days a month to sort out which I hadn't bargained for.

Welchyboy · Feb 4, 2012

Thank you marvo i will be sure to make an indepth survey of each of the sites, i think they want a one off figure plus call out costs so its easy for them......but as you say open to abuse!

lofty84 · Feb 4, 2012

theres some good stuff in here

needasparks · Feb 5, 2012

I guess these flats must have a schedule of maintenance that you can work out from, be sure to check service materials are not included (lamps etc), My last one was for 18 blocks of 80-100 flats (sheltered housing) and only replacement fittings were chargable so tubes and starters were in the price. even the diesel for the standby gens we had to include.