The Life of a Custom Mowing contractor

[civilian]

Your friend has a 737? Wow. Jon

 

[Hay Dude]

Well guys, I promised I share the “Life of a Custom Mowing Contractor” with you and sometimes, there’s difficult setbacks.

Every year, I must submit Proposals for large property/HOA’s so they can review my price & terms. Sometimes, they are required get other bids every 3,4,5 years.

Sometimes those other bids are lower.

Yesterday, I got bad news that I lost a long time Customer. About $12,000 worth of mowing. Worst part is they have informed me very close to mowing season, so I have no time to go out and hunt down some replacement work.

There’s good days and there’s bad days. Or as my buddy says: “Thats life in the big city”

 

[EddieWalker]

That's disappointing. Hopefully they get what they pay for and hire you to do the work again.

 

[two_bit_score]

Sorry to hear of the setback. Did they even give you the chance to match the low offer?

 

[Hay Dude]

Sorry to hear of the setback. Did they even give you the chance to match the low offer?

I wish, but no.

One thing I have learned about working for a HOA: An HOA is a “committee” right? It’s made up of several people. Some on the HOA are fine with me. Some are neutral, and maybe a few are skeptical. It just takes one that’s angry with you and just wants a change to spark a bidding war.

Well, thats just another way of saying “find someone cheaper”. Unfortunately, mowing is a race to the bottom. Nobody much cares about anything other than price. I sent in my norma proposal in January. They shopped it around from January to March. Easy to find someone cheaper.

Bottom line, they found someone more than 10% cheaper, which triggers an automatic acceptance of the cheaper bid.

Lesson learned: Wait until last minute to send in bid. Makes it harder for Customer to find a replacement…..

 

[Carl_NH]

That's certainly disappointing news. In these circumstances, would it have made any difference to bid late if they were obligated to select the low bid anyway? Would you have known what the other bids were if you had waited? If not, don't beat yourself up.

Are there opportunities to bid on new properties or different work/new projects?

 

[Hay Dude]

That's certainly disappointing news. In these circumstances, would it have made any difference to bid late if they were obligated to select the low bid anyway?

You're correct, it wouldn't. But it could depend on what triggered them to look around. Was it a required rebidding every so many years, or something else?

Would you have known what the other bids were if you had waited? If not, don't beat yourself up.

Thanks- trying not to. Does impact you though.

Are there opportunities to bid on new properties or different work/new projects?

Probably not this late in the game, but making some calls.

 

[MMC]

You're correct, it wouldn't. But it could depend on what triggered them to look around. Was it a required rebidding every so many years, or something else?



Thanks- trying not to. Does impact you though.

Probably not this late in the game, but making some calls.

Those things are more of a pain than people understand that are not in business. It's not just the loss of expected income, but also the expensive equipment that you have invested in that now is idle more than you want.

Even more importantly, since you did not expect this, you may not have the work to offer to employees, whether full or part-time. Keeping that part going is really important these days.

I have had conversations with, well younger partners, about the importance of communication and courtesy in our business dealings. Not sure that concept as an effective business management tool is given enough attention these days.

But, yeah, I would be as irritated, or more so, than yourself about a late notification...

But, maybe another way to look at this is as an opportunity. Myself, I just came in from working on a maintenance/repair project I should have finished last fall. Any chance you can set up extra time for yourself or employees to do a full preventative maintenance/repair program on your equipment? Or another farmer's for cash? I recognize you do a lot of this on your own equipment, but, point is, there's always something broke down (or about to be) on a farm.

If new work or other offsets aren't readily available, what about doing some free work for your church or another agency you might support for a tax break at the end of the year? (keeping good records, naturally) That could help offset the income loss you are experiencing in the near term.

In any case, best of luck. Doubt you need it - work is always looking for hard-working people...

 

[dodge man]

That’s not really a fair way to do it. They should get all proposals at the same time, not get yours and then decide they want more. There is always a chance someone spills the beans and tells someone what yours is.

 

[Hay Dude]

I’ll get through this. It’s more the loss of an “anchor” client that kind of rattles you. I knew something was up when one of the supportive HOA members retired. He always liked me and “firewalled” me when there were minor issues (there really were none though). I think his replacement was looking to make a name for herself and I was a fixture there for many years. Probably thought I was a “toxic male” or something….

It is kind of sad, got to know lots of people there and knew the place like the back of my hand.

But with each door that closes, usually a new one opens.

 

[Hay Dude]

That’s not really a fair way to do it. They should get all proposals at the same time, not get yours and then decide they want more. There is always a chance someone spills the beans and tells someone what yours is.

I’m pretty sure thats what happened. I, thinking I was not in danger of losing the contract, did the right thing and presented my 2025 Proposal (unchanged from 2024) thinking that would all but guarantee me 2025.

It happens.

 

[mrmikey]

Nobody much cares about anything other than price. I sent in my norma proposal in January. They shopped it around from January to March

So the person bidding against you gets to know your bid and can price their bid accordingly. How in the **** is that a fair and honest system? If it's a bid system, all bids should be in by a certain date and remain closed until all opened together in public.
Unfortunately prior performance means absolutely nothing, all about the buck.
Never forget, I had been with the dept. for three years or so and we had a hydraulic supplier that would bust their butt for you for a $2 odd ballfitting. They lost the next tender, found out it was from their competitor hiring a 'person' than was working at the current suppler. We figure they had all the prices from him, couple months later that person was gone.

 

[dodge man]

Most government agencies are required to do fair bidding in most cases. An HOA is probably not bound by those rules.

 

[Hay Dude]

So the person bidding against you gets to know your bid and can price their bid accordingly. How in the **** is that a fair and honest system? If it's a bid system, all bids should be in by a certain date and remain closed until all opened together in public.

I don’t know if they “exposed” my price to others, but what I do know is they shopped around for another price until they found one 15% cheaper. Anything 10% + cheaper must be accepted. We have plenty of folks running around pretending to be legitimate mowing service companies that are not, but they’re cheaper than us.

We cut their fields and their large HOA lawn areas. So we lost both the fields and the lawns.

Unfortunately prior performance means absolutely nothing, all about the buck.

Yes. Mowing is just mowing to the Customer. Price is everything since they are all budget-centric. New HOA presidents like to impress the other residents by slashing costs.

Never forget, I had been with the dept. for three years or so and we had a hydraulic supplier that would bust their butt for you for a $2 odd ballfitting. They lost the next tender, found out it was from their competitor hiring a 'person' than was working at the current suppler. We figure they had all the prices from him, couple months later that person was gone.

Yeah, people will sell you down the road for a couple bucks.

 

[Hay Dude]

Most government agencies are required to do fair bidding in most cases. An HOA is probably not bound by those rules.

Some HOAs have by-laws requiring them to rebid every 3 or 5 years. This could be what happened. Funny thing is, I haven’t raised my prices in 5 years since they hired me, so the price they hired me on 5 years ago is the same.

So now they decide to find a lower price????? I mean haven't we all seen just about everything go up 25% in the last 5 years????

 

[Lineman North Florida]

This type of stuff happens a lot in my skid steer business, seems like in the last year or two everybody has went out and bought one and seems willing to work for beer money to get the job, but most of them won't be in business long because when the first big breakdown happens they won't have the money to fix it, I haven't cut my prices because I can't work for free but my stuff is payed for, so I can survive. I do very few tractor bush hogging jobs anymore because of the race to the bottom pricing.

 

[Carl_NH]

It's business, and anytime it's a decision by committee, the contract is at risk, unless you 1) have an inside track, 2) have a unique solution or offering or 3) your bid is the lowest cost/risk solution.

Then this case "mowing HOA fields" is a limited risk in the view of the buyer, it becomes a price war with limited differentiation between the sellers, they will choose the lowest price. The difference is the new supplier can bid low to get the contract, then to only raise the price next year, unless this is a 3-5 year fixed price contract.

Your differentiation is 1) you have performed as required or better, 2) your costs have increased, however you have kept the same contract price for 5 years, absorbing XX% increase in fuel, labor, machine maintenance costs, and insurance etc,

.

 

[RayIN]

re: lowest bidder. I'd be really really nervous about flying if I discovered the plane was built by the lowest bidder.
Wonder what the HOA committee is gonna think if the lowest bidder decides to mow when the ground is muddy because he has a better paying job next week?

 

[pmsmechanic]

Well guys, I promised I share the “Life of a Custom Mowing Contractor” with you and sometimes, there’s difficult setbacks.

Every year, I must submit Proposals for large property/HOA’s so they can review my price & terms. Sometimes, they are required get other bids every 3,4,5 years.

Sometimes those other bids are lower.

Yesterday, I got bad news that I lost a long time Customer. About $12,000 worth of mowing. Worst part is they have informed me very close to mowing season, so I have no time to go out and hunt down some replacement work.

There’s good days and there’s bad days. Or as my buddy says: “Thats life in the big city”

I've learned over the years to not get too upset about things that don't work out. Years later I come to realize that the man upstairs was actually looking out for me. Usually with something quite a bit better in mind. Now I just say thanks to Him for steering me clear of some unknown obstacle in life.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I've learned over the years to not get too upset about things that don't work out. Years later I come to realize that the man upstairs was actually looking out for me. Usually with something quite a bit better in mind. Now I just say thanks to Him for steering me clear of some unknown obstacle in life.

At any given time, we are right where we are supposed to be, and while we don't often understand, it is by design.