LANDSCAPING
The HOA contract comes up for bid. Win it with your record, not your price
A board member opens three bids for the landscape contract. Two are a price and a logo. One has a page that says: this is what we did for you this year. The visits, the storm cleanups, how fast we answered the manager. That page is hard to argue with. Most companies never send it, because nobody kept the numbers.
A note on what this is. We do not know when your contract renews or what the board cares about. Ask. This is how to build the page from records you already have.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Why does price lose to a record?
Because the board has been burned before. The cheap crew that skipped weeks. The company that took three days to call back about a fallen tree. A manager who has to defend a choice at the next meeting wants proof, not a promise.
A lower price is a guess about the future. A record is what already happened. If yours is good, it is the strongest thing in the envelope.
What goes on the one page?
- Visits made this year, and visits planned. Say how many were moved for rain and when you made them up.
- Storm and extra calls: the date, what you did, and how long it took to get there.
- Reply time: how long it took to answer the manager’s calls and texts.
- Two or three photos: before and after a cleanup, a new bed, a fixed sprinkler zone.
- One line on what you will change next year.
Keep it to one page. A board reads one page. It skips ten.
Where do you find the numbers?
Your calendar or route app has the visits. Your invoices have the extra work. For reply time, open your text thread with the manager. Pick ten messages from the year. Write down when each came in and when you answered. That is your reply time, from your own phone.
If the numbers are not good, you still learned something. Fix it this year, and the page next year will be better. Do not send a page that makes you look worse than a price.
When should you send it?
Ask the manager in November when the contract is up and when bids are due. Send the page with your bid, or a few weeks before, as a "here is your year" note. Either way, it lands before the board decides.
What does the price line look like?
Be clear and fair. If your price goes up, say why in one sentence. The record does the rest. If the board only buys on price, the page will not save the contract. That happens. It is still worth knowing.
Can a system keep the record for you?
Yes, and this is where it helps. On the Crew plan, the reports show reply time, bookings and jobs by month, from the system’s own records. Every text and call with the manager sits in one thread with the dates. In December you do not dig through a phone. You print the month.
One property, one page. If you have five association contracts, you make five pages. Start with the one that renews first.
Related
Have a contract up for bid?
Book a 30-minute call. Bring the property name and your text thread with the manager. We build the outline of the one page with you and show you what the reports would add.
