Lesson Learned on Commerical Bid ( Gym))

ok so I finally got the go ahead to do a gym that I bid in my local area, I walked the property and looked and even touched windows. What I failed to see was the glue from window tint on every damn window. What was to take 8 hours has now doubled to 16. The glue had been cleaned so much that it merged into the window, I usually scrape for first clean and my blade stopped immediately and the fun began. I was able to save time using my unger himod pole with unger quick clean for hard to reach areas. In all lesson learned, know what you are really getting yourself into before you start.

I compensate for missing things and/or forgetting things by increasing the bid by several percentages. This is particularly more prevalent when the property owner is chatting during my sizing up of the job.

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Good advice HBM

You learn best when you loose money.
Just saying.

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no doubt,but rome wasnt built overnight. thats why i love the forum

Include a clause in your bid, like - “If additional issues not anticipated are encountered during the clean we will stop and discuss what it will take to proceed.”

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It is twice as hard to clean a window that has the tint “cleaned” off already! ugh!..I feel for you! Good thing is you will know to look for it next time.

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Just a suggestion,but you tell them the price, but, in the event it takes longer you tell tell them it’s a $100 dollars an hour. The estimate is an estimate and if you exspress the hourly wage after that they’ll understand and you cover yourself.

Another way. You just tell them your approximate price. In the event,as long as you explain the issue you’ll be alright.

To avoid that in the near future, you might want to think about hourly wage prices instead,imo.

No truer words have been said!

Don’t even ask how much money I’ve lost over the years.

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Bummer! That looks like a nightmare. Had the glue been “cleaned” before you or was the tint recently removed?

The windows looked ok, just double pane and alot of them had leaks so even after cleaning they looked not so great. The tint I found out was removed 2 years ago, and the staff was using rags and solution to clean them. The only way i was able to find out glue was on there when i went to remove paint overspray with a razor.

Ok so after all the glue issues the day turned out not so bad. 2 day job for me solo, but the end result was a very happy commercial account, that landed me 6 residential jobs today. I left my cards on the window sill as i workedn and got 6 appointments set for this week and next. I also have in writing the next gym is mine at 2000 per year cleaning at 4 times a year.

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That is great!

Thanks to all that replied, I love this community.

Love to hear a happy ending one note about tint glue for years we only found acetone as a solution which if not ventilated was unacceptable but titan labs oil flo has been very effective and negated razor use…only other piece of advice i can add is ALWAYS do a test section on ALL tint or stain removals before bidding or accepting a job

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No doubt, it really was a lesson learned. Every time I visit the forum i leave educated.

Me too. The uncertainty I have about different actions is lessened and I am encouraged to revisit former assumptions.