Grounds work asks for the map first
Everything else on the platform publishes from the address you typed. Grounds work also needs the map you drew, so every vendor knows what it is pricing.
You draw your grounds on a satellite map and get an approximate acreage. Vendors confirm it when they walk the site.
| Trade | What the request needs |
|---|---|
| Landscaping and grounds | The map you drew |
| Pool cleaning | The address |
| Cleaning and day porter | The address |
| Painting, pest control, HVAC, electrical | The address |
What the published request carries
The map you drew and the insurance you require print on the request itself, so every company prices against the same shape. A re-bid is then a fair comparison.
A grounds company shows its General liability certificate before it can propose. A person reads it, with the date the policy runs out.
- The property
- The address and the map you drew.
- The scope
- Mowing, beds and turf.
- The insurance
- The minimums you set, printed inside the request.
- Submission
- The date answers are due.
Proposals against one map
Each proposal prices the lines you asked for, says how often the company would attend, and reads in the company’s own words. The map was on the request, so a lower number is a lower number, not a smaller idea of the property.
A request that covers grounds work and something else is still priced off the map. Splitting them into two requests is the way round that when the other trade is urgent.
- PublishThe map and the insurance go out together.
- Proposals inEach one answers the same map.
- CompareRead them side by side.
- AwardYou contract with the company you choose.
Every visit is filed under the property
Every visit is dated, with the record the crew filed on the way out. The certificate sits beside it with its expiration date.
Next year’s re-bid starts from this year’s file: the same map, the same scope, and last year’s invoices beside the new proposals. The files export as Detailed CSV, General journal CSV (double-entry), QuickBooks Online CSV, QuickBooks Desktop IIF, Xero CSV.
- Visits
- Every one dated, with the crew’s record.
- The certificate
- With the date it runs out.
- Invoices
- Each with the company’s own line items.
- The contract
- And the request it answered.
