About Bluebook

contractor69

About BlueBook....I met the Salesman and told him i need my Company to get into Commercial Projects. He said it,s only one options ! and offered me an add into a BlueBook. Now i pay $ 399 every month. I dint get any job from there ,for more then 6 months. I work hard every day and pay the BlueBook for nothing. I need some help !! Should i quit this mess or what other options i have !!! thank you a lot.

Chris Johnson

I pay $ 0.00 for my bluebook listing, it's free and I average 6-10 project listings a week.

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Chris

contractor69

Thank you Chris ..i guess the Salesman just bull**** me.....i should considering quit this mess...loosing too much money

PGD

Funny I'm in the bluebook for 5-6 years now and I've never gotten a call off of their listing, that I know of. I always ask; "so how did you hear about us?" and no one has ever said: "bluebook".

contractor69

Pgd...why you pay blue book for so many years if you didn t get anything ? I,m pretty much ready to quit

tgeb

I also get the free listing.

I have received calls through the Blue Book, but it is rare.

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Tom

www.gebcon.com

Warren

I am thinking of starting a new business called Greenbook. Please send me checks for $500 per year and I will list your company. This is going to be a great service.

knucklehead

Green is popular right now.

PGD

Greenbook? .............Sounds NEW.

Chris Johnson

Specialty trade, that's all I can think of as to why I get so many!!!

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Chris

PGD

not much more specific or special than just doors.... I guess some people have all the luck! or maybe they don't like my face, either way I don't think I'll be in next years book.

Mud Master

I've had the free listing for almost 10 years, I average about 12-15 leads a week through the ITB system. Some are contractors i've worked with for years, who find it easier to send me invitations through there, while others are new builders(a good number from out of state) who see us and send us an invitation. I've landed quite a few jobs through there over the years, including a healthcare project just recently in NOVA for $600,000.00.

$399.00/month sounds very expensive for an ad however. I had an ad a couple years ago, given it wasn't a whole page, only a 1/4 page, but that only ran me around $102.00/month. I found it really didn't make a whole lot of difference in the amount of leads I got, the main difference was that it allowed me to list my company in an unlimited amount of categories instead of the maximum three that you get with a free listing.

If I were you I would downgrade to just a bold listing, which will still allow you more than just three listings, and than regularly update your profile. GC/CM/Arch's and the such tend to look at that, as the blue book only cleans up their listings every so many years, so when they see that a company is regularly updating their profile, they know the company is both still around and see's the types of projects they perform. Also include as much information as you can, including license number, recent projects, website (if applicable),etc..so potential clients can get a feel for your company. and DEFINETLY have your email on your listing or you won't recieve any leads at all.

You may also want to contact some of the GC/CM's etc..on there to get your name out there, let them know your in the blue book as well and should you have any projects come up to please send you an ITB.

Lastly, being in the blue book is a great way to get exposure, and going to their "meet & greet" functions is a great way to meet builders. However, the competition is just as, if not more fierce than being a residential contractor on service magic. A project manager for a GC may and most likely WILL send out an ITB to 6-10 contractors per trade, just as the owner or engineer who is in charge of soliciting GC's for the project itself is doing the same. So not only do you need to be the lowest bid for the contractor your bidding for, but you need to be the lowest out of all the other subs bidding for all the other GC's bidding on the project, which could be at that point up to 30-40(in your case) tile contractors.

Best thing for you to do would be to learn how to use the "My Blue Book" function on there, which will not only allow you to keep up on your leads, but allow you to see what other GC's are bidding the projects your bidding on so you have a better chance of landing it.

Also, you need to stay on top of the GC's your bidding the project for, as some are serious about the project, and will have all the RFI's RFQ's, revisions, etc..and others will only be bidding it on a whime in hopes of filling their schedule. The latter will not have the pertinent information you will need to correctly bid the project, and should you win you will run the chance of losing money on the job due to not bidding the job to the exact specifications. All commercial contract documents state that it is the contractors responsibility to review all material during the pre bid/bidding phase, and exclusion of any addition or subtraction given during the said phase will fall on the contractor and will not be the responsibility of the owner. So basically, if you miss something due to the GC's negligence, it's your fault and it becomes a back and forth between you and the GC, and in those situations you always lose the war, even if you win the battle.

I hope the short novel above helped you in some way. Good Luck!!

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greg24k

I also have a free listing in there, great source to find trade in the area or if you doing work in other areas.

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contractor69

Mud-Master thank you a lot for your info,s. I would like to ask one more question if you will have time for that. When i add my company into a Blue Book they put me under contract. Now i have two options. One to quit forever no metter what happen .or stay there but with a way lower payment/ month ( $ 100- 150). In case they dont want to lower my payment what happen when you quit an advertising like that?
Thank you so much !!

contractor69

Does anyone knows how to quit advertising program under contract ? exemple BLUE BOOK

Chris Johnson

Send them a letter saying - I quit -.

You may be obligated under contract to pay until the next printing, kind of like some people get nailed on yellow page adds.

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Chris

L-ENTERPRISES

We get 5-10 leads a week thru the ITB system . Excellent when the GC puts in the plans for bidding on there too .

PrecisionFloors

Same here.

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(772) 237-9900
Tile, Hardwood, Laminate, and Resilient
Installation, Sales & Repair - "We do it right the FIRST time"

CA Contractor

As others stated, if you're paying a monthly fee to Blue Book you are under contract & as w/all contracts it's probably going to be impossible to 'get out of'. Read your paper work, it's usually a 2-yr contract. We, too have a contract w/them that is just about up & won't be renewing. We paid extra rather than the free listing thinking it would benefit us, not so. We've never rec'd a call for work. One thing about commercial is that at least in the Bay Area (CA) most require performance bond & other fees which we don't do. If we do commercial it's T.I. work. Good luck.

Mud Master

Very rarely will you receive a call for work through the Blue Book.

99.999% of leads generated through The Blue Book is sent as an ITB through their system into your email. That's why, as I said previously, it is imperative that you keep both your profile and email current to receive them.

I found I receive no more or less leads through them with an ad, so it was not worth the money to me. If you have a contract with them you must, like any other contract, follow through with it til' the expiration. When the expiration is close to the end you need to call them and tell them you will be canceling or there is a good chance it will be automatically renewed for another 1-2 years.

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