Where To Bid Jobs

ButlerDesigns

I am pretty new to bidding jobs. All my work is currently word of mouth from pleased customers. I do though want to bid bathroom remodels and tiling jobs. Does anyone have any good info how I go about finding jobs in my area to bid? I found Bidclerk.com last night and looks decent, but they want like 30 dollars a month to be a member inorder to bid. Not sure if thats a scam or not. Any input would help. Thanks

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John Butler
Butler Designs, LLC

Cole

$30 dollars a month is cheap.

Search the forum for service magic and renovation experts.

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Tulsa's Leader in Outdoor Living Construction | Facebook | Tulsa Pergola Builder | Tulsa Outdoor Kitchens

Glasshousebltr

Find your target Market .....and shoot it.

Bob

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Bob

ButlerDesigns

Yes 30 a month is cheap if it works, but if its a scam then I would rather give that 30 to a charity or something. Has anyone used Bidclerk.com before?

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John Butler
Butler Designs, LLC

rikanit

I checked the site and the projects listed in Illinois are certainly legit.
There are 2 listed near my little hole in the wall which I know to be factual.

Even found one I didn't know was coming up about 20 miles from here.

At the very least it looks like you would at least get the relevant contact info for your money.

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Rick Hayden
www.haydenlandscaping.com

dougchips

Call around to some of the other companies on the site and see what they get for results. Just make to call other trades and not your competitors. We have been using this method for the last few months and if you word it correctly people will be very honest.

MattCoops

yes
$30/mo is cheap

but you'll be paying it with little to no results

BidClerk aren't exclusive leads, they're offering them to anyone on there.

So out of the 1-3 jobs per month they post, you'll be chasing a bunch of other guys to get the sale

If you really want to try internet leads, try these guys: http://homeimprovementportal.com

it's $300 to sign up, no monthly fees, and around $30 per lead. But the leads you get are EXCLUSIVE, only you get that lead.
The quality is 10 times better than servicemagic

but,

I'd suggest other mediums for advertising.

First, find your target market.
Get some door hangers at: http://www.3000doorhangers.com
Also, any job you get or estimate you go on, make it a point to put out 100-300 door hangers in that neighborhood. If it is a "no soliciting" neighborhood, then:

get postcards made at: http://www.gotprint.com
or
postcards that have a magnetic business card on them at: http://http://www.webcards.biz/MagnetMailers

the key is a good presentation. You don't want to spend money on something that will get thrown away.

Find out what kind of trade directories get mailed to your target market. See what it costs to get listed in them and how many communities recieve it.

Newspaper seems to be too expensive any yield little results.
Trade directory is much better. People are reading it to find a contractor. People read newspapers to find info on other stuff.

Lastly, find new and creative ways to promote your business.
You really got to have a plan.

Find some college kid in marketing and advertising and get some ideas from him, it'll help big time, everything is fresh from them.

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Matt with Cupan Custom Tile & Paint of Lowell, Massachusetts
Design and installation of ceramic tile and natural stone for floor, wall, and countertops
(978) 601-8774 | cupantile@gmail.com | view tile pictures and more

MattCoops

Another thing with tiling jobs.
Don't hit the high end homes first.
Hit the mid range homes that have vinyl flooring
and find those that want to upgrade.

then when money starts rolling in
hit high end for remodels

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Matt with Cupan Custom Tile & Paint of Lowell, Massachusetts
Design and installation of ceramic tile and natural stone for floor, wall, and countertops
(978) 601-8774 | cupantile@gmail.com | view tile pictures and more

ButlerDesigns

Appreciate the info Mattcoops. I will look into this. Remodeling business is doing very well and so is our tiling, but I need more work for my tile guy because paying him to sit around some days isn't going to work for long. So I was looking at maybe bidding a few jobs, but it just seems like a waist of time because we are alittle pricey, but we offer quality and my tile guy did quality work for most fancy malls, Pentagon Renovation and much more. You know customers these days always go with lowest bid and wonder why their grout it cracking or why they have a 1/8" space leading to a 1-1/2" space at other end of the room. Even the Toe stubbers from note preping bad sub floors..I can go on for days.. Again thanks

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John Butler
Butler Designs, LLC

buckeye85

Hmmmmm, lets see:

Bidclerk is $40 a month for unlimited leads.
Homeimprovementportal is $300 + $30 per lead?

I don't know about claims of "exclusive" leads. That is assuming that the project source has posted their info on one and only one place. Put it this way, if I had a project that needed contractors, I would put it out to as many websites and resources as I could just to get the biggest response.

IMO, I'd go with bidclerk and just check their site throughout the day and jump on the newest postings. I haven't signed up yet, but I plan to soon. Hopefully it'll work out.

JWDesignCenter

We had some luck with Bidoverme.com... i'd look into that one as well. Better than service magic if you ask me.

ultimatetouch

I dont know about you guys. I cant get past the $300 up front payment. If you got somthing good why charge $300 up front.
You could probably make money off them but most other companies do not charge that up front. I think its a lode of crap.

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Ultimatetouch
Illinois Remodeling Company, Kitchen Remodeling Chicago, Room Additions Illinois

JWDesignCenter

no that's high way robbery... i like the sites that you can pay for the bids you want to take... there aren't a whole lot of em out there mind you... but at least you know what you're getting into. My husband is an electrician and I think he paid $6 and $4 per bid but he got to choose which ones he wanted... made a difference.

DamionR

I used to work with UNited to deliver leads to them... which they distributed to their network. Can't really comment on the quality to much since I was the guy providing the lead.

In the end... its all the same. ROI... if it's there it's good for you - if its not its not

Old Guy

Butler -

I know what you mean about word of mouth and reputation. When $$ is flowing and people are working, seems like you can get hooked-up and stay busy as long as you support your work/product.... even when it is not your fault!

But, I was talking to a neighbor today (he is in the roofing business) - and I half jokingly said - "Times are so tough, I am looking for FREE LEADS!!" He said, "Funny you should say that!"

He was at a builders show in Atlanta a few days ago and ran into a guy there who told him about a new company that is a Construction Management Solutions company - offers ePlans, electronic bid responses, automatic push schedules, take offs.... and get this... FREE LEADS!

I went to their site: AdvantageBids.com

He was right. It does say free leads.

Anybody here ever heard about them? Not sure if my type of business really is what they focus on...

But still -

It IS hard to beat FREE!!

Solar Control

Welcome to CT. You can/should post an introduction in the proper area and list your area(s) of service.

Since both of your posts have been about the same company, you should just give them a call. It will be quicker than getting information here. The people responsible for advantagebids.com are listed here. The current phone listed is 936-649-1422.

Most contractors here are not fond of lead companies such as advantagebids.com, associating and accusing them of being misleading, deceitful, fraudulent, just to make a dollar on our behalf. There have even been, and you won't believe this, some that come here and post as actual contractors so you have to be careful.

Again, welcome and good luck with your business.

Old Guy

Solar,

I will take your advice. I contacted a lead generation company about 5 months ago ... and talked a lot about the specifics regarding their business: what they offered and how they did it. They were pretty up front, I thought - told me they could not do much for me in terms of lead generation. Then AFTER I DID MY HOME WORK about that company, I figured out I did not want to buy their service. Overall, too many bad experiences plus what the guy said to me outright.

My point, is, I spent several days getting info and grinding numbers. I researched their track record AFTER talking with them. All combined, I opted out.

So, I figured I would try a different twist this time. In your reply you mentioned the company I asked about, advantagebids, are you familiar with them - I mean from a personal experience POV - or were you speaking categorically?

Just asking for clarification. I am, after all... an OLD GUY and tend to rely more on first hand experience.

I have no problem contacting them, directly. And thanks for the info. I appreciate your efforts to dig it up. Just looking for people who might have experience: or

Bid

Question to the contractors:

If instead of bidding on leads there was a website where you could bid on the actual job. Would you do it? (Assuming the person who posts the job gives the full description of things that need to be done)

Rise Above

@ Bid^: Nope, I would have nothing to do with it. IMO, to many factors and variables come into play.

Storage

I have abuddy who uses Service Majic and is very pleased.