Window cleaning tender for local council

[DerryJohn]

Been running a window cleaning business about 8 months now, currently have one van set up and one part time employee. Almost all my work is residential, bar a few commercial property's.

Looking to stick a tender in now in January for local council . some info that they require to know if I have or not, (obviously if i don't have any of this stuff they will more than likely throw the tender in a corner) so need some help on getting this stuff together..most of information on tender is straight forward however the health & safety section is were I need help.has anyone any experience with such tenders

Primary H&S Management Obligations and Documentation required ( tick Y or N)

• Independently audited H&S Management System - Can I do this my self?
• 
  
• Written H&S Policy and Statement - Can I do this my self? ( is this needed if i only employee one person part time?)
• 
  
• Organisational Structure
• Employ services of external Safety Consultant
• Employ a Health & Safety Manager / Adviser
• Named Senior Director responsible for H&S
• 10m EL & 5m PL Liability Insurances

Any help on these points will be much appreciated

 

[Newchodge]

Been running a window cleaning business about 8 months now, currently have one van set up and one part time employee. Almost all my work is residential, bar a few commercial property's.

Looking to stick a tender in now in January for local council . some info that they require to know if I have or not, (obviously if i don't have any of this stuff they will more than likely throw the tender in a corner) so need some help on getting this stuff together..most of information on tender is straight forward however the health & safety section is were I need help.has anyone any experience with such tenders

Primary H&S Management Obligations and Documentation required ( tick Y or N)

• Independently audited H&S Management System - Can I do this my self?No Independent
  
• 
  
• Written H&S Policy and Statement - Can I do this my self? ( is this needed if i only employee one person part time?) Yes. Not needed legally, but may be needed for tender
  
• 
  
• Organisational Structure You as boss, employee as, well, employee
  
• Employ services of external Safety Consultant Not now, but can if necessary
  
• Employ a Health & Safety Manager / Adviser That may be you if you can show the necessary experience/knowledge
  
• Named Senior Director responsible for H&S That's probably you
  
• 10m EL & 5m PL Liability Insurances That's simple, just buy the cover

Any help on these points will be much appreciated

 

[iconic]

Been running a window cleaning business about 8 months now, currently have one van set up and one part time employee. Almost all my work is residential, bar a few commercial property's.

Looking to stick a tender in now in January for local council . some info that they require to know if I have or not, (obviously if i don't have any of this stuff they will more than likely throw the tender in a corner) so need some help on getting this stuff together..most of information on tender is straight forward however the health & safety section is were I need help.has anyone any experience with such tenders

Primary H&S Management Obligations and Documentation required ( tick Y or N)

• Independently audited H&S Management System - Can I do this my self?
• 
  
• Written H&S Policy and Statement - Can I do this my self? ( is this needed if i only employee one person part time?)
• 
  
• Organisational Structure
• Employ services of external Safety Consultant
• Employ a Health & Safety Manager / Adviser
• Named Senior Director responsible for H&S
• 10m EL & 5m PL Liability Insurances

Any help on these points will be much appreciated

I've been running a window cleaning business for 9 years.

From my experience I would stay away from council (and similar) tenders.

All they will do is opt for the cheapest.

Andy

 

[dmckellar]

council work (we have info from inside when we tendered for window cleaning etc) is that "usually" they know who is winning the tender and if not, it is based on price.

don't waste a lot of time, time you could be doing door knocking and getting a regular run together. We have completed some cleaning work for a council and they are hard work to get payment out of.

 

[StripedSparrow]

In my limited experience of working with public sector clients, I would think carefully about the amount of time you're going to have to put into the relationship, if not the bid, and what the costs of that might be.

Sometimes it's luck of the draw as to how organised or business-like your client is, but be prepared for those who (it feels like) justify their existence by pushing forms and emails around for you to deal with.

I normally charge a set fee for my occasional freelance work and it serves me well. But I will treat my public sector client differently in future by charging a per hour rate, as I've found the administrative side of things to be an enormous time-suck relative to the work done.

 

[Deleted member 237683]

Normally they want you turning over a certain amount each year. Sometimes £100 grand plus.

 

[Nuno]

Like many politicians the people who write the specs needed for tendering have never had a proper job, (proper = not on the public teat), and so have a tendency to cover their arses for anything and everything.
It used to be that you could wack an extra 15% on to cover their burgering around but now it's all done by lowest price or handshake.
Avoid, (as several wise people above have advised.)

 

[DerryJohn]

I honestly don't believe I would get the tender but its worth a shot. last year it was given to a company who operate out of a different city 1 1/2 hours away so even the well established window cleaning company's here are being undercut. The amount of work they need covered is massive though, so I think its worth it, actually wouldn't be a bad thing if i had the above H&S obligations in place anyway, in case of any future tender opportunity's

 

[Office Cleaning]

We don’t do any tender work for some of the reasons stated above. They are incredibly time consuming for not much gain, but as you say having the h&s bits in place is a good idea.

Regarding your original questions:

• Independently audited H&S Management System - Can I do this my self? No it needs to be done by an independent company.
• Written H&S Policy and Statement - Can I do this my self? ( is this needed if i only employee one person part time?) Yes - this should be easy to find something online that you should be able to amend to work for you.
• Organisational Structure - Yes same as above
• Employ services of external Safety Consultant - Unless you have an external safety consultant then the answer is going to be no
• Employ a Health & Safety Manager / Adviser - I suspect this could be done by yourself but maybe a no if it has to be independent
• Named Senior Director responsible for H&S - You should be able to name yourself
• 10m EL & 5m PL Liability Insurances - You will need these or need to get your current insurance increased to meet the amounts - they will expect copies.

 

[Simply Business]

Hi DerryJohn,

Some really helpful replies here, so I won't bore you by going over most of it!

Just to clarify on the insurance point, £10m EL and £5m PL are pretty standard cover levels, so unless you're planning on cleaning windows in any particularly high risk locations, you shouldn't have any problem at all finding an insurer.

And just to avoid a point of possible confusion, if they ask for proof of cover, whilst you will receive an employers' liability certificate, your schedule should be okay in terms of proving public liability.

Hope that helps and good luck with the tender