Landscape and Horticulture Association - Landscape Juice Network
Open association for the landscape and garden for industry
public sector in London and home counties
Does anyone have advice on how to access domestic design and or maintenance projects for councils and or aged/disabled charities.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by dgeorgea on -
Hi Robert,
Sorry I don't have the time at the moment to answer you, as I'm only here while waiting for my dinner. I did a blog which looked a little at public tenders and what clients may be looking for. The second half of the blog is probably more appropriate.
I will try and make time later to answer you more fully, but if there are any particular questions you have I will be more than happy to try and answer them for you.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Stoutzker on -
dgeorgea said:Hi Robert,
Sorry I don't have the time at the moment to answer you, as I'm only here while waiting for my dinner. I did a blog which looked a little at public tenders and what clients may be looking for. The second half of the blog is probably more appropriate.
I will try and make time later to answer you more fully, but if there are any particular questions you have I will be more than happy to try and answer them for you.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Stoutzker on
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Hi George
Thanks for your response. Perhaps when you have a moment we could have a chat on the phone.
ROBERT
dgeorgea said:Hi Robert,
Sorry I don't have the time at the moment to answer you, as I'm only here while waiting for my dinner. I did a blog which looked a little at public tenders and what clients may be looking for. The second half of the blog is probably more appropriate.
I will try and make time later to answer you more fully, but if there are any particular questions you have I will be more than happy to try and answer them for you.
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Permalink Reply by Ofer El on -
that can be very interesting. I tried to market some great sculptures for all ages for parks playground and any open space. they are great but I did not managed to build the right contacts.
I am sure it can do great in here and there is lots of need for that but the system seemed a bit complicated for me.
If any one got any contact with councils budget you can see many of these products at
www.best4garden.co.uk
Robert Stoutzker said:Hi George
Thanks for your response. Perhaps when you have a moment we could have a chat on the phone.
ROBERT
dgeorgea said:Hi Robert,
Sorry I don't have the time at the moment to answer you, as I'm only here while waiting for my dinner. I did a blog which looked a little at public tenders and what clients may be looking for. The second half of the blog is probably more appropriate.
I will try and make time later to answer you more fully, but if there are any particular questions you have I will be more than happy to try and answer them for you.
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Permalink Reply by dgeorgea on
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Hi Ofer,
Erm... how about speaking up once in a while??? I've mentioned in several posts that we have a project for community garden, and your sitting on these and not saying anything?
Seriously can you email me about these? especially prices my email is georgearkless@googlemail.com even if the price is currently out of our range I think I can all but promise that I will create some interest. I would love to have two or three in our community garden, or dotted around the estate. Southwark is doing some major regeneration work and I can pass these straight to the excutive member of resources. I will also be passing your website along to contacts I have in schools, and they include schools throughout the UK.
These are just great, and having looked around very little has got me excited as this. Do you mind if I grab the photo to share with some people?
Seriously these are just awesome and I find it hard to believe that they are not selling themselves.
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Permalink Reply by dgeorgea on
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Hi Robert,
I am very busy the next couple of days, hopefully will have time to chat to you Thursday afternoon, or more likely Friday if that is okay.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Stoutzker on
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HIY HELLO
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Permalink Reply by dgeorgea on
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Hi Ofer,
Just to let you know I've shared some of this information, and your site with some contacts that I think may be interested. Including the southwark team who are managing our project work, the consultant they use, Apollo (this could be a really useful lead if they like them) and some school contacts. I have had some possitive feed back from the school contacts, but really don't know how likely these will result in sales as it will depend how recently they have upgraded their play areas, or are considering doing so.
I hope it helps.
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Permalink Reply by Paul on -
Hi Robert
You are now going to be entering a completely different market when tendering for work with the public sector, councils etc.
My first start was to register with www.supply2.gov.uk, you have to pay but you get emails everyday on the tenders availabel in the areas you choose and the fields in which you want to tender.
I don't know where you live but the site is hosting 1 day seminars on how to complete PQQ's (pre qualifing questionaires) and tenders and I am going on April in Southamton.
I wish you all the best and if you want to share info and advice along the way please let me know as I just started trying all of this about three months ago.
Best wishes
Paul
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Permalink Reply by dgeorgea on
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Hi Robert,
As I have a little time while I'm relaxing before tomorrow I'll try and give some pointers.
One thing councils want to know is whether your company can cope with the size of the contract. If your have a small team and the contract will require a large compliment of staff this would act as a warning. Similarly if your staff are largely self employed.
Another issue is if the contract would involve the transfer of a large number of staff under TUPE. Your company would be assessed for its ability to provide human resource provision.
Both of these are particularly relevant for small firms who may be over extending themselves. If this is relevant for your company then you need to address these. This means having a solid and well thought out business plan. Even then this might not be enough.
Check out the criteria. I have been informed by some one high up in the corporate fraud team that a common mistake is to ignore criteria that does not seem relevant, or not given enough thought. Most councils have priorities that look to meet through partners, often it is through the 'meaningless' criteria they look to see if you can help them to meet these priorities. If there are terms you don't understand, or not sure how to meet I am more than happy to offer ideas.
Often it is what extra value you can offer. If it is a largish contract offering to employ local people, take on an apprentice, or work with a local organisation to employ someone who has been unemployed for a long time are all points that would work in your favour. Even if it is an office position rather than working on the ground.
Design, offering to work with locals if appropriate would be another.
Charities again a lot will really depend on who they are working with. Whenever working with vulnerable people, directly or indirectly, you need to consider wether it would be appropriate to have staff with crb checks. Depending on the location it may be offering to do gardening workshops, or even being prepared to have clients to work alongside you could be considered an advantage - but do your research and find out if this is something they would welcome first. Also consider the disabilities they cater for. Someone working with blind people would be more likely to be interested in odour and texture, those working with autistic people may be interested in a wider sensory garden, or even somewhere clients can relax. Don't be afraid to ask questions, or make suggestions and gauge their response.
On both you will need a well thought out tender. Councils in particular will be wary of quotes where it is obvious you have tried to undercut others. They will have a good idea on how much the contract is worth.
Finally don't be afraid to go back and ask why your tender failed. Openess and accountability is becoming more important and expected. Especially with councils they should be able to give you the reasons why your bid failed. After all you have have invested time, and therefor money in the bid, plus you need this information if you are to improve your bids or business to get these contracts.
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Permalink Reply by Pro Gard on -
George, a very informative and interesting post. It is fantastic from a contractors point of you to get an insight into 'the otherside'.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Stoutzker on
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Hi George
This is very useful. I am actually self employed but bring on subcontractors as required depending on the job size. I did this on 5 of my jobs last year ranging from 3k to 17k. It seems that in the current economic environment exploring new market opportunities is going to be essential. I plan to continue using subcontractors for the foreseeable future as it minimises by risks. -- Any subcontractors on the network who might be interested to join forces and jointly try an win some larger domestic projects (council, charity or other) let me know. In such a situation my key skills for the pot would be design, soft landscaping and project management.
dgeorgea said:Hi Robert,
As I have a little time while I'm relaxing before tomorrow I'll try and give some pointers.
One thing councils want to know is whether your company can cope with the size of the contract. If your have a small team and the contract will require a large compliment of staff this would act as a warning. Similarly if your staff are largely self employed.
Another issue is if the contract would involve the transfer of a large number of staff under TUPE. Your company would be assessed for its ability to provide human resource provision.
Both of these are particularly relevant for small firms who may be over extending themselves. If this is relevant for your company then you need to address these. This means having a solid and well thought out business plan. Even then this might not be enough.
Check out the criteria. I have been informed by some one high up in the corporate fraud team that a common mistake is to ignore criteria that does not seem relevant, or not given enough thought. Most councils have priorities that look to meet through partners, often it is through the 'meaningless' criteria they look to see if you can help them to meet these priorities. If there are terms you don't understand, or not sure how to meet I am more than happy to offer ideas.
Often it is what extra value you can offer. If it is a largish contract offering to employ local people, take on an apprentice, or work with a local organisation to employ someone who has been unemployed for a long time are all points that would work in your favour. Even if it is an office position rather than working on the ground.
Design, offering to work with locals if appropriate would be another.
Charities again a lot will really depend on who they are working with. Whenever working with vulnerable people, directly or indirectly, you need to consider wether it would be appropriate to have staff with crb checks. Depending on the location it may be offering to do gardening workshops, or even being prepared to have clients to work alongside you could be considered an advantage - but do your research and find out if this is something they would welcome first. Also consider the disabilities they cater for. Someone working with blind people would be more likely to be interested in odour and texture, those working with autistic people may be interested in a wider sensory garden, or even somewhere clients can relax. Don't be afraid to ask questions, or make suggestions and gauge their response.
On both you will need a well thought out tender. Councils in particular will be wary of quotes where it is obvious you have tried to undercut others. They will have a good idea on how much the contract is worth.
Finally don't be afraid to go back and ask why your tender failed. Openess and accountability is becoming more important and expected. Especially with councils they should be able to give you the reasons why your bid failed. After all you have have invested time, and therefor money in the bid, plus you need this information if you are to improve your bids or business to get these contracts.
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