$ opinion needed

[Yellow06GT]

Are you paying for the gas and then getting reimbursed? If so, you will be very surprised how much the gas bill will be for a 2 week event.

How will tips be handled? I was at an event a few years ago where the handlers would not accept a tip. It was nice because it seperated them from just being an average valet service.

Make sure every person who works for you has a name tag. If there is an issue you don't want to be guessing who the complaint is against.

Will you be responsible for umbrella service or do they provide that?

Is it expected that you will take care of excessive detailing like paint transfer or a coffee spill on the carpet/seats caused by event attendees?

You put down 8 hours a day, my guess is that the days will be much longer than 8 hours. The event that I was at the days started around 8:00 and ended when we brought the keys back. If the car came back after 10:00 we gave the keys to the front desk.

[VroomVroom]

Wow. Lots of great advice above. I'll just toss in some of my thoughts, for whatever value they might have.

Subcontract. See if there's a way you can perhaps broker the whole thing and take a small cut, or if you are going all-in... Contract with your helpers. 1099's are a heck of a lot easier than hiring direct hourly employees for a short-term project.

Ask for a retainer up-front. This is obviously a big shindig, with an associated big budget. You should not be asked to bear any costs in advance, beyond perhaps some of your direct services...which would essentially be a performance guarantee for the customer.

Are you bidding against other vendors for this? If so, do you know who they are? This might be an opportunity where you could share the burden and both reap the rewards.

Honestly, and not to be a downer, but while this certainly has potential for a nice profit and a healthy spot on the resume, it could also spell disaster, or at the least, significant inconvenience (and loss of a few existing customers). Along with opportunity cost, factor in your risk as you consider if and how to pursue this. There is nothing wrong with bowing out if this is well out of your comfort zone and the scope of your business model. This sounds like something best performed by either a valet company, or a parking garage company, perhaps with you acting as one of the subcontractors for detail services.

Good luck...

[jrs1418]

If you hire the employeees as contractors, you might need them to require a GE license or self employment papers of som sort. This costs money, and will also require them to carry their own insurance (more than likely). I'm sure this is all state based, so you'll need to do some research. Personally, I'd hire a few guys (background checks of course) and pay by the hour.

As someone else stated, i'd also check on your insurance. If you have a lower priced plan, i'd bump it up.. when you're doing a valet type of thing, the insurance coverage needed might be much higher than you're already paying.

If this all seems more than you can handle it probably is, and I'd opt to walk away.

good luck!

[dcgocd]

First thing ,


Ask how many Detailers are bidding on this

If more than 3 ,you might decide to sit it out anyway,rather than mess up your good customers,unless you want to do it on the cheap.

Try to get as many details as possible before you submit your bid,give them a list of questions on anything you have doubts about,better to find out any bad news before the bid than after.

I bid on 5 to 10 jobs a day.

Good Luck

[Yellow06GT]

I agree with VroomVroom in regards to the valet.

Every year our company has a summer picnic. We have one company that comes in and does the set-up and grilling and another company that comes an hour or two later for ice cream. Just because a guy is a grillmaster doesn't mean he can make great ice cream. Does it cost more? Slightly. Do we get a better product? Definitely.

You can explain to the organizers that you can offer both but what you would prefer to do is have another company take care of the valet end of it and for you to take care of the detailing.

How hard did you have to work to get the customers you are afraid to let down? How hard would you have to work to get them back or replace them if you let them down? As you know, people with money talk to people with money, both good and bad.