Articles / Running a crew that bids
Stacking seasonal contracts into year-round work
How BC trades pair summer and winter public contracts, like grounds and snow, to keep crews and equipment busy all year, and what to watch when they overlap.
In short
Many BC crews combine seasonal public contracts so their people and equipment work all year: grounds maintenance or irrigation in spring to fall, snow and ice control in winter, with school summer projects and fall clean-ups in between. The key is matching tender timing, since each season's work is tendered months ahead, and checking that contract dates and response times don't collide.
The hardest part of a seasonal trade isn't the busy season. It's keeping good people through the slow one. Lay off your best crew in November and they may not come back in April. Public contracts, because they're tendered on predictable calendars and often run for several years, are one of the best ways to fill the gaps.
Common seasonal pairings in BC
- Grounds maintenance and snow and ice control. The classic. Same buyers (municipalities, school districts, housing providers), same sites, often the same trucks with different attachments.
- Irrigation and snow. Irrigation start-ups in spring, repairs through summer, shut-downs in fall, then winter work.
- Pressure washing and gutter cleaning. Spring and summer washing, fall gutters, with snow or interior work in winter.
- School summer projects. Painting, flooring and other interior trades can fill July and August with school district work while schools are empty. See how school districts buy.
Line up the tender calendar
Seasonal work is tendered ahead of its season:
- Snow contracts are usually tendered in late summer and fall, so they're signed before the first snowfall.
- Grounds contracts are usually tendered in late winter and spring, after municipal budgets pass.
- School summer work is usually tendered in spring.
So the time to bid on next winter is while you're mowing, and the time to bid on next summer is while you're plowing. Why BC tenders bunch up covers the calendar. CrewBid alerts keep running all year, so the off-season tenders don't slip by.
Watch for overlaps
Stacking contracts works until two of them need the same crew on the same morning.
- Shoulder seasons: an early snowfall in October or a late one in April can land while grounds work is still on. Check the start and end dates in each contract, and whether snow service levels apply from a fixed date or from the first event.
- Response times: a snow contract that requires you on site within two hours of a call can't be served by a crew two hours away finishing a fall clean-up.
- Equipment: if one truck carries both the mower trailer and the plow, a busy week in one season starves the other.
- Same buyer, different contracts: some buyers like a contractor who does both; others evaluate them separately. Don't assume one helps the other.
Price each contract on its own
It's tempting to price winter work low because the crew is "free" anyway. Don't. Each contract should cover its own costs, including its share of equipment, insurance and overhead. The benefit of stacking is that you keep good people and get more use from equipment, not that one contract subsidizes the other. Multi-year terms make that especially important: see how to price a multi-year contract.
Make it part of your bid
On both contracts, say how your other work supports this one: a year-round crew that knows the sites, equipment already based nearby, supervisors who've worked the same properties in both seasons. Buyers worry most about contractors who don't deliver, and a stable, year-round crew is an answer to that.
Where to start
Read how to win snow removal contracts and how to win grounds maintenance contracts, then set CrewBid alerts for both trades in your area.
Sources
Rules and forms change. Check the official page before you rely on a detail here.