how to land commercial jobs?

How much of you business is commercial, what type of companies are they and how did you get them? I figure if we could get in with a few contractors or builders they would bring repeat business, but how do you get in. Some contractors I have spoken to done use tinters, so am I going about this the wrong way?

My recommendation is to talk to commercial builders. Most residential guys won't tint because it voids the warranty on the windows. Commercial guys will use you when the plans call for it. You can usually charge more for specialty films like frost and blackout. Hope this helps. Check with the glass companies too.

none, would like to find some though

Glass companies are a great idea, thanks! Have you ever worked with architectural firms?

Don't get exited about commercial. Lower rates do pay the bills so you can make more profit on residential.

I better stick with cars I prbably only get about 1 out of every 10 I bid on

I make more money on commercial, I have no problems tinting new homes with window warranties, thats what the warranty is for from the film company,,,,glass companies are good, so are property management, blue book, construction, the list goes on,,,,,,you need to start somewhere

They are OK..but they can be pretty @nal" know it alls" with thier University degrees...they think they can tell you more about your job than you know be careful with them..

Don't confuse high retail residential work with real commercial jobs. One criteria is larger square footages, like 3000-5000 square feet on the smallest. Another, the chain your money has to go through to get to you. More links in that chain mean more people taking 10 percent and less for you. Is the end user paying you directly? Then it is probably not a commercial or subcontract situation.

I think your best approach is to contact interior designers and decorators. If your film manufacturer is an A.S.I.D. partner, its a good door opener.I agree that residential is the money maker and 10 or 20 homes in my opinion is better that 1 commercial job. Commercial jobs are difficult and very often time consuming. I spoke with a friend in the industry a few days ago and he landed a 450,000 sq ft job. It took months of planning and negoiation with involvement from his film manufacturer and will take months of work to complete. This is rare to happen and probably will not happen again for him. Remember, the time it takes with a commercial client far outways the time spent with a homeowner and is alot easier to complete. (Commecial-Residential) those two words are why they are. As for my friend, he will be strained to install such a large job that in the end, with all the headaches associated with it, will be just. Seperate the two. Your thoughts?

chances are you are bidding too high. I found out recently there is a commercial company bidding jobs with brand V and bidding 1-1.50 a sq ft below me. Not that I care. Most of the time I am not trying to take them without getting paid properly

Landing commercial jobs is not as easy as residential. Commercial tends to go as cheap as possible. Largest jobs I we have installed the past few years is two 16,000 square foot jobs. Each took weeks to complete, and months to close. Average commercial install is 300 square feet for us.

Yeah I lost a commercial job to a Co that did it for $1.75 a sq ...they can have it!

TTC

My time is worth much more then that. It is usually pretty easy work, so those guys can work for their 7 bucks an hour and land those jobs. I'll stick to the 7 vehicles I did today

I have someone close to my town that will undercut me by $1.50 s.f.
I just tell the potential customer that I have many satisfied referrals if they would like to check me out & I don't budge from my price. You win some & lose some but I get most of them

RIGHT ON if there is some serious square footage I'll sharpen the pencil some but not too much