[cleanlines2000]

i have recently decided to start a painting bussiness. im having a hard time figureing out a system for bidding. any help would be appreciated Any other tips that would help me be sucessful such as marketing tips, or sales tips would also be appreciated thanks.

 

[Housepainter]

take some time to look through the post on marketing and business and also the general paint discussions. Many great ideas are posted there.
A good resource published by Andy Thompson is:

http://www.startapaintingbusiness.com/

His materials cover bidding, marketing and overall painting business start-up

 

[Rob in Toronto]

If you have no experience hire an experienced estimator who works on commission (mine gets 10%) and knows how to sell a job with value. You can be the followup to see what further questions or concerns the customer has before hiring you.

 

[bikerboy]

Experiance is the best teacher. Search the site like Housepainter recommends and go to your local Ben Moore store and get this.

http://www.benjaminmoore.com/bmpsweb/portals/bmps.portal?_nfpb=true&_windowLabel=contentrenderer_1_9&contentrenderer_1_9_actionOverride=%2Fbm%2Fcms%2FContentRenderer%2FrenderContent&contentrenderer_1_9currentNodeUUID=%2FBEA+Repository%2F48087&contentrenderer_1_9NodeUUID=%2FBEA+Repository%2F156003&_pageLabel=fc_businessresources

It's a free estimator program based on excel spreadsheets. (need excel on your computer) Helps you to figure your true business costs so you can write an accurate estimate. You still need to know your production times and it is not a cure all, but it is a good start.