The after-hours clause is the one I keep rewriting on this 55-plus bid

RFP came in for two age-restricted communities under the same ownership, 240 units combined, about nine acres between them. Current vendor is at $11,400 a month and the owner says they're leaving over responsiveness.

Scope is standard grounds plus three things I haven't priced before. A dog park with artificial turf that needs sanitizing on a schedule. Two miles of walking trail with lighting, which means bulb replacement and trip-hazard inspection, and I suspect that inspection log becomes evidence in any slip-and-fall claim. And a four-hour response on after-hours work orders, seven days.

My cost side: I'd run this with three techs and a part-time supervisor, call it $27K a month loaded once I add vehicles and materials. So $11,400 doesn't touch it, which tells me the outgoing vendor was covering grounds only and the owner has bundled interior maintenance into the same RFP without repricing it.

The four-hour clause is the whole problem. My team is five people. Standing up a real on-call rotation for two properties means either paying someone to be available every night or getting caught out the first time somebody's water heater goes at 11pm. I've priced the rotation at $3,800 a month, which pushes my bid to a number I'm fairly sure loses.

Option is to bid the rotation honestly and lose, bid without it and hope they negotiate the clause, or bid an eight-hour after-hours response and explain why. This resident population actually calls at 11pm, which is the part the owner is right about and probably underpricing.