You submit your bid. The facility manager comes back: another contractor came in well below you. This happens constantly in commercial work, and most owners handle it in one of two losing ways — they cut the price, or they get defensive about the other company.
There is a third way, and it works more often than cutting does.
Do not attack the competitor
The moment you criticise the cheaper contractor, you sound worried. Worse, the facility manager has to defend a choice they have not made yet, and people defend choices by committing to them.
Say nothing about them at all. Talk about what your bid includes, specifically enough that the difference becomes obvious without you naming anyone.
Compare the hours, not the price
Labor is most of the cost in janitorial work, so a much lower bid usually means fewer hours, lower pay, missing coverage — or all three. Give the facility manager a way to see that for themselves:
"That may well be the right choice. Before you decide, it's worth asking each bidder how many labor hours per night their price is based on, and whether they carry workers' comp and a janitorial bond. Our bid is built on a set number of hours a night with a supervisor inspecting weekly, and I'm happy to show you the breakdown."
You have not said a word against anyone. You have handed them questions you already know how to answer.
Then make yours checkable
This is where accreditation does its work. Anyone can write "fully insured and bonded" in a proposal. Very few can point at a dated, independent record:
"Here's our verification page — our insurance, bond, workers' comp and background checks were reviewed by an accreditation council, with the date on each. It takes a few seconds to look at."
Send it while the conversation is live. Many lower-priced bidders have nothing equivalent to send, and the facility manager discovers that on their own — which is far more persuasive than being told.
Price the risk, not just the square footage
A cheaper bid can be cheaper because of risks that land on the building, not the contractor: an injured worker with no workers' comp, no bond behind the people holding the keys, a crew too small to finish the scope. Most facility managers know this in principle; few have been shown it in a bid.
Say it plainly and without drama:
"Part of what our price covers is that if one of our people is hurt in your building, or something goes missing, there's coverage in place that responds — and you can check it."
Let some of them go
Some buyers are choosing on price alone. Chasing them costs you margin, and they leave the moment someone bids lower. Be gracious, leave the door open, and move on:
"Completely understand. If anything changes, we'd be glad to walk the building again."
A fair number come back, often after a few months of missed tasks or crew turnover, and when they do they tend to come back at your price.
Fix the proposal itself
Much of this conversation can be avoided upstream. If your bid is one monthly number, you are inviting a comparison on the only variable you supplied.
Put the substance in: the task-and-frequency schedule, labor hours per night, supervision and inspection routine, what is excluded, your coverage, and a link to your verification page. Now the facility manager is comparing a specification against a number — and the lower bid has to explain itself.
If you do move on price, change the scope
Never drop the price for nothing; it tells the client your first number was invented. Change the deal instead: reduce the frequency of some tasks, move periodic work to a separate schedule, have the client supply consumables, or trade a lower rate for a longer term.
That is not a discount. That is a different scope at a fair price, and it protects the number you bid everyone else.