Top Cut MowersPage 1 of 10

3576 Greenville Avenue, Augusta, Oregon 54663

Phone: (903)-453-5767 Fax: (903)-456-7869

April 23, 2014Randy Jackson, MayorTown of Augusta456 Brookshire Ave.Augusta, Oregon, 54663

Dear Mr. Jackson,

Top Cut Mowers appreciates the opportunity to respond to the Town of Augusta’s request for the proposal dated April 14th, 2014. In preparation for our proposal, our company has done extensive planning and research around the areas of the Route 24 median, Willoughby Park, and Augusta Memorial Golf Course. We would love the opportunity to get to engage in a contract that allows us to mow these locations for the city.

Our Proposal will explain how Top Cut Mowers will mow the 5 miles along Route 24 median and sidings, 10 acres in Willoughby Park, and 23 acres at Augusta Memorial Golf Course. The proposal will contain a detailed plan and schedule for each worksite, an overall budget of the project, the experience and qualifications of our firm, safety procedures our company uses, and an overview of our employees and equipment. Our company estimates the project would require a total of 324 labor hours, in which we would charge $60 an hour. This would make the total project cost $19,440.

We greatly appreciate the opportunity to present this proposal. Top Cut Mowers is extremely confident that we can provide the exact landscaping service that you desire. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Preston Badgett PresidentTop Cut Mowerspreston.badgett@topcutmowers.com

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Mowing ProposalTown Of Augusta, Oregon

Submitted By: Top Cut Mowing

April 23, 2014

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Executive Summary:

Since our founding, 25 years ago, Top Cut Mowers has excelled at mowing all kinds of different landscapes. These landscapes include golf courses, parks, and highways. Our company has worked extremely hard since from the beginning and has earned the reputation of being one of the best landscaping companies in the state of Oregon. Top Cut Mowers is well known for our safety, quality of work, and exceptional staff. All of these attributes have led us to be known as central Oregon’s best landscaping company for the past five consecutive years.

We have developed a mowing plan that will ensure that the properties requested receive top quality landscaping work. These properties include 5 miles along the Route 24 median, 10 acres in Willoughby Park, and 23 acres at Augusta Memorial Golf Course. We will be mowing these properties on a weekly basis during the time period of May 30th, 2014 through September 30th, 2014.

We will use various types of mowing equipment for the different properties. For all locations we will be using the John Deere F500, which excels at cutting several types of grass. We also use Grainger Trimmers and Grainger Hand Mowers for smaller areas. Top Cut Mowers also has equipment that specializes in golf courses. We use the John Deere F43 which specializes in cutting golf course greens.

Each of these properties will be mowed on a weekly basis and on a different days each week. The golf course will be mowed on Mondays from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm. We will mow two holes at a time throughout the day, so that we the rest of the golf course will be playable to customers. The 5 miles along Route 24 will be mowed on Wednesdays from 7:00 am to 10:00 am. Willoughby Park be mowed on Thursdays from 7:00 am to 1:00pm.

The total cost of the project is estimated to be $19,440. You will be mailed the bill every Monday, following the first week, for an amount of $1,080 over the course of 18 weeks. Each payment must be received within five days of the billing date. Payments can be made by checks only.

Top Cut Mowers strives for a safe work environment at all times. We have top of the line equipment and highly qualified employees. We have strict safety guidelines and procedures that our employees must abide by at all times. Our company is constantly taking precautions to keep our employees, customers, and the general public safe. Our company and equipment are insured by UniLife Insurance in case an accident occurs.

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Our Equipment:

The John Deere F500 will be used for cutting the grass at all three locations. We currently have three mowers of this model. This model is a great mower because it has switchable blades for each type of grass. This is important because the golf course will need a unique blade for the roughs, fairways, and green areas. The F500 usually lasts 12 years; we purchased these mowers last year so they are still in fabulous condition. These mowers are extremely reliable and safe, we have not had one these mowers breakdown on us yet. They are also extremely gas efficient, and have the ability to maneuver around trees and other obstacles easily.

Figure 1-Top Cut Mowers Landscaping Manager Eric Jones using the John Deere F500 mower to mow a park in Winston Oregon. The mower has cover guards at the bottom to prevent any debris from flying out and hitting employees or passer

buyers.

The F500 will be used for mowing the grass along Route 24 and the open parts of Willoughby Park. The F500 will also be used at the Augusta Memorial Golf Course. We will use different blade heights for the roughs, the second cuts, and the fairways. This will ensure that each section is cut and maintained at the proper length. For the green areas, we will use the John Deere F43. This piece of equipment specializes in cutting golf course greens and leaves them looking great.

We will also use Grainger trimmers and hand mowers. These were purchased last year and are in great condition. The trimmers are used to trim up edges. The hand mowers are used to mow areas the F500 cannot reach. This ensures that we will be able to mow every area of the grass needed. These pieces of equipment will be used at all 3 locations.

Another piece of equipment we use is John Deere leaf blowers. The leaf blowers will be used to blow off any leafs or excess debris at all three locations. This will guarantee that the freshly mowed locations will look as nice as possible.

All of our equipment is in great condition. They are all under warranty and covered by our insurance. We are confident no problems will arise with our equipment under this contract.

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Schedule:

This section of the proposal describes a detailed schedule for each week of the proposal. Each location will be mowed on different days of the week. The 23 acres at Augusta Memorial Golf Course will be mowed every Monday from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm. The 5 miles along Route 24 will be mowed on Wednesdays from 7:00 am to 10:00 am. The 10 acres at Willoughby Park be mowed on Thursdays from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm. We realize that unforeseen events such as weather can cause conflicts with these times. If a conflict does arise, we will push the landscaping of each property back a day. This would mean the golf course would be mowed on Tuesday, Route 24 would be mowed on Thursday, and Willoughby Park would be mowed on Friday. If a conflict arises and the Town of Augusta would not like these areas mowed on these days, we can easily schedule an alternate date for these properties to be mowed.

The following table shows the date that each property will be mowed. The order is the golf course first, then Route 24, then Willoughby Park. The order will remain the same each week.

Week Dates 1 May 30, June 1, June 22 June 6, June 8, June 6,3 June 10, June 12, June 134 June 17, June 19, Junes 205 June 24, June 26, June 276 July 1, July 3, July 47 July 8, July 10, July 118 July 15, July 17, July 189 July 22, July 24, July 2510 July 29, July 31, August 111 August 5, August 7, August 812 August 12, August 14, August 1513 August 19, August 21, August 2214 August 26, August 28, August 2915 September 2, September 4, September 516 September 9, September 11, September 1217 September 16, September 18, September 1918 September 23, September 25, September 26.

The following Monday would be September 30th which is the end of the contract. If any changes need to be made to our schedule you will be notified immediately. If you would like to make any changes to the schedule we are happy to hear from you.

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Cost Analysis:

This section of the proposal will explain in detail the budget for this project. Top Cut Mowers works extremely hard to develop an accurate and fair budget. Our company is well known for having accurate budgets. For example, our last project was mowing a park in Winston Oregon. We bid the contract price at $15,230; the total cost of the project ended up being $15,130. With the efficiency our company is able to provide, we were able to do the project under budget. Sometimes budget variances can occur due to fluctuations in gas prices. We work very hard to account for changes in gas prices and we have never had a budget be off by more than $150.

If our bid cost does end up being different than the cost estimated we will accommodate you for this. If the actual price is under budget you will pay that price. If the actual price is over budget we will make up the difference.

The following table will break down the number of labor hours each week estimated for each job.

Location Hours per weekRoute 24 3 HoursWilloughby Park 6 HoursAugusta Memorial Golf Course 9 Hours

This will be approximately 18 hours of labor each week. The total number of labor hours can be estimated by multiplying 18 hours per week by 18 weeks. This leads to 324 labor hours estimated for the entire project.

Top Cut Mowers charges $60 an hour for landscaping. The following table will break down the costs for each week of the project.

Location Hours Cost Per Hour CostRoute 24 3 $60 $180Willoughby Park 6 $60 $360Augusta Memorial Golf Course

9 $60 $540

Total 18 $1080

The table shows how we arrive at the cost $1,080 per week. The total project length is 18 weeks, which leads to the entire project costing $19,440.

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Safety:

Safety is the number one priority of Top Cut Mowers. We strive to ensure the safety of our employees, customers, and the general public. Many aspects of our company are built around safety. Our company also has many safety procedures that our employees must abide by. In fact, we have never had an employee, customer, or another person injured on any of our jobs.

Some of our safety procedures are listed below:

Proper uniform must be worn at all times by employees. This includes safety goggles, closed-toed shoes, work pants that cover the entire leg, earplugs, a shirt, and a bright yellow safety vest.

The area being landscaped must be checked for potential danger before beginning the job. This includes looking for holes, moving rocks, and removing other hazardous objects.

Ear plugs must be removed when not working with equipment. This is so that employees can hear each other if something should go wrong.

Equipment that is not being used must be turned off and secured away in the company truck at all times.

Equipment that is not owned by the company may never be used. Employees are not allowed to listen to music at any time while working. Before operating equipment, employees must make sure no one else is standing close to

them.

The schedule we made for you is built around safety. After reviewing your Request for Proposal we sent a safety team out to each jobsite to find out the safest time to mow each area. This is how we decided on which day to mow each location.

For the golf course, we chose Monday because it was the least busy day. There would be less people around and it would be more convenient for the golf course on Mondays. Our safety team also noticed that Willoughby Park was the least crowded on Wednesdays from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm. Out of safety to the general public, we decided to mow the park at this time because there would be fewer people in the park. We also noticed that on Thursday from 7:00 am to 10:00 am Route 24 received the least amount of traffic than any other day of the week. This led us to decide to mow this area at time because it will keep the drivers on the road and our employees safe.

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Our Employees:

Top Cut Mowers strives to employ the best individuals possible. Our company has a very strict criteria when looking for people to hire. We look for hard working, responsible, respectful, and intelligent people when hiring.

All of our potential employees must go through an extensive background check before becoming an employee of our company. Before being hired by Top Cut Mowers, potential employees must pass a drug test in order to gain employment. If a person is employed by Top Cut Mowers they must consent to random drug testing. We take this rule very seriously since employees will be operating dangerous equipment. All of our employees are United States citizens or have a valid green card visa.

Before any of our workers begin landscaping they must take part in a 3 week training program. This program teaches them how to operate every piece of equipment efficiently and safely. In addition to training, our field managers have constant field evaluations. If an employee is not performing well they will have to take part in further training. After additional training, they will be shadowed until their work is approved by our field managers. If their work does not improve they will be let go by our company.

Our employees must always be in the proper uniform. We make sure that our employees look professional at all times.

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Experience and Qualifications:

Top Cut Mowers has been in service for the last 25 years. We have provided great service to all of our clients and have earned the reputation as being one of the best landscaping companies in the state of Oregon. Our hard work has earned us many awards such as central Oregon’s best landscaping company for the last five years.

We have engaged in mowing all different types of properties including parks, golf courses, and highway areas. Our company also has experience in mowing many various sized properties from extremely large to small properties. We have provided service for properties like the park in Winston Oregon, the park in Trenton Oregon, Richview Golf Course, many different school yards, and numerous highways.

Figure-2 shows one of the greens we mowed while mowing the entire Richview Golf Course.

The picture above shows the quality of work that our company provides. We used the John Deere F43 to mow this green. Our company does not only strive to mow locations properly, but we strive to leave the properties in the most pristine conditions. The owners of the Richview Golf Couse were so pleased with the quality of our work that we are now developing a contract to mow this golf course for the next 5 years.

Our company is licensed to run our landscaping business in the State of Oregon. We get our equipment inspected quarterly to make sure everything is safe and running properly. Oregon’s business bureau has given our company a grade A rating.

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Closing:

Top Cut Mowers would like to thank you again for taking the time to look over our proposal. Our company is confident we can deliverer the exact type of landscaping service that you are looking for. We will make sure that we have all three locations maintained in excellent shape throughout the entire project.

We have worked very hard to develop a schedule and budget that works well for the town of Augusta. The schedule is built so that each location is mowed at the safest time possible for our employees, customers, and the general public. We only charge $60 an hour which is an exceptional price considering we are an elite landscaping company. Companies similar to us usually charge around $70 an hour. The total $19,440 cost for the project is an excellent price for the quality of service you will receive.

If you choose Top Cut mowers to mow these three properties, you can be assured they will be mowed by an extremely qualified company and staff. Our company has employees that consistently work hard and do a good job. They follow all safety procedures and make sure they are putting no one in danger at all times. We have also been extremely successful with similar projects in the past. Our clients have been extremely happy with the work we have done and pursued many more contracts with us.

We appreciate the opportunity to submit our proposal. Our company feels that this is a great opportunity to establish a working relationship with the town of Augusta. We hope to get the opportunity to do this project and additional projects for the city in the future.

If you have any questions please contact our coordinator Sarah Richie at sarah.richie@topcutmow.com, or call her at (903)-457-4929. We look forward to hearing from you.

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