[stephen s]

Have been approached by my local council to see if I want to place an ad in their 2010-2112 property service handbook.

the hand book will be sent to school heads, care home managers, Library's and other council run buildings within the county.

a quarter page ad costs £795 + Vat for the 2 year duration for which after contacting the council to check it wasn't a scam I have decided to take the offer.


has anyone else had ads in these handbooks and what was the response ?

[Andy@w.c.s]

thats a lot of dosh
you have to bare in mind that a lot of the council work has to go through their registered contractors , so unless you are all ready on the council tender list you might not get much back from it 

Andy

[stephen s]

thats a lot of dosh
you have to bare in mind that a lot of the council work has to go through their registered contractors , so unless you are all ready on the council tender list you might not get much back from it 

Andy











Hi Andy.

as I say I called the council as at first I thought it may be a scam,  but after a long chat with her she also informed me that a lot of schools in the catchment area are now responsable for their own budgets and so hire the services themselves and its the same for a lot of other council run buildings she told me.

she said the book plus a disc gets sent out to them 3-4 times in the 2 year period and she also said that there would not be more than 2 or 3 per trade in the book.

I know its a lot of money but I really think it could also be money well spent over the 2 year period hence the reason I have taken an ad out.

Don't quote me but maybe this is the way all councils are going and if so I want in on the ground floor

[leapstallbuildings]

Have been approached by my local council to see if I want to place an ad in their 2010-2112 property service handbook.

the hand book will be sent to school heads, care home managers, Library's and other council run buildings within the county.

a quarter page ad costs £795 + Vat for the 2 year duration for which after contacting the council to check it wasn't a scam I have decided to take the offer.


has anyone else had ads in these handbooks and what was the response ?

I have a strong hunch that if you look into this in more depth, you will find that it's got nothing to do with the council.  Apart from that, £795 sounds OK for 102 years advertising     (  to see if I want to place an ad in their 2010-2112 property service handbook.  )

EDITED TO SAY:  I've just read your follow-up post (after posting this) and it sounds odd to me that councils are allowed to do this.  For starters, they have restrictions on who they allow to tender for their work.  There must be rigorous PL insurance and H & S policies plus thwe ability to self-finance putting right any large errors.  In addition to this, they do not award contracts to companies where the contract exceeds a certain proportion of turnover.  The way it's been presented, it now sounds like they may give out contracts to anyone who gives them £795.

[GWCS]

I would save the money and get a properly presented company profile leaflet and send them out with a covering letter requesting to meet regarding their requirements to all that the council will send this magazine too.

I have spent out on magazines and little adds for this and that - I got nothing from it.

If you want to get more involved with council contracts, you could also phone the council and enquire as to how to tender for the contracts..

[daz1977]

a lot of these are a wate of money,  a lot of contracts go to the same people, who can undercut u to get the job, the odd one might slip throught the net,  its like with the lidls and starbucks asda tesco etc  if you are doing them all you can quote cheap to get them

r u trying to move over to more commercial work, i would either do what GWCS says or employ a canverser to get you job that you want

[stephen s]

the printiers are in Kent but when I called my local council they confirmed everything was genuine

[david watts]

i did it the other year DONT WASTEyour MONEy i never got a thing it never worked
   for me .

[stephen s]

Have been approached by my local council to see if I want to place an ad in their 2010-2112 property service handbook.

the hand book will be sent to school heads, care home managers, Library's and other council run buildings within the county.

a quarter page ad costs £795 + Vat for the 2 year duration for which after contacting the council to check it wasn't a scam I have decided to take the offer.


has anyone else had ads in these handbooks and what was the response ?

I have a strong hunch that if you look into this in more depth, you will find that it's got nothing to do with the council.  Apart from that, £795 sounds OK for 102 years advertising     (  to see if I want to place an ad in their 2010-2112 property service handbook.  )

EDITED TO SAY:  I've just read your follow-up post (after posting this) and it sounds odd to me that councils are allowed to do this.  For starters, they have restrictions on who they allow to tender for their work.  There must be rigorous PL insurance and H & S policies plus thwe ability to self-finance putting right any large errors.  In addition to this, they do not award contracts to companies where the contract exceeds a certain proportion of turnover.  The way it's been presented, it now sounds like they may give out contracts to anyone who gives them £795.














so you are saying its well worth it then if they offer contracts to anyone who spends £795 ?

[krave]

I cant really coment to be hoest on the add, But without meaning to sound rude, You have spent £795 + vat, Then come on here and asked if its worth it?

Surely you could have held out for one day?

Hope it all works out for you!

[Andy@w.c.s]

I cant really coment to be hoest on the add, But without meaning to sound rude, You have spent £795 + vat, Then come on here and asked if its worth it?

Surely you could have held out for one day?

Hope it all works out for you!

sound advice  wish i had said that 

[david watts]

   should have told you i was talking to another wc and he said he had done the same
   not got any feed back .
  so hope it goes ok are the firm noble blah blah something dont want to put their full name on here
  regards

[leapstallbuildings]

Have been approached by my local council to see if I want to place an ad in their 2010-2112 property service handbook.

the hand book will be sent to school heads, care home managers, Library's and other council run buildings within the county.

a quarter page ad costs £795 + Vat for the 2 year duration for which after contacting the council to check it wasn't a scam I have decided to take the offer.


has anyone else had ads in these handbooks and what was the response ?

I have a strong hunch that if you look into this in more depth, you will find that it's got nothing to do with the council.  Apart from that, £795 sounds OK for 102 years advertising     (  to see if I want to place an ad in their 2010-2112 property service handbook.  )

EDITED TO SAY:  I've just read your follow-up post (after posting this) and it sounds odd to me that councils are allowed to do this.  For starters, they have restrictions on who they allow to tender for their work.  There must be rigorous PL insurance and H & S policies plus thwe ability to self-finance putting right any large errors.  In addition to this, they do not award contracts to companies where the contract exceeds a certain proportion of turnover.  The way it's been presented, it now sounds like they may give out contracts to anyone who gives them £795.














so you are saying its well worth it then if they offer contracts to anyone who spends £795 ?

No.  Sorry.  I wasn't saying that at all.  My meaning was lost in a text only medium but my comment contained a degree of sarcasm (not at you but about the council).  Your question reinforces to me how important it is to make meanings clear when using a text medium.

[Seers]

Hi,

Do not do it!!! Total waste of money, as already mentioned you will probably find it's nothing to do with the council, we got zero response when we fell for this years ago.

Cheers,

Huw.

[Moderator David@stives]

they saw you coming big time,


I would phone them first thing and cancel your order.

[GWCS]

Just because the council has said its genuine, doesn't mean your gonna get contracts. Its probably a case of a company finding "sponsors" to help pay for the magazine production and printing.

There are pre requisites for gaining tenders as previously mentioned.

But since you have asked others opinions, I would listen to them. Personally, I would phone up the council and ask how to tender for contracts first and what they require - rather than to just ask if it was genuine.

Do some investigation before splashing out..

However it sounds to me you are already giving it the green light and just wanted someone to say "yeah, go for it! - you'll gain loads of contracts from it".   :

[mark dew]

When you say approached do you mean tele-saled? Avoid that one mate. 

[chris@c.m.s]

If the council departments are responsible for organising their own maintenance wouldn't a well written letter to the person in charge be a cheaper option and more personal  not something I've dangled me toes into but probably the route I'd take, but then I'm a nightmare for telephone sales marketing I won't get talked into anything         

[stephen s]

Have been approached by my local council to see if I want to place an ad in their 2010-2112 property service handbook.

the hand book will be sent to school heads, care home managers, Library's and other council run buildings within the county.

a quarter page ad costs £795 + Vat for the 2 year duration for which after contacting the council to check it wasn't a scam I have decided to take the offer.


has anyone else had ads in these handbooks and what was the response ?

I have a strong hunch that if you look into this in more depth, you will find that it's got nothing to do with the council.  Apart from that, £795 sounds OK for 102 years advertising     (  to see if I want to place an ad in their 2010-2112 property service handbook.  )

EDITED TO SAY:  I've just read your follow-up post (after posting this) and it sounds odd to me that councils are allowed to do this.  For starters, they have restrictions on who they allow to tender for their work.  There must be rigorous PL insurance and H & S policies plus thwe ability to self-finance putting right any large errors.  In addition to this, they do not award contracts to companies where the contract exceeds a certain proportion of turnover.  The way it's been presented, it now sounds like they may give out contracts to anyone who gives them £795.














so you are saying its well worth it then if they offer contracts to anyone who spends £795 ?

No.  Sorry.  I wasn't saying that at all.  My meaning was lost in a text only medium but my comment contained a degree of sarcasm (not at you but about the council).  Your question reinforces to me how important it is to make meanings clear when using a text medium.













don't be worrying my friend as my reply to yours was in jest 

[stephen s]

I cant really coment to be hoest on the add, But without meaning to sound rude, You have spent £795 + vat, Then come on here and asked if its worth it?

Surely you could have held out for one day?

Hope it all works out for you!

your not being rude but your not also being correct about my post.   I asked if anyone had experience of this    I never asked anyone if it was worth the money spent   which by the way I haven't yet spent as I have only reserved a place.

I will take on board whats been said here and I will also speak to a facilities manager at the council and try to get more information.


what I don't understand is that the lady at the council told me it was genuine yet some of the replies on here suggest its not ?