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Worked example: answering a market engagement survey

Sanctuary Care runs 108 care homes across England and Scotland. It plans to contract out window cleaning and gutter clearing (estimated £625,000) and is asking suppliers for views first, through a short online survey that closes on Sunday 15 November 2026. Here's how a small regional window cleaner could answer it, and why each answer matters.

The notice: Sanctuary Care: window cleaning and gutter cleaning/clearance services. Tender expected around 12 January 2027. Sanctuary says it welcomes SMEs and firms that can cover only part of the country.

1. Read what the survey is really deciding

About 50 questions, but most are tick boxes. The ones that shape the tender are:

Which homes you can cover. The survey lists every home by region. Tick only the ones you can reach on a normal round.
How you'd want it split. The whole contract, regional lots, or small local groups of homes. This is where a small firm wins or loses the chance to bid at all.
Contract length, pricing model and visit frequency. Your answers here become the price schedule you'll fill in later.
What would stop you tendering. The one free-text box most firms skip, and the most useful one.

2. Tick the homes you can really serve

Check the region names carefully. The survey files some homes under regions you might not expect: Bradwell Court in Congleton and Broadmeadow Court in Stoke-on-Trent appear under "East Midlands", not "West Midlands" or "North West". A firm based in the Potteries would tick those two, plus Barony Lodge in Nantwich under "North West".

3. Ask for small lots, and say why

Pick "Smaller/localised groups of Care Homes" (and "A single geographical lot" if you can cover a region). Then use the viability box to explain:

Homes within about 20 miles of our base are viable on a 4-weekly round. Isolated single homes far from others cost more per visit in travel, so local clusters of three or more homes give the best price.

4. Make the commercial answers work for you

Contract length: three years, with extensions. Long enough to invest in the round, short enough not to lock in rates.
Pricing model: a fixed price per home per visit is simple to check and suits homes of different sizes.
Frequencies: answer from experience. Many care homes have external windows every four weeks, internal every eight to twelve, gutters twice a year.
Evidence of work: tick what you already do (dated photos, electronic job sheets, sign-off). If you don't record visits yet, start now. It will be scored later.

5. Use the "what would stop you" box

This is the buyer asking how not to lose you. A short, polite answer:

A single national contract, a turnover threshold out of proportion to a regional lot, or a requirement to hold several paid accreditation schemes would stop us bidding. Regional or local lots, proportionate financial checks, and photos or a site visit per home would let small firms price accurately and compete.

And in "information needed to price": number of storeys, rough window count or elevations, conservatories and roof lights, gutter runs, parking and access, resident safety rules, and preferred visit times.

Why bother

It takes about ten minutes. Answering doesn't commit you or give you an advantage in scoring, but it does shape the lots, the price schedule and the rules before they're fixed. That's the part a small firm can't change once the tender is published. More on these early notices: what they mean and how to reply, and others open now.

Want this done for a survey or early notice in your trade? Send me the link. Within one working day I'll send back draft answers for you to check and submit yourself. It's free while I'm testing the service. Need help with the tender itself later?

Email [email protected]

An independent example from Kindling, not connected to Sanctuary Care. Taken from the public notice and survey. Check the survey itself before you answer. General guidance, not legal advice.