What does overlap look like?
Hypothetical, to show the shape. Two kerbside collection contracts share a depot twelve minutes apart: one crew pool, one compactor fleet, one supervisor. A third opportunity lands forty minutes the other way: new depot or dead running, new supervisor, split maintenance. The first two overlap. The third is a startup wearing a tender number.
Declare the assumptions the way a model demands: crews named, trucks counted, depot leases dated, mobilisation costed as cash, not absorbed as optimism. If the overlap needs hires that do not exist in the local market, say so now.
When is it a no before the price?
When mobilisation exceeds the first year’s margin and the term is one-plus-one at the buyer’s option. When specialist plant must be bought for a contract that can end in twelve months. When licences (waste transport, EPA, facility approvals) are not held at close and cannot be held in time.
When the buyer is a council whose policy you have not read. Waste is overwhelmingly council work, and council rules govern: council tenders in Australia. A state-agency assumption on a council collection contract is the wrong rule set.
What does the gate look like?
Contracts mapped against depots, crews, and plant on one page. Overlap scored in kilometres and hours, not vibes. Mobilisation priced as a number with an owner. If the map shows a startup, the gate prices a startup, or the call is no.