I'm very lucky and fortunate enough that I don't have to bid on alot of jobs. I just don't take them. I've been the guy that bid jobs and didn't get them because someone wanted to lowball another contractor. I'm done being that guy! I don't want to work on a project to be miserable and not make a good days pay while breaking my nuts for someone who doesn't appreciate it. Let everyone else fight for the peanuts and work for the cheapskates, there's plenty of that going around. I'd rather go fishing or hunting and wait for the phone to ring, it will eventually. It's taken me 20 years to build up the customer base I have and being a sole proprietor my customers know what they are getting when they ask me to do work, trust and hard work done right the first time. I have alot of service accounts that I take care of and lots of other customers in between. The lighting retrofit projects have been keeping me very busy as well.
30 years in the trade this year for me and I still love what I do! (And I've never been fired or layed-off in 30 years!)