Help us create our price guide - professional & quality work setting the standard

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Help us create our price guide - professional & quality work setting the standard

I have recently went into business with a friend and we are looking for a little help in terms of what a professional pressure washing/cleaning company would/should be charging. Rather than call competitors for there advice or just make it up as well see fit I thought Id ask some advice from people that own there business or work in the industry and see what they think. Any info you can provide woould be greatly appreciated; such as what to charge for driveways, houses, by area or square footage, fences, decks, roofs, gutters, priced individually or as a package. We also looking onto doing boats, fleet vehicles, trucks and trailers, equiptment. ANYTHING lol. We are very ambitious to get involved in anything and everything we can do. We only own one piece of equiptment so far which is a 4000psi Cold H2O 12Hp Honda Powerboss 4GPM. It is the highest rated one we could find I did lots of research and figures this was the best choice what is your opinion on this beastly machine lol? We are gong to purchase a hot water unit in about a month we just wanted to get in the game first weve already invested well over 10k with setting the business up the bus liscence and insurance. Equiptment safety and other. Trailer. ahh and advertism=ng bus cards and flyers and more. So any advice we would appreciate im going to repsts this as a new thread hopefully get many responses. We are trying to set prices based on professional and quality work not some cheap work were trying to do good work at a fair price not just rush through and do a shitty job charge a hundred bucks lol im sure you understand the comparison im attempting to make.

Tim
Alliance Power Washing

Vancouver Island; BC, Canada
 
Not trying to be evasive but there is no way anyone can tell you what to charge?

Your business model, budget, payroll, advertising and such will reflect what you have to charge as well as cost of living in your area.

I would probably do a few jobs for friends and family first and see how long it takes you then base your prices on that first.
 
Got to agree with Russ here Tim. Only you know what it costs to operate your business. The machine you have is no comparison to the commitment you've made in your business. In other words, If you were digging ditches for a living would you buy a shovel or a backhoe??? Which is faster and makes more money?

Isn't about to be Winter up there?

Good Luck Tim!
 
I understand your point, Im not looking for something to set in stone. All jobs are going to be different, as wellas the area we live in, ect. I understand prices can vary and am basically looking to get a basic idea what to work around. I mean Ive heard some guys doing work wayyyy low and they dont do goood work, they clean your drive way in 15 minutes leave it looking like a fan lol and charge 30$. I am trying to be a little more professional and provide quality work, if I did a average size driveway Im thing around $75. Now strickly in your opinions is that too low or high. What about the average roof? Say $400? Im just looking for a few opinions so I know what not to do lol I dont want to under charge, Id rather over charge and do quality work then offer a discount lol.
 
Got to agree with Russ here Tim. Only you know what it costs to operate your business. The machine you have is no comparison to the commitment you've made in your business. In other words, If you were digging ditches for a living would you buy a shovel or a backhoe??? Which is faster and makes more money?

Isn't about to be Winter up there?

Good Luck Tim!

I am buying a hot water unit in the next month or so we just weighed our options and felt it better start with the cold water unit first that was our choice and we stuck to it our budget was dramiticlly higher than we alloted for so im sure you understand business expenses are highly unpredictable, however winter may be coming soon fortunatly I live on beautiful Vancouver Island which for lack of a better word is a rain forst lol the mold removal is a huge market here and ive heard that is done best with cold H2O however I havent really tried with hot water unit so I couldnt really know advantage is ive heard alot of ppl say , so being wet in the wonter months is more likely from rain than snow but I understand your point I belive a hot waterr unit is definalty the heart of any great power washing company but being such a new company im sure we can do fine with a powerful cold unit for a month or so while werre still getting our feet wet lol learning the power washing game. and good metaphor with the whole ditch digging thing lol. I got one for ya how about would you open up a whore house with fat one leged pig face girl or the swedish olympic swim team?
 
have you priced out 12% sodium hypochlorite in your area? in my area i have around $200+ in supplies on a roof job and that effects what I charge my clients. overall I'd say to shoot to make $150 an hour. also think about a minimum charge per trip. maybe $100 or something. so a $75 driveway is an okay price as part of a package, but you don't want to be driving around all day making 5 stops at $75 each.
 
Along with what it cost to run your business, your specific market partially dictates pricing. It is different everywhere. I never had to do this because I had local friends in the business, But if I were you I would call around and price shop some of your competitors. I know some will disagree with doing this, and I Hate when people do it to me, but this can give you the low and high prices. Don't do this so you can go in and beat the lowest price! I say this so that you can strive to be more professional, have a cleaner appearance and do a better job than others; therefore charge more, make a good living and start a reputation based on quality and professionalism rather low prices.
 
I agree with all of the above. My company had the same approach with the cold water machine at 4gpm and guy up above there talked us into waiting and getting the hot water 8gpm just to get what we needed to do the jobs right and quick. I literally stayed on these forums for 7 months and went to the round table early this year to leane the industry before we bought our first piece of equipment. I, like you, have a business partner which some disagree with, but we love because we can bounce ideas off each other plus we do all thenwork and don't have a payroll! You also need to draw out a detailed business plan! We pride ourselves on not being the cheapest but having a 100% money back guarantee! It's all about company reputation and picking up jobs while doing jobs, also will the people you are cleaning for reccomend you to friends and family because of how well you presented your business. There are plenty of websites in doing research that will reveal industry avgs or pricing for everything pressure washing which stated above varies area to area - season to season. Good luck and feel free to call or write me with any questions.
 
you don't want to be driving around all day making 5 stops at $75 each.

If its within range, a driveway cleaned with 28" SC takes 10-15 mins + you dont need to pull hoses around since driveway is right there and on the top if you fill 200gal tank in house that would be enough for 5 driveways. 5x$75 with this scenario is pretty decent IMO..

Volume or service agreement for regular maintenance drops the price
 
There's a Start


This price list can run you one man around 110 per hour and produce 214,000 to 224,000 annually one man one crew one shift
I have recently went into business with a friend and we are looking for a little help in terms of what a professional pressure washing/cleaning company would/should be charging. Rather than call competitors for there advice or just make it up as well see fit I thought Id ask some advice from people that own there business or work in the industry and see what they think. Any info you can provide woould be greatly appreciated; such as what to charge for driveways, houses, by area or square footage, fences, decks, roofs, gutters, priced individually or as a package. We also looking onto doing boats, fleet vehicles, trucks and trailers, equiptment. ANYTHING lol. We are very ambitious to get involved in anything and everything we can do. We only own one piece of equiptment so far which is a 4000psi Cold H2O 12Hp Honda Powerboss 4GPM. It is the highest rated one we could find I did lots of research and figures this was the best choice what is your opinion on this beastly machine lol? We are gong to purchase a hot water unit in about a month we just wanted to get in the game first weve already invested well over 10k with setting the business up the bus liscence and insurance. Equiptment safety and other. Trailer. ahh and advertism=ng bus cards and flyers and more. So any advice we would appreciate im going to repsts this as a new thread hopefully get many responses. We are trying to set prices based on professional and quality work not some cheap work were trying to do good work at a fair price not just rush through and do a shitty job charge a hundred bucks lol im sure you understand the comparison im attempting to make.

Tim
Alliance Power Washing

Vancouver Island; BC, Canada
 

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This may be helpful in figuring your costs so you have a baseline to bid each job. If you do not know what your breakeven point is you could be setting yourself up for failure.

[h=1]How much to charge per hour for pressure washing work?[/h]
So, you’ve started your own pressure washing business. You probably spent hours thinking up a name; you’ve purchased equipment; you’ve likely spread the news around to friends and family: you are in business.
At this point, one of the most important decisions you face is how much to charge your customer per hour. Charge too much and you will have a hard time finding customers; charge too little and you may have plenty of business but not much to show for it when all is said and done. Additionally, if you under price in the beginning and then realize your error, you may lose all the clients who were accustomed to paying your low rates.
Hitting the right balance for setting on how much to charge hourly rate is a matter of taking all variables into consideration and keeping an eye on the bottom line. It may seem like you are making a good wage if you charge your clients $50 an hour, but think about all the costs involved in performing your particular service should be an essential part of your pressure washing business plan. Being prepared and understanding what goes into setting wages will pay off in the long run, and in more ways than just financial.
Let’s take for example a start up pressure washing business that specializes in house and deck cleaning. The obvious factors would be supplies, transportation, possibly rental space for the business or a payment on a loan for one or more vehicles. What may not be immediately to a new business owner is the amount of time spent on the business that will not be billed directly to customers. If you are running this hypothetical business, you will have to make phone calls to set appointments, take time to visit homes and meet clients as well as give quotes. You should even calculate the time necessary to load and unload supplies at job sites. All this essentially unpaid time should be calculated into determining how much to charge hourly.
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A good blueprint begins with a breakdown of monthly costs divided over the number of hours for which you will actually be able to charge your customers. Let’s continue with the example of a pressure washing business, and estimate that the number of paid hours per week is 30.
  • One vehicle loan of $400 is equal to $3.33 per hour
  • Car insurance of $125 is equal to $1.04 per hour
  • Cleaning supplies of $400 is equal to roughly 3.33 cents and hour
  • Phone and internet services of $150 per month are equal to $1.25 per hour
  • Gasoline costs for vehicles of $500 per month are equal to $4.17 per hour
  • Advertising and marketing costs of $600 per month are equal to $5.00 an hour
  • The cost to run equipment can vary, but if you are including maintenance and fuel $10 per hour is a good estimate
  • If you are renting shop or office space at $900 a month, add another $9 per hour to your hourly wage
These major and minor costs have already added up to almost $40 per hour and you haven’t even paid yourself yet, or made any money to put back into your business. If you are looking to make a good salary and have some money to invest back into the business you need to do some careful calculations. Keeping in mind that only about 30 of your weekly 40 working hours will be paid for by your customers, you need to know how much to charge accordingly.
If you would like to make a salary of $60,000 a year, with money to put back into the pressure washing business (and to give to Uncle Sam) you should take your yearly salary, and break it down to weekly, based on a 40 hour work week. So, $60,000 is roughly $29 an hour. Say you want a cushion of $20,000 for business growth, which equals about $9.50 an hour. You already know that your costs have added up to $40 per hour, so add these together for a total of roughly $80 an hour. But is that what you charge your customer? Not if you want to be paid for all the time you are actually working.
Your $80 dollar an hour/ 40 hour a week paycheck equals $3200 per week in revenue. If you are billing customers for only $30 hours per week, your hourly fee needs to be $106 an hour. Now, you are in business!
Determining how much to charge your customers may seem like a lot of work, and honestly, it is. But, the work you put into setting your wages will enable you to have a clear picture of what your financial future will be and determine the success of your pressure washing business right from the very start.
The publisher of these pages is in no way responsible for any damage caused to you, your pressure washer, anyone else, your property, or anyone else's property by trying to implement or by successfully implementing the above-mentioned performance and services.

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This is only showing you the thing you need to take into account and you may have more or less expenses than whats listed on here. This is only a guide.
 
Great info guys, this should help out the guys that just started up and also help those that are not sure of their dollars per hour that they need to make.

Mike T. puts on a great presentation similar to this, if you get to see him at a round table presenting this, make sure that you attend as it will help you understand what you need to make to stay in business vs. swapping dollars.
 
This is great info.... and thank you to Ron for sharing. Some of us already know what we need to make per hour and cost to run equip and truck can't be all that different from one area to the next. The thing that some are having trouble with (like myself) is knowing how long it should take to do a certain job. If a guy tells me he cleans an Applebees for $75 per week, well by George (haha that's me) I think I will surely try to get it done in 30 minutes. If I don't make it in 30 I should find a better and quicker way. What one man can do, so can another! If a price guide is made to reflect hours on the job like an Applebees, that is comparing apples to apples (I crack me up). Some of us are not college business majors but we can add & subtract and plus getting on the same page is not such a bad thing. If a slow guy can make money, then a fast guy should be able to make more. Besides that I don't want to end-up 50 years old and no retirement, because my USA is getting more dependent on me and touching me in places only my wife should. Maybe if I can get my business in order I can go get in some faces of politicians!!
 
Thanks alot for everyones advice I appreciate your opinions and thanks for taking the time to help.
 
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