Townhome complex

KGILL

New member
I am scheduled to meet with the president of the homeowners association to give an estimate for a townhome complex later this month. With my initial research (driveby, zillow, and google maps) they appear to be pretty similar in size and shape, and offer few if any PITA factors. Based on a previous conversation with the president, they are looking for siding work only but I hope to upsell driveways, patios etc...

That being said.... if I figure I would normally charge X dollars for one of the homes by itself, should I just multiply the number of homes by the cost I figure for the home, or should I offer some sort of discount?

Any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for any assistance.
 
My opinion? Let us handle it and I'll give you a finders fee lol.
Multi-Family cleaning is a whole different animal. You need the man power, equipment amd experience to handle them or you'll be working for free.

HOA's are all on a budget and upselling patios and such wont happen. Alot times it's up to the individual homeowner to incur that expense themselves.

Bidding info? Whatever you need to for your company to be profitable.
 
I charge per unit however, you'll have to cut that per unit cost to make it a viable bid. Like Mark said, figure out how many moves, time , etc and come up with a profitable number that works for you
 
The townhomes, condo's, apartments and other types of housing are a lot different when bidding and doing the job.

There are more obstacles, people don't move their cars like you have in the contract, they don't move their stuff off the balconies like you have in the contract, The concrete is weaker on the walkways than on the sidewalks all the time so you cannot use much pressure or you start removing the surface, it is hard to park the truck/trailer as the people don't leave the area wide open like you have in the contract, etc.......... More and more to this but you can get the idea of the obstacles you will be dealing with that not only eat up time, but slow down the job dramatically as you wash each unit. Not even talking about the water issues here, lots of water issues to deal with besides people always wanting to walk in the areas you are working in, even when coned off or have taped off areas, etc.....

It is a lot different than house washing so bid accordingly.
 
My recommendation is hook up with Chad, let him bring you in on the labor side of it and let him help you sell the job.

Networking is very beneficial.

Just last month I sold a job in Lex and brought Mike K in on it to help me out.

You have no Labor force yet to complete these jobs with you own company yet. I would have thought by now that with buying another company out that wouldn't be the case.
 
It was out of respect. Especially since mileage is the one that got me started and the job was less than 5 min fr his house. I could have done it on our own but I chose not to.

I would have done the same thing. Especially in multi-family cleaning.....you can't just send anyone to go do a job of that caliber.
 
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The townhomes, condo's, apartments and other types of housing are a lot different when bidding and doing the job.

There are more obstacles, people don't move their cars like you have in the contract, they don't move their stuff off the balconies like you have in the contract, The concrete is weaker on the walkways than on the sidewalks all the time so you cannot use much pressure or you start removing the surface, it is hard to park the truck/trailer as the people don't leave the area wide open like you have in the contract, etc.......... More and more to this but you can get the idea of the obstacles you will be dealing with that not only eat up time, but slow down the job dramatically as you wash each unit. Not even talking about the water issues here, lots of water issues to deal with besides people always wanting to walk in the areas you are working in, even when coned off or have taped off areas, etc.....

It is a lot different than house washing so bid accordingly.

You make it sound so hard Chris!
 
Just mentioning that sometimes there are a lot of obstacles that will slow you down, make the job harder and you have to deal with tennants so that needs to be factored into the job when bidding so you don't bid too low and end up losing money because of delays or other issues.

I wish I had some more apartment complexes to do, once you get the hang of them, they are not too bad but remember the obstacles.
 
Chris Chappell is right. Multi units have many more variables to consider. Its not the same as cleaning Mr Joe bag o donuts residential home. Residents of multi unit complexes can be very difficult to maneuver around and this will always slow you down. Price these jobs very carefully. Remember, your going up against other bidders and you will have to make your money in volume.
 
I agree that there are some unique challenges. You may see windows open etc. We can only do about 6 units per machine (5.5gpm) per day. These are 2 story 3-plexes. It surprised me at first because I estimated we'd be much quicker than that, but it turns out we make more money per day running around to different parts of the city charging individual clients full price. On a brighter note, we have found that TOA presidents are networked and referring machines.
 
My opinion? Let us handle it and I'll give you a finders fee lol.
Multi-Family cleaning is a whole different animal. You need the man power, equipment amd experience to handle them or you'll be working for free.

HOA's are all on a budget and upselling patios and such wont happen. Alot times it's up to the individual homeowner to incur that expense themselves.

Bidding info? Whatever you need to for your company to be profitable.


Chad is right better yet bring him in a split it. You learn more about it and he can help you avoid the pitfalls.
 
I dont sub. I either do it, or give it away with no expectations. Weird I know, but if I am not doing the job I dont want to have to worry about the job. I worry enough by just giving the referral.
 
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