Commercial Work....scared to price

The majority of the work I have done has been residential and I feel pretty good about my pricing schedule that I use for that.

But, it's winter time now and the residential work is slowing down. I would like to get more into commercial work. The problem I am having is that when I go out to bid a commercial job I feel completely dumbfounded when it comes to pricing.

I generally calculate my bids for residential work by the sq. ft. but when I measure and then key in the price per ft. that I use, it just blows me away.

Anyway I guess my question is does anyone price residential work at one price and commercial work at another price? My question is primarily for flat work but any other ideas/outlooks would be great.

I understand that any extra cost such as a manlift, etc. are added on.

Greg

Greg,

This pricing thing is always a tough one to answer. Variable play some many factors.

Service Stations
Restaurants
Fast food
Shopping Centers
Hotels & resorts
Parking garages

These are just a few of the many different types of Flat work that you can run across.

Today I will pick (shopping centers) and help you formulate a bid.

Depending on the degree of dirt you can span on the initial clean or one time cleaning as much as .15 cents

Centers that are being washed every 30 days you’re going to have a lower price per square foot. And obviously they will decrease or increase based on the frequency.

The average square foot price for shopping centers on regular maintenance less than 30 day will be approximately .025 to .035

Initial clean ups will depend on the degree of dirt on that first cleaning and can run as much as .20 per foot.
When bidding the initial gums is going to be the main factor in you’re pricing. Gum is time and time is money.

If you have another specific area that you would like to touch on, just let me know and I can help.

Ron,

Thanks for the reply. That was exactly the type of answer I was looking for. I don't really have a lot of compitition in my area. But I want to provide a win/win price to my customers.

I have the usual chain department and grocery stores in my area and as far as I can tell no one is servicing them.

I also have strip malls, shopping centers and one shopping mall. Not to mention all the chain- resterants and private businesses.

I know that generally speaking on residential work I clean about 500 sq ft an hour but I am sure that commercial flat work will go faster. Any idea on a starting point say for doing a 20,000 sq ft parking lot. Not a price but a sq. ft per hour using either a wand (which I know is too slow) or a surface cleaner (which I have ordered but not arrived yet). I have both hot water machine at 2500 psi 5.5 gpm and cold at 3000 psi 4 gpm.

Now I know this is not an exact science and only expect to be ball-park close but I would feel much more confident if I had some idea of what to expect.

Thanks again for your help

Greg