Priceing

C

Carl Jackson

Member
I am interested in how others price services.
I mostly do houses, and driveways. I want to start cleaning and staining decks. Thanks
 
Pricing is always a touchy subject. There are some on these boards that feel that they are not making money if they are not making $100.00 a man hour. Others are satisifed to make $50.00 a man hour. So it all depends. I will let you in on a few secrets.
1. Homeowners are not willing to pay more than around $50.00 an hour, in general. Everyonce in a while they will pay more, especially if it is something that htye feel that they have to have, such as a car repair, Plumbing repair, etc. But for power washing it is not considered in the same realm of importance. So they are not willing to pay the price.
2. You are financially better off working 35 hours a week at $50.00 an hour than you are working 15 hours a week at $100.00 an hour. The more hours that you work also helps you build a larger, more stable customer base for the slow times. However, you can stay home and go broke, so din't underprice yourself.
3. There are a few guys in small markets that can succeed by doing everything, Decks, Hoods, Fleets, Flatwork, etc. But for themost part the large contractors specialize in one area. You seem to specialize or target the residential markets. That is okay, if your services are used in your area. I would advise against going out of your realm and trying something else, unless you are totally committed to it.
4. Equipment is important. If you use Junk you will have more breakdowns, and the customer will be more likely to be disappointed in your work. Quality equipment to a lot of people means a quality job. Your equipment can be old, but it must have a good appearance.

These are just a few thoughts. Of course, there will probably be people that disagree with me, but, that is the way I think.
 
Carl,

Basically you can charge by the 1- sq footage,2- by the hour(This is the worst way in my opinion when doing residential work), or 3- how long it will take to do the job and how much an hour you want to make in doing so.

I prefer choice 3 because I can do it this way much faster. Example of this is lets say you see a deck and the potential customer wants you to PW and seal it. What I do is I figure in my head how long it will take to do this job lets say 5hrs and then I figure lets say my target per hour is $70(never tell the customer this part) that means I will clear $350 for the job. Don't forget to add the materials in after you figure out your the labor cost. So if the materials cost $150 your total price would be $500 for the job.

This is the way I do it. I hope this helps.
Good Luck
John
 
Carl,
We have always used the square foot method and it has always worked well for us. Here are some examples:
Houses cleaned
 
Let's try again. sf price
Houses cleaned $.10
Decks cleaned .50(includes chems)
Decks sealed 1.25/1.50(we use Wolman F&P and Extreme)
Concrete flatwork .10

Ron Strickland
 
Thanks to everyone that replied. I wanted to make sure I was in line on the pricing. I don't mind being a little higher than others, but I wanted to make sure that I wasn't too low.
Great board here. Thanks again.
 
Carl,

I have been doing this for 11 yrs. now. To get $1.00 a sq. ft for decks you have provide a premium service. We get this and more from our deck customers. Of course we don't get all the decks we bid on but the ones we do get are upper income properties in our area. The ones getting less are either out of business already or are thinking of raising thier prices.
 
Scott Stone said:
Pricing is always a touchy subject. There are some on these boards that feel that they are not making money if they are not making $100.00 a man hour. Others are satisifed to make $50.00 a man hour. So it all depends. I will let you in on a few secrets.
1. Homeowners are not willing to pay more than around $50.00 an hour, in general. Everyonce in a while they will pay more, especially if it is something that htye feel that they have to have, such as a car repair, Plumbing repair, etc. But for power washing it is not considered in the same realm of importance. So they are not willing to pay the price.
2. You are financially better off working 35 hours a week at $50.00 an hour than you are working 15 hours a week at $100.00 an hour. The more hours that you work also helps you build a larger, more stable customer base for the slow times. However, you can stay home and go broke, so din't underprice yourself.
3. There are a few guys in small markets that can succeed by doing everything, Decks, Hoods, Fleets, Flatwork, etc. But for themost part the large contractors specialize in one area. You seem to specialize or target the residential markets. That is okay, if your services are used in your area. I would advise against going out of your realm and trying something else, unless you are totally committed to it.
4. Equipment is important. If you use Junk you will have more breakdowns, and the customer will be more likely to be disappointed in your work. Quality equipment to a lot of people means a quality job. Your equipment can be old, but it must have a good appearance.

These are just a few thoughts. Of course, there will probably be people that disagree with me, but, that is the way I think.
Click to expand...

its very touchy
 
Scott Stone said:
Pricing is always a touchy subject. There are some on these boards that feel that they are not making money if they are not making $100.00 a man hour. Others are satisifed to make $50.00 a man hour. So it all depends. I will let you in on a few secrets.
1. Homeowners are not willing to pay more than around $50.00 an hour, in general. Everyonce in a while they will pay more, especially if it is something that htye feel that they have to have, such as a car repair, Plumbing repair, etc. But for power washing it is not considered in the same realm of importance. So they are not willing to pay the price.
2. You are financially better off working 35 hours a week at $50.00 an hour than you are working 15 hours a week at $100.00 an hour. The more hours that you work also helps you build a larger, more stable customer base for the slow times. However, you can stay home and go broke, so din't underprice yourself.
3. There are a few guys in small markets that can succeed by doing everything, Decks, Hoods, Fleets, Flatwork, etc. But for themost part the large contractors specialize in one area. You seem to specialize or target the residential markets. That is okay, if your services are used in your area. I would advise against going out of your realm and trying something else, unless you are totally committed to it.
4. Equipment is important. If you use Junk you will have more breakdowns, and the customer will be more likely to be disappointed in your work. Quality equipment to a lot of people means a quality job. Your equipment can be old, but it must have a good appearance.

These are just a few thoughts. Of course, there will probably be people that disagree with me, but, that is the way I think.
Click to expand...


It is a tough Subject
 
Hi from Joe green safe. tell me if Im right or wrong on a job. I went to a apartment complex to price a job. The building were two stories, two 160 feet by 40- two of them, 240 by 40 and 6 of them 480 feet by 40. If i break it down its 24 section, So i place a bid in for 400 dollar for each one to pressure wash and soft wash, If you do the math its $9,600.00. It would that three men all day to do one ,just to get it right and safely. 10 days at a guess and about 4 grand in payroll. Was i right or wrong.
 
jaggos200 said:
Hi from Joe green safe. tell me if Im right or wrong on a job. I went to a apartment complex to price a job. The building were two stories, two 160 feet by 40- two of them, 240 by 40 and 6 of them 480 feet by 40. If i break it down its 24 section, So i place a bid in for 400 dollar for each one to pressure wash and soft wash, If you do the math its $9,600.00. It would that three men all day to do one ,just to get it right and safely. 10 days at a guess and about 4 grand in payroll. Was i right or wrong.
Click to expand...
I would start a New thread , get a signature to. Welcome
 
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