Apartment Complex-3 story 32 Buildings-Help

Bill, in biz since October, tell you the truth I would say you arent ready for a project of this size and you may want to try having another contractor with some years behind them and you work the job with them and learn

Not just busting your B's, I have seen it all to often new washers biting off more than they can chew. Washing isnt rocket science but there are things that you will possibly not know that could damage the property or your future reputation and things that could cost you money and you just dont have the experience to possibly even realize you are screwing something up until its to late

The fire alarms, exit lights, emergency lights, some of these things you can screw up bad right away if you dont protect them properly, cause fires, months later find that your bleach corroded wiring. Oxidation on siding, next thing you know the siding drys and you have the Mark of Zorro all over the siding or even all over the screens. Most condos are built like crap, there may be water intrusion issues you need to avoid but have no idea what to look for. crummy door seals and next thing you know you are bleaching a few carpets

Not saying you can't do it, I just have seen so many newbies try things and screw them up and then you are marked as a hack by the customer.

Experience really helps on large jobs, 3 story buildings with 1, 4 gpm machine just isnt enough it will be a major pain on 3 story buildings, do you have a back up machine, do you have money to pay out if you damage something

Good luck if you take this on, use common sense, look closely at what you are doing and be careful. Good luck
 
Great points Jeff!

Some other things to consider:

Do you have the money for fuel, chemicals and helper for the month or so it will take you, filling up every day, then waiting 30-60 days to get paid? This is something that will add up to a lot of money quickly so you need to have some money in the bank to keep you working until you get paid.

I just went through this with a property with 10 of the 3 story buildings and 9 of the 5-door garage units. Helpers quitting, getting shut down because of water freezing and potential water freezing issues of people slipping on ice, fire alarms, emergency lights protecting them as good as you can, etc... lots of issues that you may or may not know about.

Using a lift or not depending on if it is windy or if your machine will really reach high enough to do a good job, a lot of times the X-Jet will not reach high enough and you don't want to work off ladders.

Hose supply.....garden hose and pressure hose. We could not park close enough to the buildings as people would not move their cars (notices sent out but they just don't care) so at the beginning we were stringing out about 600' of garden hose and 1225' of pressure hose to wash the buildings (enough to go from the trailer to the building, wrap around the building while working and sometimes to reach the other building from where the trailer was parked because there were no parking spaces open to get the truck and trailer closer), then the time to move hoses, roll them up etc....

There are other issues involved but this should give you an idea.
 
Thanks guys, all of this s very helpful. So you will know, I was in the exterior remodeling business for 15 years, as an owner and salesman and originally as an installer. So although I am a "newbie" in power washing, I have a basic usnderstasnding of the building trades.

My son, and partner, took a look at it this morning and it looks good. As part of the proposal, I will be requesting partial payment each week; at this point we are planning on 1 (son) technician doing 4 to 5 buildings (of 48 total) per day. So we are looking at 12 working days at the worst. There is good water on each building with about 6 gallons per minute flow. The alarms are located n the breezeway and will be "plastic" taped. So, we should be in pretty good shape.

If we add a biocide to the mix plus some sort of wax, is that a good idea? Or just a waste?

Again all, thanks
 
Bill Raines said:
Thanks guys, all of this s very helpful. So you will know, I was in the exterior remodeling business for 15 years, as an owner and salesman and originally as an installer. So although I am a "newbie" in power washing, I have a basic usnderstasnding of the building trades.

My son, and partner, took a look at it this morning and it looks good. As part of the proposal, I will be requesting partial payment each week; at this point we are planning on 1 (son) technician doing 4 to 5 buildings (of 48 total) per day. So we are looking at 12 working days at the worst. There is good water on each building with about 6 gallons per minute flow. The alarms are located n the breezeway and will be "plastic" taped. So, we should be in pretty good shape.

If we add a biocide to the mix plus some sort of wax, is that a good idea? Or just a waste?


Again all, thanks
Click to expand...

Apartments pay 30 to 45 days after invoicing. One guy working by himself with a residential machine is not going to do 5 buildings a day. Anything other than bleach and a surfacant is a waste.
 
Chris is right about the cars, even though the complex will tell everyone to have their cars moved. There will be cars in your way on almost every building. Be careful with the wind blowing bleach on the cars. This will slow down your production.

Also if there are kids in the complex you may not be able to work past 3:00 or whenever the kids start getting home from school. Once the kids get home you need to pack it up.

I would be surprised if the would consent to making payments at the end of each week. They will expect the contractor to be able to carry this debt until they get paid.
 
I have never asked for partial payment, to me this implies financial hardships.

I would be careful if I were hiring someone that asked for that, there is simply not that much overhead in a job of this type to justify asking for it and I am sure they would think the same, we could get a job done like that in a week or even less, they also may not want you out there as long, it raises the levels of liability for them and you.

Good luck
 
What Russ said on payment, managers I know would laugh at paying every week, it is NOT going to happen and must managers it would be a HUGE red flag. One 4gpm and one man is not the way to do this job
Even the hacks around here have 2 machines and 2 guys working on large complexes

Bill not bustin your B's, but you are what I use in my sales pitch. I tell my customers, We will have a crew with professional equipment, we arent a one man operation that just started last year.
Everyone has to start somewhere, but you should have more than 8 months experience to take on a job like this

Why if its you and your son, why arent both of you working this job? Doing it your way, you will either be overpriced and not get the job or you will lowball it and not make any money

Stick to doing houses for now and get experience and more manpower
 
More good points guys, we could not start until 9am because of people going to work and we had to shut down around 5pm or 5:30 but we pushed this a lot.

Living in the 4th windiest city in Texas, we had to rinse cars a lot, sometimes a few times before leaving each building.

I was using a 5.5 and an 8gpm machine and still had water issues with 2 supply hoses, a lot of times we had to have 3 supply hoses feeding the tank.

There will be a lot of time used up rolling up hoses, moving hoses and rolling up hoses when done for the day, that is a lot of work for the guy doing the washing and having to move hoses.

I really think that you guys need another machine or two and more help.

I agree about the payment issue, that will set off flags.
 
Thanks again guys. We have 2 machines but I need to keep one guy doing our Bread & Butter business, but if need be I can put 2 on this job.

And I don't need the money, so I won't ask for partial payments.

I'm quoting this Tuesday, so I will let you know.
 
Good luck Bill. When I first started out we would wash 175 units every fall. Took a few weeks, but everything worked out. Good luck to you.
 
:happydance: Well, everything went well; met with the Manager, she was tied up with a client; she took a minute and I explained our proposal; then the Maintenace manager came in and we talked briefly, then we wnt outside to talk; he was VERY impressed with our proposal and needed us to quote 2 more apt complexes nearby; so, this job was worth $12,150 and the other two are similar or higher by looking at them.

While at the 3rd property, the manager of #1 drove in, she lives at this one, and she told me that Jay wanted to use us and she would call someone for a higher bid from!!

I'll keep you posted; but making a professional, type written proposal and providing before and after pics seemed to work well.:D
 
Bill Raines said:
:happydance: Well, everything went well; met with the Manager, she was tied up with a client; she took a minute and I explained our proposal; then the Maintenace manager came in and we talked briefly, then we wnt outside to talk; he was VERY impressed with our proposal and needed us to quote 2 more apt complexes nearby; so, this job was worth $12,150 and the other two are similar or higher by looking at them.

While at the 3rd property, the manager of #1 drove in, she lives at this one, and she told me that Jay wanted to use us and she would call someone for a higher bid from!!

I'll keep you posted; but making a professional, type written proposal and providing before and after pics seemed to work well.:D
Click to expand...

Seams low for 32 buildings
 
Bill Raines said:
:happydance: Well, everything went well; met with the Manager, she was tied up with a client; she took a minute and I explained our proposal; then the Maintenace manager came in and we talked briefly, then we wnt outside to talk; he was VERY impressed with our proposal and needed us to quote 2 more apt complexes nearby; so, this job was worth $12,150 and the other two are similar or higher by looking at them.

While at the 3rd property, the manager of #1 drove in, she lives at this one, and she told me that Jay wanted to use us and she would call someone for a higher bid from!!

I'll keep you posted; but making a professional, type written proposal and providing before and after pics seemed to work well.:D
Click to expand...
How big are these buildings>?? No wonder they want you to do everything!!!!! Thats about 390 bucks a building. Can you do 5 buildings a day? I hope.
 
Ok, each of the 16 complexes has three buildings (one three story and 2 two stories), x 16 equals equals 48, at $200 each equals $9,600. add 32 8 X 50 (400 sq ft) breezeways at $75 equals $2400. I know it was low, but they are really easy and should be able to do 1.5 per day with 1 person plus me from time to time.

The other 2 are similar and will be about the same, so $36,000 for 9 weeks work, not to bad. Once I have a better hand on the market, I hope to get about 20 t0 40% more. I'll post some pics whenwe get started.

Again thanks guys.
 
Bill Raines said:
Ok, each of the 16 complexes has three buildings (one three story and 2 two stories), x 16 equals equals 48, at $200 each equals $9,600. add 32 8 X 50 (400 sq ft) breezeways at $75 equals $2400. I know it was low, but they are really easy and should be able to do 1.5 per day with 1 person plus me from time to time.

The other 2 are similar and will be about the same, so $36,000 for 9 weeks work, not to bad. Once I have a better hand on the market, I hope to get about 20 t0 40% more. I'll post some pics whenwe get started.

Again thanks guys.
Click to expand...


If you can make $36,000 for 9 weeks.......sign me up I'll take that every day
 
So hows the building washing going? Getting started on it yet?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top