Brick House 110 Years Old

Wall2Wall

Wall2Wall

New member
I was asked to powerwash a totally brick home that is 110 years old today. I usually stick with softwashing houses and have never taken on a job like this. The home is 4000 square foot. What should I charge for something like this? How would I do it and how long does something like this take? I'm assuming this will be more of a brick restoration project and a normal soft wash will not do it. Approximations are fine of course? Any help would be appreciated. By the way I have an 8gpm 3000 PSI machine and a 4GPM 4000 PSI Machine with a 125 gallon buffer tank. Both cold water units
 
Those are very vague questions, we don't know you, don't know if you know how to properly clean, know how to properly restore brick or anything else so how can we know what to tell you?

Without pictures and specifics of all sides of the property, how can we guess at what you are getting into?

You don't mention mold, mildew, algae, dust or dirt on the surface so we don't know what you are dealing with.

There are about 50 variables involved in pricing a house wash but you are not providing much info and no circumstances or the situation of the house.

Without A LOT MORE INFO, it is hard to just throw out info, especially prices.

Have you read the older posts and used the search button to find info you need? There is a lot of great info there for you, for free to help you out.

You are not saying your numbers or how much your overhead is and what you need to make per hour so how can we price this for you?

When you ask for info, it helps to know a lot more about the situation so people can help you out.
 
Christopher said:
Those are very vague questions, we don't know you, don't know if you know how to properly clean, know how to properly restore brick or anything else so how can we know what to tell you?

Without pictures and specifics of all sides of the property, how can we guess at what you are getting into?

You don't mention mold, mildew, algae, dust or dirt on the surface so we don't know what you are dealing with.

There are about 50 variables involved in pricing a house wash but you are not providing much info and no circumstances or the situation of the house.

Without A LOT MORE INFO, it is hard to just throw out info, especially prices.

Have you read the older posts and used the search button to find info you need? There is a lot of great info there for you, for free to help you out.

You are not saying your numbers or how much your overhead is and what you need to make per hour so how can we price this for you?

When you ask for info, it helps to know a lot more about the situation so people can help you out.
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I don't have any pics but it has algae all over it and extremely dirty. I'm not asking for specifics here, just a ballpark of what the going rate is. I'm not going to get into specifics about my company overhead. If you can't answer it from that info, no problem.
 
If you are just looking at cleaning the dirt and algae wash it the same as you would a regular house and charge your rate. If you are getting into a brick Restoration project you have a lot more involved.

Do you have to strip paint, will there be tuck pointing, are you going to have to seal, how much effloresce will you have to remove? I would suggest taking lots of pictures and contacting Eaco Chem www.eacochem.com they are the brick chem experts and can help determine what product you would need and the cost and coverage. From there you can figure your time and profit margin.
 
He is saying a different view of something similar I mentioned, there are a lot of variables that need to be known before giving a price whether it is just a house wash, paint removal from brick, brick restoration (lime removal, calcite removal, efflorescense removal, etc...) or prepping for paint but since there is not a lot of info known, it is hard to say what will be needed for the job to be done as there is no current job scope, what supplies and chemicals will be needed and how to price it without more info.
 
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If you read his post, he is assuming it will be a brick restoration project but he does not know.

He is not showing pictures so we can see what kind of shape the house is in.

We don't see what obstacles are there, if it is by a street that might need to be blocked off or barricaded if restoration work is needed.

We don't know what condition of the brick and if it is painted.

We don't know what shape the windows are in, especially the seals which would probably need the windows covered both inside and out to prevent water intrusion.

We don't know if there is water on the site, not everywhere had running water 100 years ago and if you had to haul water (I have had to haul water to historic houses to be washed in the past).

There are a lot more questions and variables that need to be addressed to give out a good answer and advice, that is what I was saying since obviously mike could not see something that simple and just wanted to take a cheap jab like a dumbazz. O well.

How can you advise someone on something like this without seeing it and knowing more about it? Really?

It is like when people call you on the phone wanting a price and tell you just a little bit about it, how can you price it without knowing more about it.

Say you give them a price and then find out that there is no water there. My 5.6gpm empties my 325 tank in 40 minutes (I don't take it below the 60 gallon mark or it will cativitate) so you have to haul water from across town to work for 40 minutes at a time, 25 minutes if you are running 8gpm. So for the price you just threw out there, you are wasting a good part of the day driving back and forth hauling water instead of working (if you would have seen that there is no water so you could bring a huge water trailer or have them get a plumber to install a temp. water faucet on the property).

Now do you see some of the variables that you have to know about before pricing jobs?
 
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Chris i understood everything you said in your first post,so no need for the 2nd and thrid for clarification. Thanks Anyway. I was just saying you could of handled it better. You dont need to know the guys full operation of business. This forum is ment to help other not make them feel like idiots.
 
Wall2Wall said:
I was asked to powerwash a totally brick home that is 110 years old today. I usually stick with softwashing houses and have never taken on a job like this. The home is 4000 square foot. What should I charge for something like this? How would I do it and how long does something like this take? I'm assuming this will be more of a brick restoration project and a normal soft wash will not do it. Approximations are fine of course? Any help would be appreciated. By the way I have an 8gpm 3000 PSI machine and a 4GPM 4000 PSI Machine with a 125 gallon buffer tank. Both cold water units
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Anywhere from .10 a square foot on up, depending on PITA factors, what exactly it is your removing, condition of the mortar and brick..As Chris said there a lot of variables that go into pricing a job like this, and all have to be taken into account. Pictures would be a big help.
 
Chris has alot of useful info, before taking on a 100 yr old home. I believe he was trying to get the point accross that bidding on a job that your not sure how to tackel is like going downhill on a double diamond slope and then asking how to ski. You guy's that are new to this should take heed on the info these pro's are giving out, it could save you alot of money and possibly your buisness and reputation.
 
Brick Nastiness

Here is one we worked on last week. The Ivy had made a mess of things. The end result is less than perfect. It is however, more than adequate. I quoted a fixed price at $560.00 for the brick you can see in the scope pic.
 

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Wall2Wall said:
I don't have any pics but it has algae all over it and extremely dirty. I'm not asking for specifics here, just a ballpark of what the going rate is. I'm not going to get into specifics about my company overhead. If you can't answer it from that info, no problem.
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The point I was trying to make here is that my overhead will be different from what you have to charge per hour or per job so my price (after knowing more about the project) will be different from your price. Your local market may pay higher per hour where mine might only pay so much and on a job like this, you don't want to lowball it or charge too much. Not trying to get into your books, just trying to make a point, sorry if it came across the wrong way.
 
The Cleaner said:
Chris has alot of useful info, before taking on a 100 yr old home. I believe he was trying to get the point accross that bidding on a job that your not sure how to tackel is like going downhill on a double diamond slope and then asking how to ski. You guy's that are new to this should take heed on the info these pro's are giving out, it could save you alot of money and possibly your buisness and reputation.
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+100 Exactly Nick! Thanks.
 
Timothy said:
Here is one we worked on last week. The Ivy had made a mess of things. The end result is less than perfect. It is however, more than adequate. I quoted a fixed price at $560.00 for the brick you can see in the scope pic.
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Great job on the ivy removal from that house Tim.

Vines and Ivy are different types of jobs, on older houses you don't want to just pull them down as the "fingers" or "roots" (called by different names) can grow into the mortar joints, window seals, window frames and just about every other little crevice there is and can cause water instrusion.

I like to spray a strong solution first to kill the Ivy or Vine then come back a week or two later to gently pull them down, if they will not come down easily, I will spray them again and come back later on. I have not had a claim on my insurance and don't want to start now.

That would be great pictures for marketing on a website or flyer.
 
Timothy said:
Here is one we worked on last week. The Ivy had made a mess of things. The end result is less than perfect. It is however, more than adequate. I quoted a fixed price at $560.00 for the brick you can see in the scope pic.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tim, That's great information. How long did it take you to complete?
 
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