Newbie 1st Commercial Bidding

AllCleanPW

AllCleanPW

New member
Hi Everyone,

I being in conversation with a Postal Master (Manager of a local USPS) , he wants me to offer a proposal to clean his building which looks pretty bad (First question - has anyone had any experience in doing work for USPS ? ) ok! I did use google maps and there is aprox 59K SQFT of parking lot/driveway and sidewalk area to be washed, which it doesn't look too bad, just regular oil spills and a few gun spots to be removed (not too much). Water needs to be reclaimed, it cannot go on storm drain (2nd question: what's the best method to cover drain? just sand bags would work? ) I don't have a reclaim unit, I already spoke with manager and I can just use a sump pump and get the water dumped in a grassy area. (3rd question: what's best pump and how the best way in doing that? I have never done that before) - I figured that I am going to price around .06 or .08 cents per SQFT (Is that a good price?) I have a single unit 3500 PSI 5GPM / I do have a Surface Cleaner. How long it will take for me to do that? how many hours? how many SQFT you can normally do in 1 hour?)
They have an additional 17K SQFT of covered garage/parking to be cleaned. For the garage he wants a bid just for the floor and in addition cleaning the walls and pillars. Then there is the whole exterior of the building aprox 48K SQFT. most it's all brick, there is some areas in the front and around the top part and also some pillars (they are concrete but they have this thin layer covering it (it looks like stucco, don't know exactly what is called) In some of the pillars on the botton it start to pilling off (you can see the concrete) What's the best method to wash that? I figured got be very low pressure (soft wash), I don't want to damage anything. What's the best chemical? just regular house wash, let sit for a few minutes then rinse? There is some very bad spots on this wall, with really dark spots and mold. (I got some pictures on my phone, just don't know how to upload in here.)Ok.... I know that I am asking a lot of questions but I am in deeply need of help and I will really appreciate all the help from you guys. Ok... Here it's my final question, at least for now. How I go about in pricing a exterior of a building? there is a formula like SQFT X Hight????? . Alright people that's it for now, Thanks in advance for all your help.
 
You can always just eyeball it like I do sometimes (For those of you laughing at me right now I land 80% of the jobs I do this way and yes I do make $$$ on every job). Or you can figure your time/material. Sometimes instead of doing square footage I figure out how many hours it will take me.
 
Vince Wood said:
You can always just eyeball it like I do sometimes (For those of you laughing at me right now I land 80% of the jobs I do this way and yes I do make $$$ on every job). Or you can figure your time/material. Sometimes instead of doing square footage I figure out how many hours it will take me.
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That the way we do it.
 
Vince Wood said:
You can always just eyeball it like I do sometimes (For those of you laughing at me right now I land 80% of the jobs I do this way and yes I do make $$$ on every job). Or you can figure your time/material. Sometimes instead of doing square footage I figure out how many hours it will take me.
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+ 1000
 
Vince Wood said:
You can always just eyeball it like I do sometimes (For those of you laughing at me right now I land 80% of the jobs I do this way and yes I do make $$$ on every job). Or you can figure your time/material. Sometimes instead of doing square footage I figure out how many hours it will take me.
Click to expand...

+10000000


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Thanks for all the input guys, my only concern is IF I have an lazy eye it might take a little bit longer for me do an job like that... Lol... Being serious now, I don't have much experience in washing exterior walls, I have done most flatwork and a few houses, I am just getting started here and everyday I realize how much I need to learn. Anyway, if you guys can tell me based in your experience, how long would take to wash an building of aprox 48K sq ft. in an average. Again Thank you for all your help, I really appreciate.
 
AllCleanPW said:
Thanks for all the input guys, my only concern is IF I have an lazy eye it might take a little bit longer for me do an job like that... Lol... Being serious now, I don't have much experience in washing exterior walls, I have done most flatwork and a few houses, I am just getting started here and everyday I realize how much I need to learn. Anyway, if you guys can tell me based in your experience, how long would take to wash an building of aprox 48K sq ft. in an average. Again Thank you for all your help, I really appreciate.
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There is so many variables that come into play Gus when you are talking about an average cleaning time. I might be able to do the job in 7 hours, it might take Doug 4 hours and Larry might be able to get it done in 3 hours. Here is a suggestion for you though. Ask them if you can do a 500 sq ft area (around the back of the building) and see how long it takes you to clean it as a demo. This way they will be able to see how clean it will come out and you will be able to time yourself and see how long it takes. Also, this way if you need to adjust your mix you can do so on the demo/test area as well.

We have all had jobs where we thought it would take 6 hours and it turns into 10 for one reason or another. Just remember that customer satisfaction is #1. I've personally had customers tell me "it looks good to me" and my response sometimes is "no, it can come cleaner and I'll get it cleaner for you" So what if I'm out there an extra 2 hours. I'm picky about my own work because my name is going on that job.
 
Vince Wood said:
There is so many variables that come into play Gus when you are talking about an average cleaning time. I might be able to do the job in 7 hours, it might take Doug 4 hours and Larry might be able to get it done in 3 hours. Here is a suggestion for you though. Ask them if you can do a 500 sq ft area (around the back of the building) and see how long it takes you to clean it as a demo. This way they will be able to see how clean it will come out and you will be able to time yourself and see how long it takes. Also, this way if you need to adjust your mix you can do so on the demo/test area as well.

We have all had jobs where we thought it would take 6 hours and it turns into 10 for one reason or another. Just remember that customer satisfaction is #1. I've personally had customers tell me "it looks good to me" and my response sometimes is "no, it can come cleaner and I'll get it cleaner for you" So what if I'm out there an extra 2 hours. I'm picky about my own work because my name is going on that job.
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Here Here, been there done that and will probably end up doing it again.
 
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