Newbie on the board with lots of questions.

[Safa]

Hello everyone. My name is Safa Javid and I am looking into starting a powerwashing business. I first got the idea when I did my own deck with a rented washer. It was a lot of fun actually and suddenly I thought " cha-ching". Combine with an IT career that isn't going anywhere and the fact that its possible to make serious money with your own business, I have decided to look into this trade as a career.

I have skimmed over this board and other websites and a lot of questions have been answered. My questions is however:
How much is charged for the washing services. Does anyone have a price list? Decks, residential concrete steps? Siding?

What I dont want to do is undercut the market. I'd like to start slow and work my way up so I though it will be a good idea to work for someone else for a while until I can really say that its something I want or can do by myself.


I am located in the Northern Virginia area. I looked at the Yellow pages and only saw a handful of listings for power washing companies. I thought the market was saturated. Any thoughts on this? Is there enough business out there?


Thanks in advance for your replies.

Moderators, if I posted this in the incorrect section, please move it.

BTW, I found this forum by searching on www.google.com


Thanks again.
Safa Javid

 

[Clean County PW]

Safa,
Welcome to this board. One of the best on the web.
As far as trying to figure how much to charge a potential customer for you services there's a couple of different ways to do it. Some of us here do it by the sq footage or linear footage of the object being cleaned. They have a price of how much they charge per foot etc.

Others like myself do it by how long I think the job will take and how much an hour I want to make doing the job. How much an hour that you charge should not be revield to the potential customer. Thats your secrete. They only need to know the price to complete the job. This is for residential cleaning. Commercial cleaning can be done the same way if you want to.

Check out Delco's bb they have a price list that can give you some Idea's. Go to www.dcs1.com and then go to price survey thats in the upper left hand corner that chart that pops up.

Good luck,
John/Clean County PW

 

[Schaeffer]

Welcome Safa,

I've posted some, alot of links for PW.

In the links section.

If you look down the list your will find links to PRICE links on guides on what to charge.

Yes, these are just guides. But they are in the ball park

Ok here's a tip.

One of my customers needed new lattice around the deck.
The deck was 10 X 15. I bought the lattice at 5 at $ $2.97 for a total of $14.85 OK. I charge $35.00 an hour for my wood working time/labor time. It took 2 hours to do this part. This is part of the service I offer. But unlike this job I hope your deck won't have Rose bushes around the deck.

What I am trying to say is that you are not only there to clean and seal the deck. But to make the deck look like NEW.

Also this was a painted deck that now looks like new, without paint.

Dam now I wish I had photo's. The home owner is looking for me.

Tip two. Take before and after photo's. Of all job if you can.

 

[Safa]

I really appreciate the replies. There is a lot if information to read up on and understand. This business is more involved than I thought. I guess it might be best to specialize in one area

How much money can a hard worker make in this business? With only himself doing the work? And whats the competition or business volume like in the Northern Virginia area?


Thanks again for the replies. This knowledge is invaluable. Especially the pricing guide.

Thanks.