.25 sqft to high for 96,540 sqft parking garage

A

Al Patterson

Member
My business is in the Atlanta area where we are in the middle of a drought and to make matters worse, They are starting to enforce the law of reclaiming our water, which many of you already do on the west coast.
With that happening along with the drought, the smaller companies that are not willing to invest as much as 10k to 20K are going to be forced out of business.
I have just recently invested lotsa $$$$ in a steel eagle fury system to recapture and recycle my water to comply with the law so I am redirecting my business in a direction I am just learning about, which brings me to this post.................
I'm putting together a bid for a 3 level parking garage in downtown Buckhead (Upscale neighborhood).
It is approx 32,180 sq ft. on each level for a total of 96,540 sq ft.
There are poor drainage on each floor so I plan to recapture and recycle my water.
I have heard some of the pricing can go as high as .20 to .25 sq ft
Would that be a fair price if you was in a upscale part of town and you was reclaiming and recycling your water as well?
As far as supply and demand they are not PW business here in Atlanta that have invested $$$ in a reclaim system.
Since most of this is new to me I would like talk to some of you guys on the phone and we can share ideas and thoughts on what we experience in the pressure washing business. Just let me know its ok to call you and I will buzz you sometime!!
Thanks for your responses
 
I do a lot of parking areas in Atl with fully recovery and recycling. You will be lucky to get .10. A lot of my large jobs go for .06 or less for recovery.

There is more competition in Atlanta than you or me will ever realize. Possibly with this drought situation people will start to care about the environment, but so far my response has been - "So what, I will go with the lowest bid" And they wash everything right down the drain....

Jeff Robison
Clean Up Atlanta
678-360-2518
 
Russ S said:
we get a max of .10 cents here usually .05 to .06 and as low as .03 in some cases but that would be on a weekly contract or twice a month
Click to expand...
russ, how much for residential?
 
Jeff Robison said:
I do a lot of parking areas in Atl with fully recovery and recycling. You will be lucky to get .10. A lot of my large jobs go for .06 or less for recovery.

There is more competition in Atlanta than you or me will ever realize. Possibly with this drought situation people will start to care about the environment, but so far my response has been - "So what, I will go with the lowest bid" And they wash everything right down the drain....

Jeff Robison
Clean Up Atlanta
678-360-2518
Click to expand...
Jeff
If you don't mind sharing....when you do jobs of this size...how many machines are you running that recover and what your gpm/psi and width of surface cleaners.
thank
Alvis
 
Jeff Robison said:
I do a lot of parking areas in Atl with fully recovery and recycling. You will be lucky to get .10. A lot of my large jobs go for .06 or less for recovery.

There is more competition in Atlanta than you or me will ever realize. Possibly with this drought situation people will start to care about the environment, but so far my response has been - "So what, I will go with the lowest bid" And they wash everything right down the drain....

Jeff Robison
Clean Up Atlanta
678-360-2518
Click to expand...
Jeff
If you don't mind sharing....when you do jobs of this size...how many machines are you running that recover and what your gpm/psi and width of surface cleaners.
thank
Alvis
 
Jeff Robison said:
Post some more information in your signature and I will give you a call this weekend.

Jeff Robison
Click to expand...

Got a phone number and/or website you could stick in there, Jeff?
:D
 
alvisishere said:
My business is in the Atlanta area where we are in the middle of a drought and to make matters worse, They are starting to enforce the law of reclaiming our water, which many of you already do on the west coast.
With that happening along with the drought, the smaller companies that are not willing to invest as much as 10k to 20K are going to be forced out of business.
I have just recently invested lotsa $$$$ in a steel eagle fury system to recapture and recycle my water to comply with the law so I am redirecting my business in a direction I am just learning about, which brings me to this post.................
I'm putting together a bid for a 3 level parking garage in downtown Buckhead (Upscale neighborhood).
It is approx 32,180 sq ft. on each level for a total of 96,540 sq ft.
There are poor drainage on each floor so I plan to recapture and recycle my water.
I have heard some of the pricing can go as high as .20 to .25 sq ft
Would that be a fair price if you was in a upscale part of town and you was reclaiming and recycling your water as well?
As far as supply and demand they are not PW business here in Atlanta that have invested $$$ in a reclaim system.
Since most of this is new to me I would like talk to some of you guys on the phone and we can share ideas and thoughts on what we experience in the pressure washing business. Just let me know its ok to call you and I will buzz you sometime!!
Thanks for your responses
Click to expand...

:D :D If only... More like .05 to .08..
 

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you guys are bidding too low at .05 I just bid .15 on a 120k garage never been done before. That's the initial plus the cost of having a sweeper come included 17k. Are you guys selling the jobs? Do you have a nice bid proposal packet/folder with all the brochures included. Do you tell them you can do a better job and why?also, even if they don't hire you, do you ask them to come back in and do a comparison?these are the steps that will make you more money. I would rather come back the second time around and get paid right. Its easy to low ball its harder to sell the job for more but for those of us that do an do a better job, we are setting the proper bar for a job done properly and professionally.
 
Russ, I have seen that but for 150k sqare feet or less

Thats ridiculous and un-businesslike, maybe they're on drugs, have bogus insurance, or are using home depot washers. UNLESS you are talking about 700,000,000 or more. thats when the price gets below 4 cents. So 1725.00 115,000@.015 1 guy even with a big machine would take at least 20 25 gal of degreaser, 100.00 -200.00 depending on where you get and how you cut gas/diesel would be at least 100.00 a day including getting there/back, and since the guy cant afford more than one machine and has a crappy surface cleaner, (if at all) there wouldn't be a point in hiring anyone so it would take hime at least 4-6 days depending on machine and MUD since he couldn't afford to have it swept, add in a hurt back after he is said and done net profit after taxes 700.00? wow he wont be around too long.
How about 36,000 linear -$10,000 -contracts are signed deposit received, thats our promise of a great job, no matter what, and we wont be drunk and high, will be wearing uniforms and are insured for real. Thats real business, not to mention i still have to up-sell the concrete on the ground -2300.00.
In the end the PM,s and board would rather be safe than sorry, dealing with a low balling scrub and ending up with damage makes everyones life crappy, including guys like you me and most of the guys here including Ron who work hard made investments to make peoples lives easier, and deserve better pay
and will win out over the scrubs. I charge more than the other guy all the time but I make sure the job is done right/ the custo is happy....;)
 
Though I am not on the east coast, I see allot of companies out here in California charging a very low price. You get what you pay for... A glorified rinse job.

We ask for a Premium price. I think it is how you present yourself, your product and your workmanship. Show why you demand these prices.

1. Your track record with the EPA. Having the inspectors with the client come out for a walkthru, before the work is to be done and after.
2. Showing your equipment and explaining that this is a better machine and why it is.
3.Giving them a portfolio and photos of past work...before and after shots.
4.Showing them the extent of the work, the procedures.
5.Inform them of the fines if it is done wrong and who gets those fines.

I see some pressure washing companies that do a garage here in California. They did it wrong, EPA fined them, they went out of business...claimed Bankruptcy. EPA then went after the city. Fined $300,000. Made the papers. City lost. City Paid. True story. City name.... Concord, California.

In my opinion, .05 is simple to little even in the east coast. That's my 2 cents for what its worth, but again, I'm not in your area.

.05 might be the high end. If it was, I would consider it busy work and not hired for profit. When we do a garage, we have anywhere upwards of 15 guys. With worker-comp, social sec., tax of approx. 15% for labor, insurance, fuel ( at $4.39 a gallon) and wear and tear(which should be 7-10% reserves of the total price of contract) add that up and at 5 cents a foot...its busy work. You'll be robbing Paul to feed Mary as they say.

Bottom line, if you think you're worth .05, then thats what you'll get. If you think you'll worth more and can convince the customer so, you'll get more. Sometimes you loose, but eventually, if you are a good salesman, stay in contact during the weeks and months. Take them out to lunch etc. you'll get them.
 
Since I have posted this I have come across some one who cleans a lot of new construction parking garages in Atlanta.
His system is this....he comes in with a cargo trailer with about 3 or 4 small cold water machines and seems like a thousand feet of hose throwed in the bottom of his trailer, he unloads his machines at different corner and works his way out using just laborers to operate the wands.....no surface cleaners, no soap, just rinsing the heavy dirt and red clay to the nearest drain so they can stripe in the next couple days.
He charges them .04 sq. ft and he tells me He will stay at that price because no one else will do it for that and the job he does is good enough to make the boss happy.
I know this for a fact because for the experience I helped him out on 2 separate occasions .
The last one we did, about 2 weeks ago, I brought in one of my contractor buds to help me and we cleaned 30k sq.ft between the two off us at .04 in about 4hrs for each of us, We made 600.00 for about 4 hrs pushing dirt and water with our wands, It was a easier on me because I am using a 11 gm machine.
As far as reclaiming there is by far way to much dirt to run through filters.
Bottom line to me is "you get what you pay for!!"
If you rinse it might be .04 but I think the more you do the more you should charge. I agree with Jim, he should get a premium price for what he does.
Everyone talks about 99 house wash, .04 to .06 is about the same to me.
Thats my .04 talking
 
Jim@Garagecleaning said:
Though I am not on the east coast, I see allot of companies out here in California charging a very low price. You get what you pay for... A glorified rinse job.

We ask for a Premium price. I think it is how you present yourself, your product and your workmanship. Show why you demand these prices.

1. Your track record with the EPA. Having the inspectors with the client come out for a walkthru, before the work is to be done and after.
2. Showing your equipment and explaining that this is a better machine and why it is.
3.Giving them a portfolio and photos of past work...before and after shots.
4.Showing them the extent of the work, the procedures.
5.Inform them of the fines if it is done wrong and who gets those fines.

I see some pressure washing companies that do a garage here in California. They did it wrong, EPA fined them, they went out of business...claimed Bankruptcy. EPA then went after the city. Fined $300,000. Made the papers. City lost. City Paid. True story. City name.... Concord, California.

In my opinion, .05 is simple to little even in the east coast. That's my 2 cents for what its worth, but again, I'm not in your area.

.05 might be the high end. If it was, I would consider it busy work and not hired for profit. When we do a garage, we have anywhere upwards of 15 guys. With worker-comp, social sec., tax of approx. 15% for labor, insurance, fuel ( at $4.39 a gallon) and wear and tear(which should be 7-10% reserves of the total price of contract) add that up and at 5 cents a foot...its busy work. You'll be robbing Paul to feed Mary as they say.

Bottom line, if you think you're worth .05, then thats what you'll get. If you think you'll worth more and can convince the customer so, you'll get more. Sometimes you loose, but eventually, if you are a good salesman, stay in contact during the weeks and months. Take them out to lunch etc. you'll get them.
Click to expand...

Come to this area and charge more than the going rate of $.05 - $.09 at most on parking garages and you will not have one single parking garage. I can make good money at $.06 or above. I don't know about everyone else's are, but if you cant make darn good money doing garages for $.06 - $.08 you are just to slow and we use hot water, degrease etc. Convince the customer! many many times the customer doesn't want to meet you, they don't have the time, its a phone call a bid and a job. I think I'm worth $.15 cents sure, but I wouldn't be in business either at those rates, its just a fact

How much are you or your company worth if you have NO work. We have guys that will come from out of state and do the basic rinse for $.03 $.04 a sq ft. I have passed on doing it that way, just wont do it

Rates are different everywhere but 100,000 sq ft garage at $.15 Like I said you aren't going to get $15,000 dollars for 2 days work with a few guys. Maybe I should do a branch of my company up in you all's area, we are pretty good at what we do. I'd love to be called a low baller at $.14 a sq ft LOL


I have a garage over 120K sq ft I do it once a year for past 4 years I get $.08 I took it from 4 guys that came from GA and they had 4 cold water machines threw some soap down and basically washed it back off. They did this for 5 years, they used to do several in my area. They charged $.03. I was doing other work for the property and told them I could do much better gave them the price and they choked at 1st, I did sample and hell they were just impressed that we used heat. I sold this job and sold it well to them, but I have yet to see anyone over $.09 Could a great salesman get more $$ yes maybe but not enough sales in this area to support a biz
 
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