Flat work pricing
- Thread starter max_rob
- Start date
ron p
i have been watching Steve do some inside flatwork.
He was lucky and they let him use their tennet indoor sweepers to pick up the waste water. They also had a place to dump the waste water.
How are you going to handle these issue's?
I would call Steve if i were you.
I would also check the rental of the sweeper unless you have a better way to remove the water?
i have been watching Steve do some inside flatwork.
He was lucky and they let him use their tennet indoor sweepers to pick up the waste water. They also had a place to dump the waste water.
How are you going to handle these issue's?
I would call Steve if i were you.
I would also check the rental of the sweeper unless you have a better way to remove the water?
i did'nt say
i did it for 7 cent's but every place ive looked for work has quoted that's what they pay.
It get's done, so someone is making money at it.
At 20 cents a sq ft i could maybe keep my buissness.
It aint lookin so good right now.
Another 4 days of rain.
Have not worked in 85 days.
in 85 days it's either rained/snowed or was below 25 deg.
i did it for 7 cent's but every place ive looked for work has quoted that's what they pay.
It get's done, so someone is making money at it.
At 20 cents a sq ft i could maybe keep my buissness.
It aint lookin so good right now.
Another 4 days of rain.
Have not worked in 85 days.
in 85 days it's either rained/snowed or was below 25 deg.
Steven Rowlett
Member
For the record, we had to rent the scrubber. We had some problems with it but were able to get a replacement after waiting around some. This is the only way to tackle a job like this. We were running three surface cleaners on this job so you can imagine how much water we put down.
7 Cents is High ...
Hey Ron P.
I know what you mean, here in st. louis you cant even
come close to 7 cents a sq ft, but here lies the problem..
I found out all these strip malls charge each store monthly
for snow removal. lawn care, power washing, lot sweeping, etc..
So it is just 1 flat price a month for all the services, to each store
and the property management has cheap equip. pays someone
$7-$9 per hour to do all the above, now I know the individual stores
in the strip mall are not happy with their work, but what can they
do, ? nothing.. The money is in residential, not commercial, and where
you live Ron, you have to assume you will not work for at least 4 months
out of one year, so the rest of the year you can work 7 days a week
12 hours a day to make up for the 4 months off, it still comes out
the same as if you worked all 12 months at 40 hours..
Just a Thought...
Hey Ron P.
I know what you mean, here in st. louis you cant even
come close to 7 cents a sq ft, but here lies the problem..
I found out all these strip malls charge each store monthly
for snow removal. lawn care, power washing, lot sweeping, etc..
So it is just 1 flat price a month for all the services, to each store
and the property management has cheap equip. pays someone
$7-$9 per hour to do all the above, now I know the individual stores
in the strip mall are not happy with their work, but what can they
do, ? nothing.. The money is in residential, not commercial, and where
you live Ron, you have to assume you will not work for at least 4 months
out of one year, so the rest of the year you can work 7 days a week
12 hours a day to make up for the 4 months off, it still comes out
the same as if you worked all 12 months at 40 hours..
Just a Thought...
the_GUNN_man
New member
I am a little confused. I think that at 7 cents a sq. ft. you could make a lot of money for flat-work. How many sq. ft. an hour can you wash with your surface cleaner? If you washed 1430 sq. ft. an hour @.07 with a 30" surface cleaner you would make $100 an hour. They claim you can wash 7000 sq. ft. an hour with a 30" surface cleaner. Even if you washed half of that an hour(3500) you would still make $245 an hour. I understand that some jobs are smaller so you wouldn't be able to really move like in a parking lot or such. If you washed a driveway that was 24x75 that would be 1800 sq. ft. I could do that in less then an hour. So at 7 cents a sq. ft. it would cost $126 and at 20 cents it would be $360. I just wouldn't think people would pay $360 when you are gone in less then an hour. Even it being commercial that is high. I am not trying to argue or start anything but if you are getting that much a sq. ft. then you got it going on out there. I wish I could get that much. I do charge more per sq. ft. for smaller areas. How much area are you washing at a time? I have gone all the way down to 2 cents a sq. ft. for parking lots. That also was over 40,000 sq. ft. So that equals $800. I could have done it in probably 8 hours or less. That would have been $100 an hour or better. I still didn't get the job because they said it was too much. Someone else under cut me. I thought my bid was low. But at 20 cents it would have been $8,000. After I put in my bid I was thinking I was too low and would for sure get the job. I was wanting to put it at 3 cents. That would have gave me $1200 for less then a days work. But like I said I was wrong and I ended up being too high. By the way is was cleaning black top. They just wanted a straight hot water rinse. Do you do parking lots for that much too? I am just curious. I do residential concrete for around 10 cents a sq. ft. I lower my price per sq. ft. the higher the total sq. footage goes.
Clean County PW
Active member
Two things I would like to add here:
First off by far the biggest Companies I know in the Powerwashing field are COMMERCIAL not RESIDENTIAL companies and the answer to this is because of REPEAT business. The Best thing to have if your a small Operation like myself is Commercial and Residential mixed. Hopefully one day I can be almost all Commercial so I can keep Employees busy.
2nd thing is that I know of NO one that commands on average 20-25 cents per SQ ft for Flat work on commercial accounts unless if they reclaim it and I don't know to many people that do here...as of yet. I'm not saying that it can't be done but I don't see how it can be done when the competition out there is so fierce. Loyalty is a thing from the past with Commercial. How one can keep there prices at 25 cents per square leads me to think that if they are not lying then they are in an area where there is NO Competition or there Family owns the places that they are cleaning.
I make anywhere between 4-8 cents per square ft Commercial and I average about $100-$150 an hour in doing so. That is me doing it by myself. If I had Employees doing it of course my hourly rate would be Much higher.
First off by far the biggest Companies I know in the Powerwashing field are COMMERCIAL not RESIDENTIAL companies and the answer to this is because of REPEAT business. The Best thing to have if your a small Operation like myself is Commercial and Residential mixed. Hopefully one day I can be almost all Commercial so I can keep Employees busy.
2nd thing is that I know of NO one that commands on average 20-25 cents per SQ ft for Flat work on commercial accounts unless if they reclaim it and I don't know to many people that do here...as of yet. I'm not saying that it can't be done but I don't see how it can be done when the competition out there is so fierce. Loyalty is a thing from the past with Commercial. How one can keep there prices at 25 cents per square leads me to think that if they are not lying then they are in an area where there is NO Competition or there Family owns the places that they are cleaning.
I make anywhere between 4-8 cents per square ft Commercial and I average about $100-$150 an hour in doing so. That is me doing it by myself. If I had Employees doing it of course my hourly rate would be Much higher.
Clean County PW
Active member
Ron P.,
You don't live to far from me so the weather is somewhat similiar. I have Powerwashed every Month so far serving a Commercial account that I have. I do it on nights that will be above Freezing which are few and far Between from Jan.-Feb..
Its tough but if you have some commercial accounts it can be done.
Another way to look at it is Landscaping companies. They pretty much work from late March to early December. They have on average 2-3 months off a year here yet they make a ton of Money in season so they can survive the winter. Thats what you need to do. Also hook up with someone where you can do winter work for them while your business is slow.
When I hear stories like this I keep thinking about getting into Hoods. There's a company around here that only does Commercial work and they have all the Bennigans Restaurants Locked up among others. They have five bucket Trucks that Have Powerwashers attached to each truck and these two that own this business are probably still under the age of 30.
Something to think about.
You don't live to far from me so the weather is somewhat similiar. I have Powerwashed every Month so far serving a Commercial account that I have. I do it on nights that will be above Freezing which are few and far Between from Jan.-Feb..
Its tough but if you have some commercial accounts it can be done.
Another way to look at it is Landscaping companies. They pretty much work from late March to early December. They have on average 2-3 months off a year here yet they make a ton of Money in season so they can survive the winter. Thats what you need to do. Also hook up with someone where you can do winter work for them while your business is slow.
When I hear stories like this I keep thinking about getting into Hoods. There's a company around here that only does Commercial work and they have all the Bennigans Restaurants Locked up among others. They have five bucket Trucks that Have Powerwashers attached to each truck and these two that own this business are probably still under the age of 30.
Something to think about.
WOW! .20-.25 per sq ft?!! I can't land a commercial job out here in Southern California with a cost above .06. Most are demanding .03-.04. My goal is to have 65% of my flatwork to be commercial. The other 35% residential helps make up for the commercial butt kickin'.
Take care
Ron
Take care
Ron
Michael Cappa
Member
If you are getting 20 cents plus per sqft, I am moving out near you tomorrow and we are going partners. Me and Jon are going partners in a cat house in Vegas, that we will "clean", lol.
Any way, that does sound VERY high. I get anywhere from .04 (being the lowest) to .08 for flat work with commercial accounts. For residential, I clean for .12 and I clean and seal starting at .25. anything much higher than that and I wouldn't win a flat work bid,period.
Any way, that does sound VERY high. I get anywhere from .04 (being the lowest) to .08 for flat work with commercial accounts. For residential, I clean for .12 and I clean and seal starting at .25. anything much higher than that and I wouldn't win a flat work bid,period.
OK
I have thought about everything said here.
$100 per hour for a owner/operator to make seem's to be what everyone likes to get.
At $100 we know[except for JON] that we are doing it wrong because on no reclaim.
Second is a goal of not having to go and do it yourself.
That's right the goal is to hire someone and $ in your pocket from your shop[ron m]
notice how niether replied here.
I am sure at 3 cent's we are looking like the worst lowballer's to them.
Take out what you pay a man to do it for you,payroll,tax's,reclaim.fuel,ect.......
and you prob could'nt stay in buissness.
I have read that Ron M posted his guy/crew has to do over $1000 per shift. Shift includes travel time.
Max-Rob seem's to have stopped posting on this.
Smart move.
His compition now has his phone number,his picture, what equipment he has,the area he work's in, and his pricing.
Now he just told you where the job is.
Better watchout for over eagerism. Someone will come by and take advantage of that.
LANDSCAPERS i know 20 of them.
They survive on contracts. They get paid to put a piece of equipment on a piece of property. Just to have it on site, they collect a check. Then when it snow's they get paid to operate it.
Smaller guy's do snow for the residental customers[mostly grass cutter's, not landscapers]
This is what MIKE dose.
Commerical is the only way to make it in this buissness unless you have more then one crew working 10 hr days in the good weather. Even then how do you keep your help over the winter?
I am just to big to do a lot of diffrent types of hood work. So i dont think about that too much. Too much leagle mumbo jumbo.
Having one chain of stores and doing every type of cleaning for that one chain sounds like a real good gig to get. All night work but what the heck, most comm. is.
We have the local guy that made enuff money to begin breaking ground for a TRUCK WASH. PERTH AMBOY NJ is where he finnally got permission to build one. It's not easy nor cheap.
Total is said to be over 2 million.
There are only 2 others in this state.
This place is going to be a like owning a hole in the ground that spit's gold at you. Soooooo meny places in that area are so sick of FLEETWASH it's not funny. He will branch out to doing mobil service and have his place to dump the waste water.
Im thinking of going to see him and see if i can get on his sub-contractor list.
He could keep me and a crew busy year round.
That area has 1000's of trucking co and buissness's with trucks.
I have thought about everything said here.
$100 per hour for a owner/operator to make seem's to be what everyone likes to get.
At $100 we know[except for JON] that we are doing it wrong because on no reclaim.
Second is a goal of not having to go and do it yourself.
That's right the goal is to hire someone and $ in your pocket from your shop[ron m]
notice how niether replied here.
I am sure at 3 cent's we are looking like the worst lowballer's to them.
Take out what you pay a man to do it for you,payroll,tax's,reclaim.fuel,ect.......
and you prob could'nt stay in buissness.
I have read that Ron M posted his guy/crew has to do over $1000 per shift. Shift includes travel time.
Max-Rob seem's to have stopped posting on this.
Smart move.
His compition now has his phone number,his picture, what equipment he has,the area he work's in, and his pricing.
Now he just told you where the job is.
Better watchout for over eagerism. Someone will come by and take advantage of that.
LANDSCAPERS i know 20 of them.
They survive on contracts. They get paid to put a piece of equipment on a piece of property. Just to have it on site, they collect a check. Then when it snow's they get paid to operate it.
Smaller guy's do snow for the residental customers[mostly grass cutter's, not landscapers]
This is what MIKE dose.
Commerical is the only way to make it in this buissness unless you have more then one crew working 10 hr days in the good weather. Even then how do you keep your help over the winter?
I am just to big to do a lot of diffrent types of hood work. So i dont think about that too much. Too much leagle mumbo jumbo.
Having one chain of stores and doing every type of cleaning for that one chain sounds like a real good gig to get. All night work but what the heck, most comm. is.
We have the local guy that made enuff money to begin breaking ground for a TRUCK WASH. PERTH AMBOY NJ is where he finnally got permission to build one. It's not easy nor cheap.
Total is said to be over 2 million.
There are only 2 others in this state.
This place is going to be a like owning a hole in the ground that spit's gold at you. Soooooo meny places in that area are so sick of FLEETWASH it's not funny. He will branch out to doing mobil service and have his place to dump the waste water.
Im thinking of going to see him and see if i can get on his sub-contractor list.
He could keep me and a crew busy year round.
That area has 1000's of trucking co and buissness's with trucks.
Clean County PW
Active member
Ron P,
If you go to www.epowerwash.com and go to the classified section you will see a NJ guy looking to hire Powerwashing subcontractors.
Here's the add:
HELP WANTED Employment
Pressure cleaning company in New Jersey looking for experienced sub contractors we can sub work to and people in all fields of pressure cleaning and building restoration to hire (Estimators to Laborers) call 908-903-1999
Posted: Feb 6, 2003
Expires: Mar 8, 2003 View | Edit
So where were you for the NJ Roundtable. I drove 3 hrs thru Fog and Rain and still made it even though I was crosseyed by the time I got there.
If you go to www.epowerwash.com and go to the classified section you will see a NJ guy looking to hire Powerwashing subcontractors.
Here's the add:
HELP WANTED Employment
Pressure cleaning company in New Jersey looking for experienced sub contractors we can sub work to and people in all fields of pressure cleaning and building restoration to hire (Estimators to Laborers) call 908-903-1999
Posted: Feb 6, 2003
Expires: Mar 8, 2003 View | Edit
So where were you for the NJ Roundtable. I drove 3 hrs thru Fog and Rain and still made it even though I was crosseyed by the time I got there.
thanks
for the heads up.
I am selling my house and buying a house.
Had inspectors and a fricken flood in the basement[pump konked out] What a mess.
I sold it as is but still needed to get things done.
Nothing like doubling your monthly house payment
Starting a buissness
quitting a job ive been at for 10 years
got married
have to give away 2 great dogs[do you know anyone]
pack-up
sign paperwork
yadda yadda
im a mess!!!!!!
the closeing is getting screwed up and i may have to find a place to rent for 2 months.
like i said, im a mess.
for the heads up.
I am selling my house and buying a house.
Had inspectors and a fricken flood in the basement[pump konked out] What a mess.
I sold it as is but still needed to get things done.
Nothing like doubling your monthly house payment
Starting a buissness
quitting a job ive been at for 10 years
got married
have to give away 2 great dogs[do you know anyone]
pack-up
sign paperwork
yadda yadda
im a mess!!!!!!
the closeing is getting screwed up and i may have to find a place to rent for 2 months.
like i said, im a mess.
max_rob
New member
Well I haven't stoped posting, I was out of town. But I must say Ron. I am not worried about competition. The only real competition I have is in the hood cleaning side of things. For you to post things on here, please keep in mind that things change from one geographical area to another. I would invite anyone to come to my area and compete. All the ground work has been laid. When I started this last year, none of my customers heard of power washing something. I showed them the benefits and they signed on. And after reading the posts on here, I would guess, but not assume, that there is tight competition. This is not the case here. What my customers know, is that I will be there when I say I will be there, and do a quality job. They are more than happy to pay the price we agree upon, and they also know that I won't up my prices on them. I price things so that I make money at them, that is after all the reason I am in business... to make money. As for the fairground bid, I got that and I ended up being 8 cents a foot cheaper than the guy that has been doing it for years. And he swept it and didn't wash it.