Quoting Commercial

D

Doug Dahlke

New member
I have been working on getting set up as a vendor with a large PM group. A few days ago I took a look at one shopping center they have. I measured over 60,000 sf of sidewalk and 4,500 linear feet of curb and that is not all of it. What kind of pricing is recommended for that large a property? How much time do the PM's give you to do the work? How do they follow up that you have done it? They want the curbs and sidewalks done once per quarter. I need some help with this please.
 
Hello Doug,

How much do you think it will cost YOU to do the work? Out of pocket costs only.

Dave Olson
 
I'm not sure. Just got a hot water machine and have never done a commercial job. Used the hot water today for the first time on a driveway that hadn't been cleaned in 16 years but that is no comparison to something like this. If it cost me $80 in fuel to run the hot water machine for 8 hours and it took me a month to clean this thing working 5 days a week that is $1,600 in fuel expense. I do have insurance costs also but those have to be spread across all the work I do. They would be minimal compared to the fuel. Just quoting the sidewalks at $0.10/sf on this thing is over $6,000. I would think a fair quote on this is in the $10,000 range. Is that right or am I way off on this. At that pricing I would think this is well worth the time.

Would a PM let you take a month to do the whole job? It probably wouldn't take that long but like I said I have never done a job on this scale. With a 5 GPM machine how many sf/hr should I be able to clean? What is an average rate for cleaning curbs? Someone here has to have some ball park pricing info for this kind of work.
 
Doug, you should be able to do 3k to 4k sq. ft. an hour. You should be able to do the sidewalk in two days and curbing in one. In all honesty if you tell the PM company you need a month you could get laughed at... I dont know how many guys you have or how many machines you run but two machines at 5.6 gpm and two guys this would be a 3 day job(8 hrs. each day), unless of coarse there is gum everywhere and the concrete is really filthy.

I hope this helps, of coarse it wont be perfect because every job is slightly different but this will give you an idea of what is expected from pressure wash contractors going after jobs this size. You will also need workmans comp and a minimum of 1 mill. in insurance for this type work.
 
I seriously doubt you'll get $.10 per sq ft on commercial.Also if this is going to be done quarterly that will factor in.Meaning the price would be slightly lower than you would expect for a one time clean.
You will more like need to think in the $.06 -.08 per sq ft range.Commercial concrete is much more competitive than residential.If you do land a $10k+ bid for this you have found the pot of gold at the end of teh rainbow.
 
Doug,

Now your getting your thinking cap on! :) You must have an idea what your out of pocket costs will be to bid on any project.

Go to this place and test. Try to come up with what you think it will take for you to do 500-1000 square feet. Sure you will be slow, gotta crawl before you can walk and so on! ;)

Dave Olson
 
Thanks for all the response. I do have the insurance part covered. I had to have that before they would set me up as a vendor. Right now I am a one man show with one machine. This property is being maintained so it is not terrible as far as the dirt and gum go.

How do you price the curb? I would think it is done perlinear foot. What is a ball park range for pricing on that? The PM said they have a site map of the property. Would that show the measurements I need to quote this or do I have to go on site and measure?
 
dude
60000 sqft is a drop in the bucket
2 nights tops
we go out when the places close and work till they open
just did a center around 120K sqft
3 2man nights
1 3man night
and i was by myself for 6 more, would been 3 tops if there was 2
 
Doug I was just asked to quote 37miles of curbs. They want a per-mile quote which is fine I'll just figure 5280ft=mile I will price per linear ft and convert it. There are other things to be considered.Water,traffic,PITA factors.
 
I tend to charge around 7.5 - 8 cents/sq.ft for large commercial concrete jobs like 10,000 sq.ft and higher. I charge more if it is really nasty. How about this job below. I posted this yesterday on the concrete cleaner thread.

I just got back from an estimate in Denton, NC. 10,000 square foot old steel fabrication warehouse. They want all the concrete floors, walls, ceiling, and the lights clean-->(first time anyone has requested that to me).

The concrete is really black and nasty. The walls and ceiling don't look bad. I like using Brown Derby Truck wash from Soap Warehouse for oily black stuff like this and maybe add extra Sodium Hydroxide to it for strength on the floor. Maybe Potassium Hydroxide too? I don't have a hot water machine so I will need to use more chemicals than if I did.

Anyone have a better suggestion?

The walls are about 20 feet high and the flat work is 100 feet squared.

Price - 10,000 sq.ft flat x $.10= $1000
10,000 sq.ft ceiling + 8000 sq.ft walls = 18,000 x $.05= $900
Chemicals = $150 approx.
76 miles round trip= $50 Travel charge/gas

TOTAL = $2100
How does this sound for this job?
 
Pwkid said:
Doug I was just asked to quote 37miles of curbs. They want a per-mile quote which is fine I'll just figure 5280ft=mile I will price per linear ft and convert it. There are other things to be considered.Water,traffic,PITA factors.
Click to expand...

Mel, are you going to use a single wand with a turbo nozzle for that job? That's what I would do.

Could you share with us your per linear ft charge on this job?
 
Brian What GPM do you have and what size surface cleaner are you using?

Mel What is the price range you will be in for the curbs? There are a lot of islands in the parking lot of this place. They all have pine bark in them. I would have to run a lot of hose from the building to my machine or keep filling the tank (300 gal) and move around to the islands. That is about the only PITA factor I see in the job.
 
The same PM company has had me quote a smaller job. They gave me the go ahead on quarterly cleaning of the sidewalks and I will be doing the job sometime over the next week as soon as I get a night with temps above freezing.

I have been asked to quote another job by a different PM. This is an older strip mall that is two stories tall. I'm heading out to start measuring it out. Any tips on doing a building like this? I suppose the smart thing to do is wash the 2nd floor first. Are there any special tricks to handling hose going up like that? Any advice from someone who does this type of building?
 
The M5 works well for us, some use extension wands - but with a mall that would get a little hard on your back and arms I would think. Soap bottom to top and rinse top to bottom. We have done about 5 3 story apartment complex's in the last 8 months....
 
I think I mis-stated the job. The building is two stories but the entrances to the stores are all on the exterior. Stairs go to the upper level and there is flat work to clean up there.
 
Stairs are always more money. upstairs is ussally not much extra as long as access is ok. I usally price stair case and wells separate. they usally need to be serviced more often.
 
Ron,

Do you price the stairs by square footage as well and just up the pricing? As a percentage how much more per square foot would you charge for stairs over a sidewalk?
 
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