Trash Compactor pad, How much to charge?

S

Speed's wash

New member
I am new to the business and would really appreciate some help. Last week I washed 5 trash compactor pads that were about 50ft long and 30ft wide for $250.00. It took me about 7 hours total to finish the job. This included making 2 trips to the site and I had to refill my 200 gallon water tank 3 times for 4 of the compactors.The 1st one I did had water close by. I had to use about 2 gallons of degreaser and some phosphoric acid for rust stains. The acid did not do a very good job. I have 3000psi hot/cold unit at 5GPM.
Did I just under bid the job or am I just slow because I am still learning?
The same customer wants me to go to another site next week to do 5 more compactor pads. What should I charge?

Thanks,
Speed's Powerwash
 
Don't feel bad .. I have been in the business for about 14 years and I am sill learning... Sometimes I mess up on pricing.. But the good thing is repeat business .. I keep thinking to myself when I bid to low on a job .. How many people do you know that average $ 250.00 in 7 hours.. Even if you spend $50.00 on gas and Chemical .. Still there isn't many people that can say they make 200.00 in 7 hours.. ( Maybe my doctor) but thats all..

When I bid low on a job by accident I use it as a sales pitch to others in the area for concrete cleaning and or vent hood cleaning.. I once priced a hood cleaning in a small mom and po joint in bentonia MS for $ 175.00 .. My Bad took me 6 hours... But guess what I got 3 $ 250.00 dollar Jobs and one Concrete job out of the deal in close by Yazoo , City.. Thanks to the trusty digital camera and a few brochures I made from the Before and After Pictures then I put them all over town. Now when I got to Bentonia every 3 months I make about $ 925.0 in one day...
7 am ---clean Lucky's in Bentoni
3 pm clean Stubs in Yazoo
10 pm Clean Clancy's in Yazoo
1 am in the morn clean Howell's down the street in Yazoo.

Remember good work will pay off !!!! Always

Good Luck !!!!

Just some old Guy , Pressure Washing a bunch of Peoples s@#T
 
Thanks for the info John. I agree with you $250 is all good money to me to. I just use the business to suppliment my $70,000 dollar a year full time job.
I just want to do the right thing and charge for what I am worth along with my time. I am going to bid the next job about a $100.00 more.

Thanks again,

Speed's Powerwash
 
wolf

You serious? $70,000 a year and your pw'n all day for $250? You probably make what around $300 a day working your "regular job"? I am going to have to cry foul here. I would have to see some sort of proof of that to believe it.
And yes $250 is not even close to enough to charge for that, especially for someone used to making so much cash on a regular basis. Try around $600-$700, unless your going to be doing it on a regular basis or plan to get a lot more work from this person. 7 hours even seems steep for the amount of work you did, but I guess having to leave the site several times adds a lot of unnecessary time. Anyway, congrats on the $70,000 a year.
 
Vandiesel99, I wish I could say that I have plenty of money but with two kids I can hardley make it.My wife even brings in 45,000 a year as a school teacher, that day care will eat you up.
Do you really think that I could get $600-$700 for a job that size.
I have to bid on 5 more compactor pads for the same customer tomorrow and I was figuring about $350 for that job without have to stop and get water. Only one of the compactors is for food and has some grease around it. The other 4 compactors are only used for paper so they only have dirt and debris around them.I fiqure I can get them done in about 4-5 hours.
Any like I said in the other posts, I only do the jobs on my days off.My schedual allows me to be off some days during the week as well as some long weekends.

Speed's Powerwash
 
Realistically, if you are running a decent surface cleaner, 5gpm, and hot water... and it takes 5 hours. I would at least shoot for $400-$450. I am not sure how much competition you face, or what the cost of living, etc. is where your from. I think you could reasonably ask that, the problem now is that you have done it too cheap already. Now he EXPECTS a low price for the work. BTW: What is your salaried job?
 
I am a Federal Officer for the Department Of Homeland Security.
We government employees get paid alot for not mush work. LOL!!!!

Speed
 
No kidding around. Yes, I am fortunate enough to have a great full time job and also have fun running my own business and pleasing customers or at least it gets me out of the house and it keeps me in shape.
There is no need for me make up an inflated salary or fictitous job title.I am pretty proud of myself for having all that I have and only being 30yrs old....

SPEED
 
Hello Speed,
I am down south in Corpus Christi, Where are you?
 
You should try and average at least $75-100 per hour. The cost of fuel being around $2.39 a gallon and your time, overhead, etc. If you were running this as your only income you would have to set a floor price and live by it or you would go out of business. Unless you're just a weekend warrior wantin' beer money. Thsen it's guys like you that make it tough on the little guy because of the low balling that seems to flood this industry.
Don't get me wrong I'm not saying you are that type of person, just keep your standards up and the quality of your work excellent and you will do just fine.
Get you 100 or so of those regular maintenance accts. Quit your job and make some real money!
 
Speed's wash said:
Did I just under bid the job or am I just slow because I am still learning?
Click to expand...

A little of both! You will get faster. We run a 2 man crew when doing flatwork. Last night the guys were gone from the shop about 7 hours. They had 1.5 hours of pure travel time plus the time between 3 stops. Grossed $875.

Dave Olson
 
Hey Chris, I may look you up next time I am down south. My wife is from Corpus and I am from Victoria Tx. We now live and work in Dallas, Texas.

Speed
 
I agree, don't lowball, I used to make 140,000.00 a year with a cabinet shop, but got flooded out when Tropical Storm Allison hit Houston, Sold my buss. got 70,000 a year salery and they got rid of me when they thought they knew all that I knew about cabinets. Now I'm in this buss and want to make a good living from it and when my non-compete runs out , I will start back in cabinets and run two buss.
 
Im rich but I Dont have alot of Money... I have a beautiful 8 year old daughter that I spoil Daily and A beautiful wife that I spoil hourly.. My family >>>> Makes me rich....

I work and spend and work and spend ... Oh yeah and save for my little girls college ...
I want her to have all the opurtunities that I Did not have.. I average $70.00 an hour mostly unless I provide other services for the customer such as vent hood cleaning , fire inspections, recharges, HVAC, Appliance Cleaning and repair .. on a good day I average around 300.00 to 400.00 And my other crew around 250.00 a day and my fire inspection guy ( Pete) He brings in about $ 100.00 a Day
 
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