Fenceman said:
I have seen it done both ways.Do you prefer to walk the roof,or suit up,work below and get drenched with all the funky stuff? Im a bit spooked to walk tall roofs,especially when they are wet...
I have a bit of age and bad knees, and houses that are 6 feet apart for the 2 story homes and to top that off the roofs are Terra gotta tile.
Get the picture?
I do only single story homes and work as a one person biz. I do go to the roof and using the gutter grabber tool the stuff to a collection area the grab from ladder with 3 foot stand offs on the roof. Into the bucket the stuff goes then empty the stuff into a bag.
If I can't get to the roof for reasons of being to steep or not walkable I use a 16 foot extension pole and pull the stuff to me then use a gutter scoop and into a 5 gallon bucket with holes in the bottom to reduce water and down the ladder I go. 16 times two for reach 32 feet from ladder set.
A single story house takes about 45 to an hour. I charge 130 vs others that charge 175. I do phone estimates to reduce overhead, if a customer wants an on site estimate I charge 175.
I do use the blower for homes with eves that are large enough from the house and the landscaping is weak. Otherwise you spend half you time cleaning the yard and we all know that stuff in the gutters are nasty and cleaning up the yard is more work than doing it from hand.
Most of my customers would kill me for blowing stuff into the landscaping.
Once you get the right setup doing a job by hand is really easy and fast, and returns more re-calls than making a mess for the customer or boss.
We all have our ways and I do not ever disrespect those that work differently than I do, in fact sometimes I get tips from them but the best tip was by hand and not PW or blower. I am talking more about wintertime when gutter are wet.
I also add for a fee a light bleach to stop moss from growing on new roofs and get good jobs for that, only if the roof is walkable.
Just an old timers way of doing things.
You Young whipper snappers without care can do all the climbing you want.
but I have kids and a wife to deal with...
Kiss