Brite-Side Powerwashing

[BriteSide]

Hey guys, I've been doing power washing for around 6 years now. I got into pretty much full time this past year. I just launched my website. I was wondering where is the best place to advertise the website? I've signed up w/ google and I'm considering signing up w/ yahoo. Thanks alot

Jonathan
Brite-Side Powerwashing
www.britesidepowerwashing.com

 

[Larry B]

I don't think you will see a decent return for the $$. The best way is to put it on cards, flyers, adds etc. You are not looking for traffic but use it as a display for your work.

 

[PressurePros]

Congrats on going full time. Larry nailed it.

 

[Dan S]

You be shocked on how many big dollar spenders dont even look at web sites. and how many old timers dont even know how to turn on a computer.

Im sure websites generate some traffic....I know I would not stay busy if thats all I had. esp. in my area................. People get bored reading alot of info. on sites.

 

[john orr]

I have had my website up since I started - almost 6 years ago - and I can tell you, it is an invaluable sales tool, but unless you are looking for on-line sales of product, websites are strictly local.

While the likelihood of someone in your service area googling you is very low, there are usually local bbs or sites run by newspapers and some phone books. I use my website in my phone book listing and, of course, on all business cards and signs. My site averages 20 or so hits per day. Not many, but a lot of these are quality hits - prospective customers checking me out prior to calling.

Hope this helps,

John Orr

 

[BriteSide]

thanks for the input

Hey guys,
Larry, thanks for the input, what you said makes sense. If somone wants their house done they're going to pick up the phone book or call somone that was referred to them.. I'm touchy up the site still. I've got the option on my website that a interested customer can fill in a simple form and submit it with what they want done as in the job. This might help you guys out if you try it w/ your sites. Instead of having to call you the customer just fills in what they want done and it goes right to your email. Its not 2 hard to setup if you know what you're doing w/ microsoft frontpage. If anyone needs tips email me at britesidepowerwashing@hotmail.com

Another question.
I'm not trying to take business away from anyone, and i dont think that will be a problem considering we all probabbly live in different states, but for some advice what type of advertising or stagagies did you guys use that worked best for you. I found direct mail worked best for me, even though it was sumwhat expensive

thanks again
Jonathan
Brite-Side Powerwashing
www.britesidepowerwashing.com

 

[CCPC]

Direct mail here too. my direct mail advertising makes up a huge 90% of my current customers and new customers (refered customers included). My yellow page ad brings maybe 1 or 2 calls a week at best, but from a dollar perspective, the yellow page ad brings a lot more high dollar jobs.

 

[ericw]

On your mail outs what do you usually list or bring to the persons attention? How much does it cost to advertise in the yellow pages?

 

[BriteSide]

Eric,
if you decide to do mail outs make the letter looks as professional as possible. Dont send postcards, send letters. Think about it, how many postcards from magazines and trashmail do you get and just throw away with out looking at them. Print out the people/business's names on envelopes of if you want to save time use labels. You can do all of this on Word if you know how to use that. OK for your letter, keep it simple, no one wants to read a novel when you're trying to sell them somthing. Tell them that you offer this service. Include that you're licensed & insured (if you are) tell them you give free estimates and that you'd be glad to come by and speak with them if they are interested. Target your letters to different groups using different layouts. For example, if you're targeting real estate agents, say that you offer this service and if you our your company would be interested in increasing you're client's home values keep "your business name" in mind. Autograph every letter, and make sure you include a business card within every letter.

If you decide to do Mail Outs know this: It can be expensive. Target the right people. Look lagit, if somone is going to pay you 10 grand to do a job, they want somone that presents themselves well. Lastly, send mail outs during the early spring!!! Dont waste your time advertising to people that want somthing done 8 months from now, get them when the idea is fresh.


There's mail outs 101 for you
Hope this helped

Jonathan
Brite-Side Powerwashing
www.britesidepowerwashing.com

 

[ericw]

Yes it did thanks alot i was thinking about just doint the letters as you were saying, how do u get licensed for powerwashing? i have insurance do to my lawncare business i guess fall is to late to push powerwashing? I also put lawn signs in the lawns of the homes that i have done for a bout 2 weeks figure this gets my name out thats what another guy does that is around here as well do u know how much the yellow pages are? say to put your business card in there

 

[BriteSide]

Eric,
yeah i'd say wait till spring for the mail out marketing idea. So you already have a lawn care service? You better go talk to your insurance agent and let them know you're going to be adding the pressure washing service to your current business. This is why: say your lawn care business is insured, and you keep doing what you're doing and in the spring you decide to take up pressure washing, ok so you're out thinking everything is fine and you're pressure washing a $500,000 home, you and your helper are positioning the ladder to get up to the gutters, well since your 32ft ladder is top heavy it makes it hard to manuver, so you and your helper lose control and it comes crashing down into a $2000 window the home has on its 2nd floor.. what do you do... call your insurance company and pray that your liability insurance covers it, guess what they're going to tell you... i'm sorry eric, but when did mowing lawns require you to use a 32 ft ladder and pressure wash somone's house... so that 2k comes back on you... So, make sure you get add your pressure washing service to your current lawn care service before you do any jobs.

About the licensing part: most states do no require you to have a license to pressure wash, but having a regular business license in your city or state means that you are able to say your business is licensed, since you're already licensed w/ your other business there's no need ot get an additional license since this service is basically an addition.

Advertising in the yellow pages: It costs me roughly $500 per year to advertise a business card size add in yellow book. Depending on how big your business is this can help greatly. Consider you get 1-2 jobs from this add and your advertising is paid for... On the other hand if there is 25 others in your local book advertising for pressure washign, it's best to pick a different rout, or make your add stick out by saying you've got competitive pricing + free estiates...

About sticking a sign in the yard:
This can be a good advertising method, BUT most people that have a nice house and live in a gated community dont want people trying to market their business on their property, pulling your truck and trailor up on their driveway w/ your logo's and phone number on the side is good enough.. Oh and if you do do the sign thing, I hope you remove it when you leave instead of assuming your customer is ok w/ advertising on their property.




Jonathan
Brite-Side Powerwashing

 

[ericw]

There is only 1 major guy in the yellow pages here. Have u ever used power house cleaner by sunbrite how do u like it and how strong should u mix it to do a vinyl sided house they say 25 to 1 ? i use a 5 gallon back pack sprayer

 

[BriteSide]

Eric,
no i've never used that cleaner before... Whatever you do.. dont be dumb and use straight bleach like most guys do... They wonder why they dont get reacurring jobs... maybe because they're customers plants are dead and their vinyl siding is dull as flat paint... i use this stuff called mildew buster... i have no complaints... the stuff is thick and it take off pretty much anything... so you're using a backpack sprayer? hows that working for you? i'd say buy youself an adjustable downstream chemical injection attachment for 20 bucks online and save yourself a lot of headache... and risk of folling off a ladder w/ 50 pounds on you back... i dont measure my chemicals to the exact... i use a 4 gallon.. and i pour maybe 1.5 inches in the bottom... that's a lot more diluted than 1 to 25... but what i'm telling you that stuff mildew buster works... what kind of pressure washer do you have? and how experianced are you with it. the one you have should already have checmical injection with it...

-Jonathan

 

[DanB]

Hey Jonathan where do you get your mildew buster ? i use a house wash called citracleen but i always ad some amount of bleach. nothing cuts mold and mildew like bleach. i agree you have to be very careful and make sure you take precautions to not damage any plants or grass.. ie rinse very well or cover with tarps. do you use any bleach in your house wash mix?

 

[BriteSide]

Dan,
hey. i buy my mildew buster from this place called pressure washer store based out of florida. They ship it up to me within a few days... They're good people to deal with. Here's the link directly to the mildew buster product Mildew Buster Chemicals

I buddy of mine in Jersey that does Power Washing uses citra clean like you were saying. He seems to like it as well. Bleach does work good with cleaning mildew, but i believe the bad effects outweigh the good. Like you said, you have to either cover up all the nearby plants or rinse the building down to dilute the chemicals going into the ground... either way you run a risk of killing the plants + the downtime of setting up the tarps and the whole procedure..Actually a lot of home owners request that you not use bleach because of the bad experiances theyve had w/ other people pressure washing their house... i use mildew buster w/ 3500 psi & a turbo nozzle.. takes pretty much anything right off...

give mildew buster a try.. its basically the only chemical i use on exterior washing

-Jonathan

 

[DanB]

Hey Jonathan

you use 3500 psi on a house and a turbo nozzle? you haven't run into problems with that ? i use 800 psi max. not saying you way doesn't work but that seems like way too much pressure to me do you use hot water ?

 

[BriteSide]

Dan,
obviously you cant use 3500 psi on wood surfaces at least w/ a turbo nozzle. but on vinyl it works great. I use a turbo nozzle which gives a larger cleaning area as well as a more predictable cleaning pattern than using a fan tip. I've never ran into a problem while doing exterior siding running that psi w/ a turbo nozzel.. it really applies to what surface youre cleaning... cleaning siding at 800 psi... that must take a while... you should try using high psi and see what you think. if u do decide to use a high power machine dont use fan tips.. they're the ones that do the damge... cut into cement, put lines in wood, u name it,, other than my soaper tip.. i hardly ever use the fan tips..

- Jonathan

 

[Larry B]

A 0 degree turbo does less damage than a 25-40 degree tip? Thats a new one.

 

[ericw]

i have a 3000 psi landa with burner how do u guys like the turbo nozzle the one iam talking about is called dirt killer or something its a real big tip leaves dirt swirls in the viynl where a regular tip would get all of it

 

[BriteSide]

Larry:
you can pressure wash twice as fast using a turbo nozzel if you have the gpm and psi to push it... using fan tips have defined areas of cleaning the straight line thats what a few inches.. try using that w/ high psi on cement or wood... you'll be replacing it if you're not careful.. the turbo nozzels are more powerful, yes but easier to judge. you can back anway from the surfaces and see faster results than using fan tips...

Erick-
i think you're talking about the dk dirt killer.. they're nice if you have 2500-3000psi but anymore you're going to be eating up the nozzle's internals. i know they're rated for 3500psi but they wont take it trust me on that one... they're nice because they spin faster which reduces the circles that you were talking about,, but if you have enough psi and gpm you can push larger turbo nozzles w/ a larger diamater cleaning area without leaving circles. it's all in your machine.. for a 3000 psi i'd go w/ the dk dirt killer like you were saying.. here's a link to that DK dirt killer turbo nozzle


-Jonathan