Storage Unit Doors

[Richard R.]

Hey Guys,
I need some feed back. Has anyone ever Power Washed Storage Building Doors and sealed them with EverBrite. I have a customer who is asking me to give him a bid on lightly power washing about 104 10x10 doors, Twelve 12x12 doors and about 20 whatever the next size smaller doors are. This is at a 400 unit storage complex and sounds like future potential. He wants me to brush with a PH cleaner to deoxidize and lightly rinse while another guy comes along and sprays the EverBrite. My thought is, how hard can it be to bid the whole job. If I can do decks and fences, I don't see why I couldn't seal my work with the EverBrite myself for a fair price. Who knows, maybe I can hang both jobs.
He believes I can do the scrubbing and power washing for about $750 to $800 dollars. When I ask him about letting me do the seal coat also, he told me to turn in a bid.
What is your prospective on that idea?
What would some of your bids look like and how far off am I on the washing bid.

Thanks
Richard R

 

[tzahlman]

Richard

Have rented storage units my self and noticed that there's not alot of wheather striping around the doors. Maby mine was an older facility but its somthing to look out for, can just imagine the problems that getting water behind those doors could cause. Can you get somthing in writing from the owner about the liability issues? Whats everbrite? never heard of it before, sorry I'm not much help with the bidding but I haven't figured out a good system my self. As a rule I would go by the hour because its just the doors and shouldn't take long on each unit.

Hope this helps [spin]

 

[Richard R.]

Tom,
The guy was nice enough to let me borrow a 10 to 15 minute video to show me what I was up against. It is definitely something we all aught to look at. I haven't gone to their Web site yet, but I can tell you, if you can do a deck, you can definitely do this process. There are usually c-channels that the doors run in, so if your water pressure is low, or you just use a garden type water applicator, you can do this perfectly fine. It appears by the tape that this is about 10 times easier than doing the deck. The process is to wet the door first, apply the cleaner solution and brush the chalk off, making sure you wash and scrub from the bottom up to keep from streaking the painted aluminum. You should also make sure you don't let the washing solution dry. Just brush and rinse. Once the cleaning is dry, all you have to do is spray a light coating of EverBright on it and it all turns back to look new. As for the protectant period, I've been told that it last from up to 10 to 15 years without ever needing to do it again. I highly doubt thats possible, but I did see a finished product and it looks very good. It still had a few black streaks after this manager did it, but I looked at some of the new doors that were on other units and the streaks were on them too. Looked kind of like gutter streaks, but you had to get up really close to see them.
When I say it makes it look new, I really mean it. It is absolutely great. I have all intentions on adding this to my business unless I get some really bad reviews from the board or see something else that I don't foresee. One of the only problems I see is the cost. This stuff is highly expensive. I'm talking about 13 to 1400 dollars for eight gallons. Whether this is feasible to do is yet to be seen, but it sure looks good and looks fairly easy to do.
The other thing is, if it last ten years, it wouldn't be feasible for the contractors unless they can get an enormous amount of business in a large town. I could probably paint my whole area in 2 years, then what would I do. Companies don't realize how much they hurt the contractor if they sale a product that last that long. This only benefits the consumer and only a selected few contractors. I may be wrong, but that's how I see it. Otherwise, it's some great stuff. The tape says it's real user friendly and from what I could see, it is definitely just that. I'd say it was right down the same line as ready seal. I may check with them to see if they have something the same or better.

Richard R

 

[tzahlman]

Well it sounds like a great job except for that crazy price. There's no way I could spend that much up front like you said unless I had major worked lined up in that area. This still sounds like it could be a great add on service, let me know what happens.

Good luck [bb]

 

[Kevin7022]

Could you use a urathane or acrylic like future. Not shure what the sun would do to it.

Just a thaught.....

 

[ron]

ron p/richard

you can 2 step the doors just like a truck or bucket and brush RINSE VERY WELL
EVERBRIGHT IS $830 PER 5 GAL plus shipping covers 5500 sq ft they say 6000
you use 1/2 sheets of luaun ply wood to use as a shield 4x8 sheets cut in half long ways then screw/glue some wood scraps as handles
put 1 on the ground [dont let the EVERBRITE get on the apron] put the other against the side as a shield then use your wagner power sprayer with a fine tip to shoot the
everbrite i covered a pick up truck with paste wax and stood in the back to wash and apply sealer.
remember thats this stuff is very clear so the wash job has to be perfect
no wand marks it has a 5 year warrentee
im pretty sure DURA SHIELD will do the same thing but have not tried it.
WITH SHIPPING AND THE SQ. FOOTAGE prob. get away with 10 gal
thats around $1800 with shipping
at about $6 a door for cleaning thats 18 doors per hour to make $100 per hour plus chem. if i could 2 step them and no bucket and brush i still would have to go to $8 per door to cover the chem cost. but thats me i try to make $100 per hour TRY THAT IS
9 doors per hour by yourself just to make $50 with the chem not inc fuel, travel,set up-brake down.
if it were me i would charge/bid $35 per door complete
thats $12 per door for the EVERBRITE [cost]
$8 for the wash and $15 for the time to apply the everbright
in my opinion thats cheap
i would get a friend or some kind of help for this one 1 guy prob. 4 days
2 guys 2 days if its bucket and brush
oh well this is just what i would do and if i did'nt have anyother work maybe i would do it diffrently take lots of pics to show other customers
and us.

 

[Richard R.]

Ron,
Sorry, I guess I forgot to tell you that they are picking up the chemicals themselves.
They ordered 8 gallons which ran about 13 to $1400. Do your think I can get by with 8 gallons? I think the other guy said it can be done, but this is my first one like this
Also, should I charge a $1.00 per linear foot like I do when power washing a house? My calculations is that it's about 1264ft. Since they are picking up the chemicals what do you think?
My only problem with this is that there is not much power washing to this project. There will be a lot of brushing and a little bit of low pressure rinsing.

I also figured it at about a $1.25 to $1.50 per linear ft because of the brushing. I'm probably still off some but I don't know what the other guy is bidding. I'm just a one man show, so I figure it will take at least 4 days. The other guy has a crew and says it will take him about a day. I would really like to have this job, but I don't want to get less than what the job is worth. I don't think the Manager would expect me to do any less than the jobs worth either.

Richard R

Thanks for Your help Ron
Richard R

 

[ron]

ron p

Richard 10x10=100sq ft x104 is 10,400 sq ft
5 gal = 6000 sq ft at very best now take into consideration its not flat like plywood
8 gal will at best get these doors done
you still have the 12-12x12 doors and the smaller ones
everbright makes there own cleaner its $80 per 5 gal. and will do the whole job
bucket and brush if the water beads that means more scrubbing and how it looks when its wet is how it will look when its done.
that other guy cant do the job in 1 day those doors have to be 100% dry to use the EVERBRIGHT. With the ridges and all,half in the sun half not. it will need a day to dry
Richard you might want to try to use a 40 deg tip and hot water on the doors FIRST,
THEN bucket and brush with the chem THEN rinse The first rinse will knock off some of the oxidation[top layer] making it easier.
to spray you will need a generator or a mile of power cord
and you must tell the customer that 8 gals is not enuff max is 1200 per gal
you will loose some in spraying but with the ridges i see no other way and on top of that he will want a gal for touch ups later.
well ive done my best to help hope you do well i would say $8 a door for the wash and $15 to seal is the lowest i would go.

 

[Aplus]

Richard,

At $800, it's about $6 per door. If you could do ten per hour, you would be grossing $60/hr. Sounds reasonable until you factor in all the fuel you will burn, if you run hotwater, you'll use at least a tank of diesal, and a tank of gas, plus all the wear and tear on your equip.

I guess it depends on how badly you need the work. If it were me I'd shoot for $1000 for cleaning alone. It should take a good two full days, so $500/day sounds about right. As for the sealing part, I don't know anything about the product you mention, so maybe Ron is the best to help you with that.

 

[ron]

aplus

thats 600 sq ft per hour on nasty doors with a bucket and brush and you cant let the soap dry on the doors you better be superman

 

[PressureClean]

Richard,

I would just take the power washing part of the job and ask the other guy if you can watch him do some of the sealing part. Tell him you're looking for somebody to either sub or recommend to your customers to seal some of the power washing jobs you've been getting and you can't find anybody that looks like they know what they are doing.

I have this problem "flag" that goes off in my mind any time a customer quotes me price before I even look at a job. It usually means the price he's quoting me is the lowest price he received before to do the job and the reason he isn't calling them back is because they either screwed it up or are out of business because they priced themselves too low for the work they were doing. If you think about it, it's like you having the gall to tell your plumber when he walks in your door "Al, you should be able to do this job for less than $65." Give me a break.

So keep that in mind when you are listening to him tell you that you should be able to do it for $750 to $800. It probably means it's a $1,400 job.