Supply charge?

[ceasler]

Hello,

Need help in the following three areas:


1. When cleaning sealing decks, does you square foot charge include your deck sealer, or is this and extra charge?

2. Same with flatwork: if chemicals are needed is the charge included in you sq. foot price?

3. And what about homes: is your chemical charge included in your price if you charge by linear foot?

On deck sealer- what would be a ballpark figure on how much sealer you'd used to seal a deck of 500 sq feet and how much does the sealer your using cost per gallon?

And on washing a house: about how much detergent would you used to wash a house that is 400 linear feet, 1 story?

Thanks so much for this much needed info!

chris

 

[Jon]

I do not charge for chemicals, it is a tool I need in order to do the job.

I bid a job as one price.

The one exception is reclaim, I am going to charge seperately for that. Cost of filters, dumping etc. adds to overall cost of doing b business.

If the customer has a clarifier I can dump it there so would not charge.

 

[Sunny1]

Include in Price

Hello to you,
The national average for cleaning and sealing decks is $2.00 a sq. ft. We charge one price for the cleaning and sealing, that price incudes ALL the products we will use. There are no hidden charges. Once we give the estimate, that's the price.
The sealer we use is Ready Seal. I can only speak for those spec.s It costs $89.75 per 5 gallon pail ( that's 17.95/gal.) and has a coverage rate of about 150 sq./ft. per gallon. So for a 500 sq. ft. deck you would use about 3.5 gallons. On brand new wood, I may get 200 sq. ft. per gal.
Most customers don't like surprises when it comes to price. No matter how you choose to bid your jobs, I would try to give a final price that's all inclusive for the work to be done. Most cleaners will tell you the coverage rates, and if they don't, don't be affraid to ask your supplier. As one, I get those questions all the time,and am always happy to help with that info. Some simple math will get you very close to what you'll use for the job.
As for house washing, we always charge by sq. footage. My house wash here is so inexpensive, that if I use more than I thought I would, it really doesn't effect the profit margin. Beside, I'm more concerned with doing quality work than skimping on my cleaner so that I continue to have repeate business.
I hope this helps.

 

[Phoenix]

Hey Sunny

Im going to start out doing small commercial bldgs, houses, flatwork, decks, fences, etc. If you could shed some light, about tools, chemicals, and contracts that you might use it would be a big help. You claimed your house wash was inexpensive, Im really curious about just what you charge, and how you charge, what extras do you offer, and what are some of the pitfalls?

I hope this doesn't put ya in overload, but Im going to start with this and make it my mainstream until I can get established, then onward to bigger and better things. If you have pointers as to what direction I should look after getting the biz going .. that would be greatly appreciated as well.

 

[Sunny1]

Phoenix

Welcome to the biz. This is a great profession to be part of! the scope of work you mention above will be a perfect starting point.
Since building washing seems to be a large part of where you want to start, I'll start there, too.
Every contractor has his/her own idea of what's the best product to make house wash. Some make thier own using Bleach with a small amount of soap (like Dawn), others buy products from manufactures. All have their own reasons (ranging from price to quality) for what they use. Read these boards and you'll see debates often. As a contractor, you need to be clear on YOUR proccess and be happy that your results give your customers the job you want them to get. In other words, define your expectations. (The thoughts above can be used in all areas of work you'll be doing.)
With that said, here is what we do here at Sun Brite. A tool we find VERY useful is the X-JET. It lets us reach second stories and the like, without getting on a ladder. I use it to apply the cleaner, and after about 5mins. dwell time, I use it to rinse. Because it keeps it's tight spray pattern even up to 40 ft. it makes dirt spots easy to clean even at hieghts. I use our ALL-Brite as my cleaning solution because it's a versitile cleaning product but by far I like it because it can get those stubborn streak marks off the gutters when used in full strength. I can add a llittle bleach if I find heavy mildew, but usually it will take care of lite meldew. If your looking for only one product to have on hand for now, All-brite would be my recomendation because it can also be used for cleaning concrete, awnings, windows, vehicals, ect...(think of it as a genera pourpos degreaser.)It can cost as little as $1.36/gallon. l tend to let the chem. do the majority of the work. House washing is mostly, soap-up; let dwell; Rinse.Move-on. Our price range is between $150-300. Priced by sq. footage. Some pit-falls here in the South-East are Artillary Fungus(near impossible to remove), Georgia red clay, not setting costumers expectations of what we're going to do. The list can go on, but mostly, house washing is good, quick , money.
I'm getting long winded here, so let me finish with this. Getting a foot in the door with a house wash, a deck cleaning or sealing, or a concrete wash is a good start. Then it's usually easy to add on more of these services, and UP the Price!!! I only can cover so much here so fell free to look in my profile and e-mail me for more help. Residential cleaning is more profitable than ever since the 9-11 attacks as more poeple are staying close to home and taking more care of their surroundings. Be the best you can be and word of mouth will be your best advertizing. Hope this helps . Have A Sun Brite Day!

 

[ARC]

I have used the x-jet and have had problems with the overspray. I do not get anywhere near 40 ft in a tight stream.

Mine barely gets 15 ft before fanning out into a mist. Do you have a nozzle attachment taht you are using?

 

[Mike Hughes]

call ron at xterior and make sure you have the proper size orfice in it for your psi/gpm's. That could be the problem.

 

[ARC]

If you are talking about the plastic proportioners, I haven't been using them. I mix my chemicals first and then draw from the bucket.

I didn't the proprtioners would make a difference on the spray pattern. But is there something I am missing here?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Mike Hughes]

no.......not those, ask ron, he knows more about it..........since they manufacture the thing. Good luck

 

[Sunny1]

Sun Brite Knows

Ron may manufacture it, but as an informed distributer, I can answer the question. What is the PSI of the pressure washer your using?
Internally, there is an orafice, that, by changing it's size (physically changing the piece) to the right size for the PSI of the machine your using, you get the best distance of water stream. For machines 3000PSI and under, a size 9 will do. 3500 or up, a size 13 should be in place. If you open the X-jet up to look, be careful not to loose the spring that is also inside. The size is stamped right on the oriface.
The colored porportioners are only for the metering of solutions, but there is an optional close-range nozzle that screws into the X-JET that lowers the PSI to about 400 and gives a 4-5 foot fan spray. Excellent for tight spaces.
See my profile and e-mail me if you need more help.