Mike Williamson

This is something I will have to deal with as customers from this year call next year. I will likely raise rates for those people at a smaller ratio than I do for new customers. Better to raise them gradually over the next 2-3 years than to raise prices 30% or more all at once.

I've had this happen, and then I've had people who didn't even know they didn't get either what they paid for, or who paid too little and didn't get what they expected. An example would be a couple of customers in the past month who called for roof cleaning. Both had relatively dirty roofs, and both had wand marks all over the the place. Neither roof was visibly damaged, but you could see where the algae had begun to grow back quickly in the areas where the previous contractor hadn't cleaned as well. When I asked each when the last time they had the roof cleaned, on told me 6 months ago, and the other told me 8 months ago. I told them what I'd found, and explained that it should be a MINIMUM of a year, and typically 2 years or more before they start noticing heavier algae growth, and I explained why they had to pay again several months later. As explained in several posts in this thread, that's a large part of the problem..the homeowner doesn't know what to expect...they don't know how their roof or house should be cleaned, until someone like you or I come along and show them. Most of my clients don't bother getting bids...they just call someone, and if they like the price they schedule it. I'm sure it's different for higher cost deck work, but for residential housewashing and roof cleaning, it seems most don't get more than one price. So when an inexperienced or improperly trained contractor comes along and bids a house or roof wash at $100.00 the customer just jumps on it. Excellent post, Rod.

Or, you could spend your time coming here whining about what you perceive as whining. :lgsad: As far as being so busy that you don't have enough time to come here to read and post, I never want to be there. I never want to sacrifice my relaxation and family time for the sake of money. :lgmoneyey I'm making enough now to pay the bills and set a decent portion aside. More money is usually a good thing, but not at the expense of things that really matter (and no, money really doesn't...) I do agree with part of your post, as far as not worrying about "lowballers." It may take a bit longer to build up a client base because of those who undercut price and sacrifice quality, but in the long run, the quality of your work will speak for itself. It's satisfying to be called to re-do what some fly-by-nighter screwed up.

You and me both! I need to get a respirator...I keep a bottle of cough syrup in the truck for the times I get a sore throat from it (usually doing screen enclosures)

Why not run the pump off the truck's electrical system? As long as you have a decent battery, you're not going to run it down enough to matter. I run my pump off the battery on my washer. I've run it for several hours without running the battery too low to start the machine.

So where is the "lowballer" threshhold? How much lower than you does a guy doing equal quality work have to be in order to be a lowballer?

I'm assuming it is a state regulation thing as far as the strength of pool chlorine. Everyone I know in FL uses 10.5%. There's a cleaning supply company here that sells 15% sodium hypchlorite (not sold as pool chlorine), but it is expensive...It works out to well over $2.00/gallon, and they only sell it in 15 gallon drums with, of course, a deposit on the drum of $15.00

So someone who is a bit cheaper, but doesn't sacrifice quality isn't a lowballer, based on your definition. What is the threshhold for a "lowball" price? If you charge $250.00 for a particular housewash, and the next guy charges $200.00, is he lowballing? $225? $175.00? The other factor many often forget, or ignore, is efficiency. If I can wash a house in 2 hours that would take another contractor 3 hours to do, I can easily cut the cost by between 1/4 and 1/3 and still make just as much money per hour. By using the right chems, the right tools and equipment, and the proper methods, I should be able to do the exact same job a good bit faster than the guy who is out there who has never heard of an Xjet, who uses tide and clorox through their downstreamer, and who wastes their time dragging their portable washer around, dragging hoses, coiling hoses, etc etc. I can be set up and ready to soap down a house 10 minutes after I pull up. It may take someone else 20 minutes. The same thing goes for finishing up once I'm done.

Unless there's a reason you need tif files, just scan them in as a JPG.

I use a shurflo to do roofs, so it isn't uncommon for chlorine to remain in the pump for 2-3 hours at a time. Just make sure you flush the pump with plenty of fresh water when you're done. I use 10-15 gallons to flush clean and then run the pump dry.

I was the VP of a property management firm here in town that manages HOA's/Condos. We did our own in-house maintenance of small things, but contracted out things like roof cleaning, pressure washing, painting, wood replacement, etc. We decided to open a full maintenance division and do much of this work ourselves. I was the one to take that on. Quite a bit of this work was roof and gutter cleaning and pressurewashing. I was looking for an answer to something, so I did a websearch and found the Pressure Washing Institute. I started reading back posts, and eventually found all the boards that were around then (Beth hadn't started TGS yet). I also realized how much money was being paid for work that I enjoyed doing. The idea began to form to venture out on my own, so I started doing a lot of research and planning. At the end of 2003, I jumped into it full time and things have been going well ever since.

pool chlorine here in FL is typically much cheaper than elsewhere. It seems to get more expensive the further north you go. Here, I'm paying $1.10/gallon for 10.5%. When comparing prices, you have to compare, and adjust for strength. Some places sell 10.5%, some 12%, and some 15%.

I'm in the same boat with Roger and Celeste...I'm just finishing up my first year doing this full time. I spent a year before that doing research, obtaining equipment, and doing side jobs for the property management company where I was working. I've done it right, meaning I got my insurance, I've learned how to do things right, I use the right chems and equipment, and I strive to do the best job possible. I don't cut corners anywhere...if anything, I add a few. Have my prices this year been a bit lower than other established, professional contractors in this area? Very likely. The reason is, I couldn't afford to lose the job prospects that I had. If only 5 people call me in a given week, I need to try to close all 5 jobs...that means pricing things at a level that I'm fairly cerain the homeowner will like. If I'm getting 25 calls in a given week, I can afford to raise my prices and lost a few of those calls. There was no phone book ad this year, and no repeat customers. Keep in mind, my average hourly rate was still above $50.00/hour, which isn't bad for Florida. I would rather wash 10 houses/week at $150.00 than 2 houses/week at $250.00. Ideally, I'd wash 10 or 15 houses/week at $250.00, but we're not quite there yet. Another thing to keep in mind with new guys just starting out is that they often lack experience and confidence. Not all of us are natural born salesmen...I remember feeling very awkward trying to sell a job to someone when I first started out. Lacking that sales experience and confidence made it harder to sell a higher price to a customer. To compensate, I'd do as Beth has mentioned, lead with price. My first phone book ad hit about a month ago, and the 2nd hits after the first of the year. The phone has been ringing quite a bit, and I have raised my rates accordingly, with fairly good results. I've lost a few, but my closure rate is still pretty good. If the 2nd ad has the same results as the first, and this trend continues, I'll be able to keep my prices up closer to $75-100/hour.

It's a nice idea, and I like Ryan's suggestions, but if I washed every house I pass frequently that is in severe need of cleaning, I'd never have time for paying work!! I did give a lady a free driveway cleaning because she took the time to clean the dog messes out of the back yard (they have a large dog, and there were literally dozens of huge piles in the yard). I just knew I was going to wind up with that stuff all over my boots and hoses, but when I got there there wasn't one pile in the yard. I left her a note thanking her for doing it, and told her I cleaned her driveway in return - Merry Christmas! It does give you a nice feeling to do something extra especially when you know they can't afford it. I had a lady call just before Thanksgiving who had just found out her kids coming into town for the weekend. She wanted her driveway cleaned (it was BLACK), and her roof blown off if it wasn't too much. She lived in a small house in a run down area and obviously didn't have much money. I lowballed the price ($75.00 to do the driveway, walkway, back patio and blow the roof off). While I was there I went ahead and cleaned the front of her house. I just felt like doing something nice for this lady who probably struggles to make ends meet each month.

So you just show up to the trade shows?

What do you mean by corporate shows?

Well that's just common sense! The point is not to damage anything, whether you're paid for it or not. The way I look at it, I'm not technically doing it for free, I'm simply adding a bit of work to the scope of the job. Either way, if it is damaged, I'm responsible.

I very rarely get a deck here. People seem happy with their bare wood PT decks, or they paint them. I've given several deck bids, but gotten only one of those. Most don't want to pay the price to have it done right, they just want someone to come throw some bleach on it and blast away.

Nothing wrong with giving it a shot, and in the right area, you might do well. Here, there are just too many folks doing "$30.00 and up trailer washes". The first thing I tell them when they say they have a trailer is that I have a $100.00 minimum, and it may very well be more than that. There's a reason many folks live in trailers...that's what they can afford, and often paying to heave the exterior cleaned isn't in their budget. Most of these folks are hoping this week's paycheck will cover the groceries AND the light bill. That doesn't make them trailer trash, it just makes them not a likely candidate for a customer. I agree, there ARE some nicer areas with trailer. Most that I've encountered that were willing to pay a decent rate for a wash weren't in parks, they were in rural areas on acreage.

Free work for someone in a position to give you good referrals is usually a great idea.

Well, looks like this board is more conservative than the country in general! 4 more years!!!

How'd this poll get attached to a thread with nothing to do with the Presidential election? Or was it there the whole time and I just missed it the first time around?

Tony: I agree on the length of hose for the Xjet (unless you're using a shurflo in conjunction). I use 200' of hose for my shurflo setup for doing roofs and it works great.

If you avoid getting struck by lightning, you have even better odds of surviving...:rolleyes:

You can get 300' for about $75.00 from espec.