PressurePros

John, I looked into buying a landscape compay. The only thing that made it even remotely appealing was the design aspect of the company. The grass cutting was a loss leader. The margins are terrible. If you think there are lowballers in PW'ing you won't believe what goes on in basic lanscape services. There are better ways to keep your guys busy. Landscaping is not a tie in business. Their season is the same as ours. You may end up overstretched in the peak season and have the same down time you are seeking to eliminate.

Once again, kevin, I have to ask you exactly how much experience you have with A) WoodTux in general and B) WoodTux on hardwoods. I'll give you mine. tens of thousands of square feet on both A & B in addition to frequent correspondance with the manufacturer of wood Tux and other high volume hardwood service companies.

Bill, good info. When I say minimum price I mean it in the context mentioned prior.. Anything less than $500 and I'm not turning a key. I need to know that on the phone. Otherwise, as I have hammered home probably a hundred times on here do not give price quotes over the phone unless you are you are positive you are the lowest priced guy in your market.

After target marketing, mentioning a minimum price helps to weed people out. Explain your process emphasizing quality then ask "Is this the type of service you are seeking?". If they say yes, you have already started closing before you even get there.

Rick, paint out three to four boards the entire length of the deck. By the time you get to the end, you can wipe it. You don't have to apply all that heavy. If you do choose to walk on it, you can usually wipe out footsteps.

You should wipe it Rick. This formula is going to react differently than your first application.

Yeah Barry, good stuff ::wink:::

That's an acrylic. I would do a test spot. I think tis going to be a more difficult strip but I am just taking an educated guess.

I know Dan.. painting is filled with the same mentalities as pressure washing. 90% of the guys out there aren't businessmen, they are hard working guys with intentions and dreams of being self employed. Unfortunately that means 90% of these guys have no clue what they are doing in terms of pricing, monitoring or growing their business. Oddly enough, the rate of startup failure/abandon (after 5 years) is also 90%. When I started in this end of the business I knew what was going on and chose to steer cleer of the run-of-the-mill antics of most PW owners. I hope you can do the same, Dan. Do whatever it takes to make yourself stand out. Don't worry what anyone else charges. I don't care what state someone is in.. Charging less than $350 for a two story housewash is ridiculous. It tells the customer you have no confidence in yourself, your company or your abilities. Market to people who care about quality. Take on small, underpriced jobs to put food on the table and five years from now that kind of job will be your number one referral. Then you'll be an incredibly busy, overly stressed person instead of just a broke one. I hope someone is reading this and understanding what I am saying. This isn't about your model versus Ken's model nor is it about lifestyle. Its about understanding your numbers and devising a plan that will make owning a business pleasurable and sustaining while providing security for yuorself and your family.

$175 -$15 (gas and chems) -$30 liability insurance -$25 vehicle/rig depreciation -$40 other indirect costs (phone, etc) ----- $65 net. Your company should get at least 20% if you have the slightest hope for growth. So Dan's salary is $52. How long is that job gonna take you, Dan? Great job on the upsell of the gutters but I hope anyone reading this is starting to see that pricing jobs at $150, $200, $250 unless you are doing five of those per day, every day, six days per week you will be out of business. I am seeing so many guys getting excited about the roof cleaning "boom" and then they talk about jobs they are doing for $250. When that bubble of realization burts, there will be yet another category in the pressure washing field that will be plagued by lowballers and customers that perceive no value.

Malone, No way would the job cost the same. I sell them on the value of maintenance. Once they hire PressurePros they don't have to worry about their deck. My benefit is that I don't have to spend nearly as much on marketing to keep the customer loyal. Maintenance is a quick wash with bleach and soap and a light coat on horizontals. I cannot quote here exactly what maintenance costs but is substantially less than a complete strip and restain.

Chaz. No upsell. Like I said, I have never had a call for a half of a job. I use the term in context with this thread. Dan would be well served to upsell. Example: Dan and I are the same price for wood care. It costs each of us $100 to acquire a new customer. Take a deck that is $1000 to clean and $1000 to stain. I spend $75 in acquisition cost and have lower operational expense to gross $2000. Dan needs to spends $150 to get two customers to gross the same money, but also spends more in gas, uses more time and compromises his overall efficiency. Over the course of time, Dan will get rapidly diminishing returns. My company will achieve more jobs at higher margin. With this model Dan is setting himself up for failure. I'm not picking on you, Dan just using your name as this is your thread. The point was more about getting each customer to spend as much as they humanly can with your company. With proper evaluation, presentation and sales technique and follow up you can achieve that.

We maintain all customers decks. Every two years horizontals get coated. I'm talking about new customers where you are called in to "pressure wash and stain". When I see it the stain is failing or failed, it has to go. "Maybe Ken is saying that Time is Money and so is yer advertising dollars...don't waste them?" Not really. What I am sayin is that it costs approximately X amount of dollars to acquire a new customer. That new customer spends a certain amount of money. If you don't sell the staining portion of the job, you now have to spend X amount of dollars all over again to acquire another customer to make up what you gave up. Thats not profitable and/or good business. Upselling is crucial to raise margins.

Fast isn't it Jon?

1) You can't do a partial strip unless the customer is using the same product and the stain that is down there is not in state of failure (I have yet to see that on ANY deck) 2) Rail systems are closer to 4 square feet per LF of measurement AND they are much more complicated to clean then a floor. Why would anyone charge the same, let alone less? 3) Our stain rate and our 2 step cleaning rate are about the same (output wise) so that makes the labor rates pretty close.. for me, its about $.90 per s/f (all wood not the floor) That includes materials on the cleaning and is discounted for large SF decks. 4) Height is a factor.. that should be an upcharge. I go about 10% for every 6 feet off the ground 5) Meant as no disrespect to the owners or posters of the delco board but , well.. its not a woody site. Dan.. Dan... Dannnnnnnnnnnnnn. :banghead: You need to decide where you want to be. You cannot complian about cheap customers and not making any money and then chase jobs like this. Never, not once in over 500 deck estimates has anyoner ever asked me to just prep it. Did you sell the value and benefit of letting a professional stain it using quality products? My question is.why would anyone want to spend more money on marketing and avdertising for customer acquisition? Do you know what your acquisition costs are for a new customer? If you don't they are much higher than you think. You are throwing away a whole job by not selling the customer on the staining. I'm not sure why some are so skittish on selling or even just marketing to the right people. Your job.. Strip properly (which means all the stain comes off). Ph Balance/brighten: maybe $975? Tough strip where have to apply stripper direct via Shirflo? add 30%-60%. Acrylic or solid.. triple it. I don't f--- around with people that cannot afford or want to pay for my service anymore. Every deck we do is done right and looks like professionals left the area. If we kill a plant, I buy a new one. If we spill stain on a new sealcoated driveway, I have a contractor out there the following week to redo it. This costs money. If a company continues the backwoods, I make $100 per hour mentality and then has no cash reserve to even market their business, where do you think they will end up? That's Fenner's take on the subject.

Give a Russell a call for the exact formulas. I do it by eye and test since every species of wood is different as well as affected by age, wood porousity etc. Its kinda hard to mess up as long as you go in steps. 3 mils of black/gal is a good starting point.

whatcha cleaning that requires more than 3500psi?

If you have recently made WT WHG (ie manufactured and sent over the last week-10 days), and it is the same as the formula from last year, you can add a gallon of water to the product for better penetration. Tint the product to the color you want first, then add the water. The mix wil look nasty and will scare you and when you apply you may shriek, but within five minutes the wood will look exactly the color you want it to be. Alternatively you can add mineral spirits, that just makes the product non-VOC compliant in some states.

David, I hate to break this to you, but you are on your own. There isn't really a one-size-fits-all solution. My feeling is you are going to have to do one of the things I suggested. I doubt you are going to be able to spray on a solution of any chem; bleach, caustic or acid to rectify the problem. Always test for oxidation when you bid a house with your fingertip. Don't use brushes. Soap from bottom to top and rinse from top to bottom. Use strong enough chemical to do th job without overkill. These are all things this and future experienc has to show you. I wish you the best of luck. Let us know how it pans out for you.

The Cabot's ProV is good for vertical surfaces. You may need two coats. Two tones are a pain in the arse! Takes about twice as long as a regular stain.

Master of Alliteration, tongue tying champion, lord of all that is technical.. Plex-Master is the ticket.

David, when mold is left to grow on siding it wreaks havoc on the colorant. Age and sun are also factors. This guy needs new siding or a paint job.

Your problem occured with the brusing. You removed some of the oxidation but left the rest remaining. It always best to use between 1.5-2% sodium hypochlorite (bleach) hitting the house. Throw the Behr crap in the garbage. Your wasting your money. Thats why you had to brush. Solutions include: • Wash every inch of the house with even pressure • Brush every inch of the house • Use a higher caustic wash to remove the oxidation (not my favorite idea unless you know what you are doing) • Apply acid followed by caustic for two step process. We do this for oxidized aluminum..not sure if it would work on vinyl The house is going to dry dull. If you have a hot water machine, you can apply a wet wax to enhance the shine a little. My advice is to wait until the customer cals you. I admire your attention to detail and willingness to do quality work but sometimes what we see and what the customer sees are different. There will be plenty of times for calbacks.. no use creating them where they may not exist.

Beth.. where? I went through the page of the link and couldn't find it. It is on ES's website? I need this thing urgently.

I get closer to $3.75 per s/f (if you don't count rails) every day of the week. $1.50 should be an easy sell as I consider that a pretty lowball rate.