Little Buddy

$1.648.71 for the whole shabang including sales tax and a 10% discount for first time customer.

I'm getting that website build by a senior web design student for $100, not bad eh? Awesome deal because he wants to build a portfolio for his business he wants to start.

does anyone know what the badges/plaques are under our names are/ or for and how to get them?

I have enough in my budget for 2 1000 mailer campaigns with targeted demographics. Then i have the door hanger budget, magnet budget, supplies budget, misc budget, and i am trying to get some senior web design students to make me a website. The other website option is to have it professionally designed for $200 down and $100 a month with the option to buy if i want ($7000-$10,000). This includes free maintenance, changes, SOE, hosting, blah blah blah. here is a website that they created that i want to base mine off of if i go that route: Pavers, Retaining Walls, Stewart Land Designs, Tomball, Texas, TX I would get the music, slide show, portfolio, SOE for 10 search engines, the whole ball of wax with no contract. I could only pay for the months that I'm in season (basically 4-5 months when I'm not in school). Tell me what you think of the website deal.

I was thinking of either getting a 3.5/4000 or 4.0/3500 or 4.0/4000 machine. How do you think it would work with those?

where do you get the materials?

Aggressive: “Hi Mr. / Mrs. ___________, this is Joe from PowerWash Solutions calling. I enjoyed meeting with you and presenting you with a proposal for your job. I’d love to go over any questions that you may have as soon as possible. We are booking next weeks schedule, so we would really like if you were on board as well. Talk to you soon, Thanks, Joe.” Passive: "Hi Mr. / Mrs. ___________, this is Joe from PowerWash solutions calling to check in to see if you had any questions about the estimate. If you have any questions, feel free to give me a call at 715-248-3392. I am looking forward to working with you. Thanks, Joe." Hey guys/girls, I am in need of some help on creating a basic follow up script for after an estimate. I was wondering what the rest of you guys do and how successful it is. Thanks, Joe

Totally agree. I am not sure which business model i am going to start with as i still have a good 8 months to decide that. At this point for my company, i cant afford to be as selective of potential customers as you. My idea of scheduling estimates on Wednesday and Friday evenings will work good for my business model for now, because i doubt my phone will constantly be ringing( at most maybe 1-2 calls a day to start). This will allow me to meet with the homeowners, educate and set their expectations, and try and sell them on quality as well as a maintenance program and other services. Then email them the estimate and terms and conditions later that evening. Follow up with a call a few days later to see it they have reached a decision or have any questions. The last month of summer, my average job (only did 2) averaged out to $1,800. This summer i bet i could do $20,000 or better, with some marketing. I'm still working on getting a logo designed as well as finding someone to build me a website for free or a small fee, one of the benefits of college i guess. I have probably a good 30+ pages of notes i have to sift through on bidding/estimating/followup calls i have to go through and memorize the lingo. I have much more on marketing before/after/and during the job that i have to implement and price out as well. This place is awesome, and i probably learned what would take someone ,20 years ago, 3 years in business in probably 3 months because of you guys on these boards. Now all i have to do is smooth out the seams and roll out the kinks and PowerWash Solutions will be a well oiled machine come summer. Thanks, Joe

I was just wondering what do you guys do for stain choice? I was thinking of only stocking 4 colors of stain and either bringing a sample board with to place on their deck or have the picture of the sample plank on my website and brochure. Just some rough ideas for now. I will mention to them the "most popular color" just in case they have a hard time deciding. also for direct mailing, i was looking at www.printdirectforless.com and was wondering if anyone can attest to their customer service and quality of products. Thanks, Joe

Yea, i was going to sell myself, my service and quality, and educate the customer just to set their expectations that my price will not be the lowest or the highest. Then in the email, they will get the price and wont be shocked. I think I will schedule estimates for Wednesday and Friday evenings for the reason you all stated. First, it will save gas by allowing me to schedule them in a route. Secondly, it allows the customers have someone else come out before me, so they can get an idea, and hopefully I'm the last one they talk to. Lastly, I because it is in the evenings, i hope i can meet with the majority of the homeowners (both of them). Requiring their email will also allow me to save money on flyer's and reminder mailings because i can just send them via email. So when its time to do a maintenance call, just email them a postcard/flyer reminder. After you get a few thousand emails from customers and just estimates, this can now be a very effective marketing tool that is FREE! I am sure my business model will include a little of everyones ideas. If i need helpers, they are going to go through a temp service because the legal mumbo jumpo is too expensive, and i cannot afford to pay them cash out of my pocket (still have to pay taxes on money i don't have and no taxable deduction).

I was thinking of taking the measurements of the of other things like the house, roof, concrete that could also be cleaned then email them a seperate estimate for those services as well. I am sure they would be asking about them anyways after looking at my future website and brochure.

See i am torn between what you do and what Celeste does. I would love to do all the estimates on a Friday or whenever (possible a rainy day too) but i also want to meet with the homeowner, so i doubt scheduling all the bids on Friday would work. Plus scheduling on Friday raises another red flag for me. I was always under the impression that there was a 24 or 48 hour rule. Once the homeowner calls, you better give them a bid ( or at least meet with them) within 48 hours. So this is what i was thinking. I will try and schedule bids Wednesday evenings and Friday evens, until i get busy, then it will go to every evening. After meeting with them and answering questions, leaving a brochure of other services is a GREAT idea mike, send them an email the day after as well as giving the heads up that i will call a few days later if i don't hear back. A brochure and a fridge magnet will be left with the home owner, and then the estimate will be emailed with a nice cover letter, sample contract, maintenance program. After the job is completed, I will then try and sell the maintenance program as well as other services if needed. thanks for all the info guys, special thanks to Celeste, rick, and mike

Thats what i was thinking the same thing.

Rick, With the email bid, do they print it off, sign it, and then mail it back to you, or do you just pick up the signed estimate/contract the day of the job? How do you inform the homeowners about this process? Thanks, Joe

I agree that getting the sale on the spot, but i am trying to view it through my eyes if i were the home owners. Like most people here, i would like a passive approach and time to think about it. I don't like pushy sales people, and if i have no idea how much it cost to redo a deck, i would want to shop around.

Some good stuff Celeste, thanks.

way too high if it is a 8x5.5

I was wondering if anyone felt like going out of their way to do me a favor and email me an example of one of their proposals? Just so i can get a rough idea. Thanks, Joe

So here is my story. Since freshman year in high school, i landscaped every summer until by senior year where i had a better offer to work for someone else, then work got slow and was let go. The remainder of summer, about 2 months, i didn't have a job. Then college came and was super busy and forgot all about looking for a job. The stock market crashed and the economy went down the tube, along with any potential jobs for my age group which has an unemployment rate of nearly 30%. So this entire summer, after 33 applications, i didn't get a job either. At this point i am furious. I was so sick of working all summer and only making 3k just to watch a third of that go to gas getting to work and back. I decided right then and there (about 1.5 months left of summer) to start an Exterior Cleaning Business or powerwashing. I wasn't like most and jumped out and advertised, but thoroughly researched the business and lived on these message boards. I did all the footwork and paper work and looked for all the free advertising possible, which ended up being yellow-pages.com. The last few weeks i landed two jobs for $3,600 total. Now i am back in school and have excess to graphic and web design majors and professors. FREE LOGO DESIGN and all the business advice i could possible ever want. I have sat down with some acct. professors and purchased my quickbooks pro. I have all the behind the scenes work finished and paperwork setup. I have been looking for a good company for printing and mailing of postcards as well as a good company for amazing customer shirts. The chemical research was the easiest (ready-seal, and pressuretek). I will start this next session balls to the walls with a 2500 mailer in late march and again in mid-April (targeted of course). I have worked out the kinks in my wood maintenance program and pricing as well. Next summer should be a blast and i might be able to hit the $20K mark in wood Restoration alone. Thanks for all the free info and the advice. -Joe

HaHa...sorry

Are you a big ready seal guy? I think the homeowner would love to hear mike's line, "Keep up the maintenance, and you won't be paying for a restoration." I agree with you on lots of maintenance is my goal, i was more of thinking out loud about possible kinks down the road. Mike's little line there even makes me feel good, so i know the homeowner would feel the same. It just sounds like a DEAL. -Joe

Yea mike was telling me he does the same (email the bid) if they are not there. This sounds great, and im sure it is and works wonders, but it doesn't seem personal, you know. I was planning on doing the same but have a few questions about it. I know most of you guys probably try and schedule to the bid in the evening, when the home owners are there, but most of the time that is hard to do. Most probably dont really care so they just stop during the day get the measurments and then email them the bid attached with some info about maintenance program, stain, blah blah blah, and maybe even leave info about maintenance program, FAQ, process, and fridge magnet at their house just in case. Now to my question, if they are there when you are doing the bid do you (a) give them a written estimate there on the spot and get them booked or (b) tell them you can send them the bid later that day via email and then just continue to elaborate the quality, stain, maintenance program, answer questions, and educate the homeowner and set their expectations? Thanks, Joe

Yes, i understand this but what i was going for/asking is more for what do you say during the followup call 3-4 days later. Obviously, they either (1) forget because they are extremely busy, (2) have questions unanswered, or (3) don't have the funds (the amount of funds is probably less of an issue because they are looking to hire someone to do it, but more of a lack of being sold and quality of the service the price includes). So i was really hoping to see how you guys go about to fulfill these and get the job scheduled. thanks, Joe P.S signing the job on the spot doesn't really apply to this thread, but it does require a follow-up call to as a reminder that you are coming and to have the deck cleared.

Mike, So lets say you have a customer that you have been doing annual maintenance on. You have been doing the maintenance for 3 years (just cleaning and applying new ready seal). The next year i would personally strip and do the whole thing. Here is my question. Since the maintenance program price is a fraction of the full restoration price, would you charge the full maintence price of the fourth year to do the whole ball of wax? Because i can see myself saying to the customer, "with the maintenance program, you wont have to pay for a full restoration as long as you stick with the annual maintenace program." How will you ever get to charge for a full restoration, unless they skip a year, if they continue to sign on for the maintenance program? Thanks, Joe

There are a lot of views and no votes or responses. I/we need your guys/girls help. Thanks