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Innovativewash

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Posts posted by Innovativewash

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    Low (initial) capital investment does two things. One, it allows non-business people to enter the market and drive down pricing. On the other hand it lowers amortized equipment costs. Also keep in mind a two-man crew can do 2-3 jobs per day bringing overhead percentages down.

    Here is an example of a typical deck job 500 s/f of floor measurement. Cost to customer $1,100:

    Billable man hours: 14 (Seven hours total project time)

    Labor cost per hr with workman's comp, disability insurance, health insurance and comp time: $23 (x 14= $322)

    Fuel: $5

    Chemical: $35

    Sealer: $150

    Expenses such as legal, accounting, liability insurance, marketing etc: $75 per job

    Equipment depreciation: $15 per job

    Total costs: $602.00

    Now take into consideration there are guys on this board will charge $600 total for that job. They don't have the labor tab I do. They also will still be a one-man show ten years from now owning a job versus owning a business. No thank you.

    Worse yet are lowballers who might charge $400 for that job. Their expenses are $5 worth of bleach and $110 in sealer.. no insurance, splash and dash. If they do seven jobs per month they make a couple grand. Not bad for working 14 half days with no education and total investment of maybe $700 for a Home Cheapo machine, some brushes and a pump up sprayer. Meanwhile customer gets a half assed job and by the time word gets out that this guy is an idiot he has already moved on to his next hair brained adventure. The following year I get that customer and have to explain to him why my cost is nearly TRIPLE what the last guy charged. Nevermind that his work looked like crap and he is nowhere to be found.

    Now for any homeowner reading this and thinking.. $500 "profit" for a day isn't bad. With rain days and winter weather one may do 115 of these per year. Woohoo, a pre-tax profit of $57,500. Call the travel agent! If I couldn't blend my margins with higher priced work I would be out of this business in a minute.

    VERY WELL PUT MY BROTHA! Lots of fly by nighters this year. I guess people have lost jobs and think its easy to do what we do. Awsome year to date !!! Call me in the winter Ken.

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